Finding a Work / Life Balance as an Assistant QS

Amber is on our Quantity Surveying apprenticeship programme and recently progressed from Trainee to Assistant with the jump to a fully qualified QS yet to come!

We spoke to Amber about how she finds getting a work life balance in her role and what it’s like working as a young person in the construction industry.

As a younger person in the industry, do you feel that your work / life balance differs compared to older colleagues?

I wouldn’t say that it necessarily differs, but that it was hard to establish a balance in the first place. I think the industry can be quite heavy and coming straight from a 9am-3pm school day with the odd bit of homework, to an 8am-5pm day (not including travel time) with real deadlines was a challenge – if I miss these, I’m in trouble!?

What are your priorities when maintaining a work/life balance and how do you stick to this?

I’m quite a ‘go go go’ person naturally, and I always have to be doing something. Currently I’m making sure work finishes... when work finishes! Particularly with the amount of university work I have, it’s important that I’m not checking emails at 8pm. I run a lot and often arrange to do it with friends, so when we’ve scheduled to run at 7pm, I have to finish by seven. I will often meet friends for a quick coffee (or something stronger) on my way home from the office or site, meaning I get an immediate switch off after a busy day rather than heading straight home and invariably carrying on with work.

Do you think now is a good time to be a young person in the construction industry?

Yes. I think there are a lot of opportunities in construction at the moment and there is a conscious effort across the industry to change it for the better in terms of things like sustainability, diversity and inclusion. When you go to events you’re reminded that the construction industry spans a huge number of sectors with a massive range of job roles. When you start young, there are so many things you can do, with room to grow and progress into other job roles once you’ve learnt the set of skills and understand the industry. For me, there’s no feeling of being pigeonholed and no expectations on you because they recognise that you’re young.

Do you face any barriers that you feel are a result of being a younger member of the team??

I genuinely don’t think that anything is a barrier as a result of my age. If there is something, I find people outside of the Speller Metcalfe team underestimate you, but this only happens occasionally. It’s often because you’re young and there is a natural assumption that you’re very new which, as a result, means that the knowledge and experience you do have is sometimes overlooked - albeit there’s always room to learn more! Any issues that do occur, however, are resolved with the full support of the team. Also once you’ve established a relationship with subcontractors, they realise what you are actually capable of. Have faith in what you’re saying and back yourself.?

Work hard, play hard – is this true?

Absolutely. Although I’d say my playing hard is pretty different to other people. I work really hard and I really love my job which often gets a weird reaction when I tell people this. I like to know I’m succeeding and its quite self-affirming to see the results of hard work. For me, that attitude also applies to my personal life, and playing hard constitutes as training for and running ultramarathons, as well as the occasional trip to the pub when I have time; I wouldn’t exactly say my weekends are very relaxing. It’s not the typical ‘play hard’ but it’s still full on – it’s who I am and what I enjoy.?