2 answers
Jackson
Student
Cannon Beach, OR
1
Question
Asked
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1. What do construction managers do? 2. What kind of skills do they need to employ to be skilled/ efficient at what they do? 3. Who/ how many people depending on the job (residential housing to skyscrapers) do they need to employ to get the job done. 4. Are construction managers generally proficient in any of the trades they employ others to work on, and if so what would the most common ones be?
Looking into being a construction manager as my primary trade, I would love to learn most aspects of building residential housing to office buildings to football stadiums/ coordinating different tradesmen to get the job done. sounds like it could be #construction #career #job #business fulfilling work for me.
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2 answers
Valerie Kennerson
Insights from a talent acquisition professional
4
Answers
United States
Updated
Valerie’s Answer
Hi Jackson great question. I was a recruitment manager for a national home builder and we hired a lot of construction managers. Primarily they are responsible for managing the build of the homes within a community. It's a lot of project management, coordination and scheduling as well as communications across vendors, trades, suppliers, sales agents, and buyers. Most people we hired had a degree in business or construction management. If you are interested in learning more I would recommend looking into securing an internship.
Appreciate your response! Will be taking all the internship opportunities I can get :)
Jackson
Whitney Cupples
Sales Account Executive
9
Answers
Nashville, Tennessee
Updated
Whitney’s Answer
Hi Jackson,
My husband has worked in this field for several years and loves it! There will always be a need for this career, so I think it's a wonderful path to pursue if you're passionate about this space.
To address your questions directly:
1. Manage all aspects of what it takes to build a home (or any type of building if you're looking into commercial). You'll deal with several groups of people (likely subcontractors) who specialize in particular areas such as tile, lighting, electrical, etc.
2. Important skills include time management and honestly a lot of communication and interpersonal skills. You will deal with all kinds of people and will always be on a pretty tight timeline. Working calmly under pressure is also a key component. It is very important to communicate thoroughly with your team, too, because this career involves a lot of things happening at once to get the job done.
3. You will typically work with subcontractors and will likely not manage everyone directly. The number can vary drastically depending on the extent of the project - ranging from 10 to several hundred people.
4. You will learn as you go, and an internship would be very helpful. The most important things, however, are general knowledge of how projects work and interpersonal communication skills. The rest will come with experience.
Hopefully this is helpful, and best of luck to you!
My husband has worked in this field for several years and loves it! There will always be a need for this career, so I think it's a wonderful path to pursue if you're passionate about this space.
To address your questions directly:
1. Manage all aspects of what it takes to build a home (or any type of building if you're looking into commercial). You'll deal with several groups of people (likely subcontractors) who specialize in particular areas such as tile, lighting, electrical, etc.
2. Important skills include time management and honestly a lot of communication and interpersonal skills. You will deal with all kinds of people and will always be on a pretty tight timeline. Working calmly under pressure is also a key component. It is very important to communicate thoroughly with your team, too, because this career involves a lot of things happening at once to get the job done.
3. You will typically work with subcontractors and will likely not manage everyone directly. The number can vary drastically depending on the extent of the project - ranging from 10 to several hundred people.
4. You will learn as you go, and an internship would be very helpful. The most important things, however, are general knowledge of how projects work and interpersonal communication skills. The rest will come with experience.
Hopefully this is helpful, and best of luck to you!