How to develop your skills

I started in the construction industry in 2005 when I joined Gleeds London as a graduate QS. I found out about the opportunity from my Dad who had recently taken the position of MD of Gleeds France. I knew very little about quantity surveying back then, having studied Italian at university, but I loved it from the get-go. Looking back, I should have known I would join the construction sector as my Dad’s work had a real impact on me.

I remember him taking my brother and me to site some weekends when I was about 7. We would sit in the site hut in Paisley, playing around with drawings and highlighters. We lived in the Bahamas for a year then moved just outside Paris. We became bilingual in French and experienced totally different cultures, all thanks to my Dad’s work. I feel very lucky to have had those experiences. 

One of my career-defining moments was when my Dad asked me to come and work for him at Gleeds Paris. It was the most amazing experience working alongside him and learning from him and the French team. In a way he was my very first mentor. 

Fast forward 15 years and I’m in a new city again (the beautiful Edinburgh) frantically juggling work and parenting/childcare, realising that I had fallen out of the business development frame of mind. One of the directors in the Edinburgh office had regular catch-ups with me from the beginning and by speaking to him I realised what a great opportunity being new to a city is. It is an automatic conversation starter and can really help when building new relationships. I realised I wanted to embrace the Scottish market and work on making key contacts. 

When a mentorship opportunity within Gleeds came up I jumped at the chance and my mentor began sharing invites to key events, suggesting names of key contacts and he also attended some of the initial business to business coffee meetings I arranged. His attendance at these meetings allowed me to see first-hand the type of topics he covered and how he went about creating relationships. His help has been – and still is – invaluable to developing my business development skills.