All thanks to the ever-increasing population, people are demanding more of everything, food, water, clothing and perhaps the most important of them all, shelter. It is the constant demand for houses, office buildings and other structures that is creating a demand for jobs in the construction industry. However, when we talk about construction, the only image that comes to our mind is the one of laborers working away with heavy equipment. Although this is true, there is definitely more to the jobs being offered in this industry. Actually, the construction industry comprises of many assignments, which come together to form a construction project.
The overall designing aspect in the construction industry is becoming very popular among the job seekers. In this respect, the design team would include the following job profiles:
Architects: The architect usually advises the construction contractor by preparing drawings and instructions with respect to the planned structure. The average income of the architect may range anywhere from $65000 to $75000. Architectural firms are always on the lookout for new talent and architects can also progress into high paying fields like real estate, project management, etc.
Surveyors: Civil engineering is incomplete without the aspect of surveying involved. Surveying is nothing but using scientific methods in order to determine the area and the feasibility of the construction project. This simply means that the surveyors form the brain by determining the points, angles and distance of the construction site. The average salary of the surveyor ranges from $55000 to $65000.
Construction Engineers: This job profile involves a lot of planning, including structural planning and its development, etc. However, due to the safety concerns in the construction industry, the construction engineers usually tend to focus more upon the paper work like viewing and studying the contracts, keeping a check on the available construction materials, etc. The average salary of the construction engineer ranges from $50000 to $55000.
Safety Manager: This is one of the most responsible jobs out there in the construction industry. Safety is main concern on construction sites due to the accident-prone nature of the work involved. The construction safety manager is responsible for maintaining and keeping the safety of the workers in mind, especially during the construction work. He has to make sure that he maintains the safety standards according to the rules and the regulations that have been prescribed by the State or the District Safety departments.
The construction safety manager is also supposed to monitor the safety and the health issues of the workers, which are covered under the company's health policy. Another duty of the construction safety manager is to investigate any construction related accident, especially those arising out of working with heavy equipment and machinery like bulldozers, cranes, etc. The average salary of a construction safety manager ranges from $75000 to $85000.
There are many more fields that you can set your eyes on, namely construction accounting, construction estimating, construction management, etc. The jobs in the construction business are most sought after, all thanks to the construction industry aiming at the construction of government offices/buildings, residential complexes and last not but the least, construction of highways and other roads. Thanks to all of these factors, the job market in the construction industry is witnessing a double-digit growth, which makes the construction industry one of the most sought after job markets in the 21st century.
When we think of a sales career, we think of selling products like electronic goods or even those pesky telemarketers who are always happy to give you a "fantastic, only for today, only for you" offer. But looking at it in a broader sense, sales play a crucial part in every industry, and in every walk of life; there is always sales involved, and this is how a business is built.
However, coming to think of construction industry, people have the image of an engineer going through his blue prints, or skilled craftsmen religiously making sure that the bathroom flooring slopes in the right direction. But one of the most crucial components of the construction industry, which is more often than not neglected, is the sales. Someone might build swanky office complex, a gigantic mall, or a pent house. But all these structures hold no meaning if there are no people interested in buying them. Moreover, these are costly structures to build, and you need to sell all the space, and the facilities that you have created in order to run the business.
Even the infrastructure projects, like bridges, sewer systems etc. need to find takers who think in terms of better standard of living, better connectivity, or hygiene standards. There would be no point laying a whole grid of water supply pipelines without actually connecting it to a reliable source of water. Thus, no matter what you are building, you will need to sell it to the people-individuals, corporate world or the government. And this is where the sales people come into the construction industry.
Property, either developed, or undeveloped, has a lot of value. Estate developers and real estate agents sell these properties. A sales person in this industry needs to sell both developed, and undeveloped property, as well as new and old property. One of the most important characteristics of this industry is that there is a lot of activity, with high margins during the boom time, but the industry is usually the first to hit, or at times, even cause a recession.
A sales agent in the construction industry needs to have special understanding of the demands and the needs of the customers; the reason for this being that industrial premises, houses, shops etc. are not something that people buy everyday. A person has a certain idea, and more likely, certain desires when buying property.
A sales agent needs to make sure that he can understand and empathize with the customer, and provide something as close to the dream of the customers, as far as possible. The other important thing is that most of the deals are done via loans, in form of mortgage, or other form of credit. The sales agent needs to make sure that the customer has access to enough funds, and help the customer if he/she is not able to raise the required amount.
This is the reason that apart from the construction industry, a sales representative in this industry also needs to have enough know-how of the banking and the mortgage industry. This is one of the few sales jobs in the world where the sales representative need not only sell the product, but also arrange the money for the customer to buy the product.