If you could swap your current job, what would you like to do?

That’s easy, I’d love to be a diving instructor working out in the Maldives. It’s an ideal location and the diving’s totally out of this world – the wildlife, the photography, the history of the shipwrecks... In terms of construction, let’s wait and see if I have a job in six months! Seriously though, I’d quite like to go back in time and be a site engineer again.

It pays less, but it’s less hassle, it’s very rewarding and you get to clock off at 5pm. Working as a project manager puts you under pressure to meet targets and deadlines, although it’s rewarding in other ways.

Paul Corner ICIOB, project manager, Morrison Construction

I’d love to manage a kids’ football team. My son is six and plays for his school team, so I’d like to be responsible for his career. But I expect that probably has to be a hobby. I’ve done loads of jobs. I started as an apprentice bricklayer, then retrained in the last recession, so I worked my way up from sub-agent to manager, then running a department, then back down to site manager because of the downturn. I joined the TA to help pay my way through university, and I also worked at Butlins.

Steve Liddle ICIOB, site manager, Miller Construction

The job I have in mind would be to swap to a client role, I’m interested in sustainability so I’d like to get it written into the brief so it can’t be removed in later stages. Perhaps an education client, working for the Building Schools for the Future programme. It would be good to be involved at the inception of the project, as a contractor we only come in at Stage C or D. Even though we might start with the best of intentions, sustainability often gets waylaid by cost or programme. It really needs to be written in at the front end.

Fred Mills ICIOB, management trainee, Willmott Dixon

I’d like to work for the United Nations Environment Programme, helping countries in Africa or Asia to clean up the environment after all the awful things Western countries did to them in the past. It would be cool to work around the world understanding and monitoring pollution, and influencing policy. My other fantasy career is to be a sports medicine specialist. I’ve broken my ankle so many times, playing football and rugby, I’d really like to understand the inner workings of my limbs!

David Lawrence MCIOB, regional director, AIG/Lincoln

Source

Construction Manager