Adversity with a Girl on a Building Site

Amidst National Apprenticeship Week & International Women’s Day, The Built World ventured to Central London to spend an evening on-site with Jessica Tabibi; a well-respected Quantity Surveyor & Public-Figure for women in the construction industry. Jessica is an experienced member of the construction sector, having served for over 10 years' across commercial departments & construction sites, so we wanted to discuss opinions on the potential barriers to enter the sector, and how young people can overcome them in today's game.

According to reports from November 2017, our current skill-shortage is the second biggest problem facing the construction industry, with 62% of companies dissatisfied with the quality of recruitment & new hires. Jessica has become one of the industry's prominent voices for facing and managing adversity, and has subsequently conducted extensive research in order to explore the root-cause of this problem by researching whether or not young people are given a realistic and informed opportunity to choose construction at an integral age.

Jessica worked with a focus-group that predominantly consisted of fifteen year old females, to ascertain their level of interest in entering construction, but they found that the main deterrent was a complete lack of information and clear opportunity at a critical age for career selection.

"You can’t be an Engineer without science so if you don’t know you want to be an Engineer as a teenager, it will be difficult to choose the appropriate path... If you know early enough then you can make informed decision"

As well as working with a number of action-groups and organisations representing minorities, Jessica also manages an Instagram account that gives young people an innovative & exclusive insight into the day-to-day challenges, cultures & occurrences that construction personnel are exposed to.

"When you don’t see someone who looks like you, it is hard to imagine yourself in that sort of role… I think it is really important that young people have access to people who are like them... There are not huge amounts of women in the construction industry… I would like to inspire more people to join the industry"

Q&A

BW: Tell us how and why you decided to enter the construction industry?

JT: I got into construction by accident really... I didn't really know anyone that worked in construction, and I certainly didn't know any women in the sector. After I Graduated from Geography in 2008, I must have applied for 80-90 jobs and I only got one offer, from Network Rail so I accepted a place on their Project Management Graduate-Scheme. I worked as a Project Manager across two companies for 5 years before retraining as a Quantity Surveyor. I was excited by the culture, the final products and the opportunity for progression & self-development and I knew that this was the sector for me.

"I am smart, clever and good at my job... no one telling me that I'm not, will change that"

BW: Did you sense any gender disparity, or do you today?

JT: In my first job interview, I remember saying to my friends that I'm the only girl here... I was a bit concerned but I don’t think I really realised that there was actually an issue with 'women in construction' for quite a long time. I started with Network Rail and it was a really even mix between male & female Engineers & Managers so it felt like a 'typical' work set up. I felt that most of the criticism was related to age, or lack of experience as opposed to gender and looking back, there was probably an element of truth to those comments. I certainly don’t suffer from any discrimination today but I'm just not interested in it… I know I am smart, clever and good at my job so no one telling me that I'm not, will change that.

BW: Do you think Positive-Discrimination is also detrimental?

JT: I used to think that set quotas for hiring minorities were a bad idea but I was involved in some qualitative research revolving around hiring decisions, and it became apparent that discrimination is not always conscious or proactive, so positive discrimination can act as an opposing force. To give you an example, studies have shown that we hire in our own image, so if the current model is top-heavy with male decision-makers, it will be difficult to ever buck this trend without shifting the attention to the over-correction. Whilst it is hard to argue that discrimination isn't detrimental & divisive in any form, there is a strong argument to suggest that we do need the quotas to redress the balance. I think the awards for women are a very important platform to meet people in similar situations to you, but I would like to see more all-inclusive occasions with the support and involvement from males as well. One of my favourite initiatives was launched by Barratt Homes graduates in conjunction with the Prince's Trust and whilst it aims to introduce more females into construction, it is called Built By Both and it defines the need for a gender-equality to be equally supported by both genders.

BW: What advice do you have for young people considering construction?

JT: Don't worry! When I was starting, I was one of 35,000 people and I had zero experience. All I had was a sense of entitlement because I had been to university but I slowly realised that being attentive & patient will eventually earn recognition. Also, don't worry if there are not a lot of people that seem 'like you' and don't worry about failure... It is really important to back yourself and try anything that you think you might be good at. If you are interested in construction, definitely do something about it. The best thing to do is to try and get some short-term work experience within a construction company and out on site, because it is really the culture that you will fall in love with. If you don’t know where to start, then reach out to someone because there are real opportunities out there if you are willing to apply yourself. It’s an exciting environment that I think everyone should try at least once but I would recommend turning up with your best sense of humour! If you want to do it then you can. 

"If I had known about all of my options earlier, I might have been an Engineer ... or a Sommelier…"

BW: Tell us about @girlonabuildingsite on Instagram?

JT: My primary topic during my Masters' Degree revolved around why young people - particularly women -weren't choosing the construction industry. It started to transpire that most girls never even have the opportunity to imagine themselves in the environment so it really lead me to start @girlonabuildingsite on Instagram in order to offer visual access to the construction world. It is about showing young people that they can be whatever they want and do whatever they want,  I want to show people that because I am doing it. It's been great because I have also found the National Association for Women In Construction & Class Of Your Own through Instagram and Twitter, and I get a lot of messages acknowledging and thanking me for what I am doing. I don't think I am doing anything special and there are a lot of accounts like mine that show trades, engineers and even industrial abseiling... I wouldn't know what Industrial Abseiling was if it wasn't for social media.

Throughout our interview with Jessica Tabibi, it was obvious that she has ambitions to have a positive impact on young people, and on her beloved construction sector. If anyone would like to discuss how to get into construction, or if anyone has any concerns surrounding adversity or disparity, Jessica would like to welcome any conversations where she may be able to use her experiences to help. Equally, you can reach out to The Built World and we will endeavour to support any construction-related matters:

Contact >> Jessica Tabibi on LinkedIn

Contact >> Jessica Tabibi on Instagram

Contact >> The Built World on LinkedIn

Contact >> The Built World on Instagram

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