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Sydney Morning Herald

Saturday April 12, 2008

Gillian Cook

A building degree can lead to a range of interesting jobs, writes Gillian Cook.

MICHAEL ER loves his job teaching students in the bachelor of construction course at the University of Technology, Sydney.

But with the demand for builders strong and hefty construction salaries up for grabs, he has mixed feelings when he talks to students at graduation ceremonies. "It can be depressing for me because students turn up and tell me how much they are getting paid," he says. "It's a lot more than I get and I'm their lecturer."

Er says completing a building degree in the early 1990s has been his ticket to a series of interesting jobs. Students who train in the sector can move between self-employment, academia and highly paid positions with big construction firms.

After completing his bachelor of building at the University of NSW, Er worked in various roles in the construction industry, including labourer and foreman, contract administrator and site supervisor, before setting up his own successful building company.

"Anyone who is involved in construction on-site usually works a six-day week," he says. "When I had my own company it was pretty much a seven-day week because on the day you weren't doing things on-site you were doing paperwork."

Running a business was rewarding but Er decided to take a break and went back to university. He completed a graduate diploma in IT and a masters in IT at UTS and was given a lecturing job partly because of his experience and communication skills.

His next move was to switch to the design, architecture and building faculty and his role is lecturing in construction. He is also doing a PhD in IT looking at the potential of mobile technology on building sites.

Er says students undertaking the construction course need to balance study, work and fun. Many are working at the same time and tight schedules and early starts can be demanding. "When I was a student I found it was difficult to work and study," he says. "You are working, get up early, do a long day and come to a class at night and you are exhausted."

But the rewards in terms of finances and personal satisfaction are ample.

Shane Little, regional director of Hays Construction and Property, says that from a recruiting point of view there is nothing better than graduates with experience in the industry. He suggests that students either do a structured cadet program or work experience during semester breaks. "If you go through university and you come out a graduate with no industry experience you will get a job in building because there is such a demand," he says. "But when you first join you won't be able to command a high role or have the level of respect in your organisation you might expect. Your career is going to take a bit longer to get to senior levels."

Little says building graduates can work in many areas including contracts administration, project supervision and estimating.

Despite the construction industry in Sydney and NSW being relatively flat at the moment, Little says the demand for staff is high. "The mining industry in Western Australia and Queensland is pulling staff from NSW because the salaries that are being paid in those states are substantially higher than those being paid in NSW," he says.

© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald

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