Construction Careers

Website: http://www.aracontent.com/

(ARA) - The next time you drive around your hometown take a good look around. That new office building, apartment complex and grocery store under construction represent your community's future.

They may also represent the future for your son, daughter, neighbor, or even yourself. Construction offers a great variety of career opportunities; and as the economy continues to improve, so does the need for workers to add to the infrastructure. According to the U.S. Labor Department, the construction industry added 91,000 new jobs to the payrolls in the first five months of 2004.

"If things continue the way they have been, we're sure to see records broken," says Dennis Day, spokesman for Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), a national trade association representing more than 33,000 general contractors and related firms.

Day says the numbers are increasing because more and more people are realizing the industry offers a quick road for advancement. People with many different talents and educational backgrounds are finding job opportunities in the construction industry. "Tradesmen, which include brick layers, plumbers, electricians, surveyors, and metal workers are the backbone of our industry; but we also have an especially strong need right now for administrative workers," says Day.

Accountants, administrative assistants, bookkeepers, and financial officers are among those finding high-paying positions with construction companies these days. Demand is also high within construction companies for staff draftsmen, engineers, plumbers, roofers and surveyors.

"If you want to make the crossover from say the food industry to construction, it's easy to do," says Day. "Most companies offer paid job training to qualified applicants. " And if you're still in school, the most effective education for constructors, at all levels of managerial responsibility, is a meaningful synthesis of general education, math and science, construction design, construction techniques, and business management at the undergraduate level.

Typical construction program courses include mathematics and English, history and economics, physics, strength of materials, structural design, mechanical and electrical systems, materials and methods, planning, estimating, scheduling, technical report writing, contract documents, business management, and contract law. Degrees in Construction are now available at over 100 colleges and universities.

"Although higher education is desirable, the construction industry remains one of the few American industries where one may start with little formal education and still reach the top by becoming a chief executive or owner of a construction firm," says Day. This path to the top, from trainee, to craftsman, to constructor, requires hard work and a great deal of personal dedication.

For more information about careers in construction, log on to the Associated General Contractors' Web site: www.agc.org. The site has extensive information about training and education, and a recruitment center that offers industry information, access to a database of jobs around the country, and a place job seekers can post their resume.

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