http://www.bconstructive.co.uk/en/careers-in-construction/people/carla.aspx

Carpenter and Joiner

Which company do you work for?

I work for Morrison Facility Services and they do council house maintenance and repairs.

What do you do day-to-day?

In my day job I do more than carpentry, I also make and fit doors and also do bits of plastering, plumbing, tiling and floor tiling – all different things really. I just love being able to do my own thing really – going out and leaving my own little stamp everywhere.

What’s the coolest thing you’ve done so far?

The best thing I’ve done and the thing I’m most proud of in the last three years is a Level 3 practical exam which is a hipped roof, simply because I got to build it from scratch.

What are the good bits about your job?

What I like most about my apprenticeship is being able to learn on the job, the same thing that I’m learning at college. My employers do push me a lot – to keep going and going and going and saying ‘what are you doing next?’ They’re the questions you get all the time.

What would you say to anyone who wanted to try this?

If you’re thinking of doing it just get up and do it. Don’t think about it, do it!

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

In 10 years I’d like to be a contracts manager. A contracts manager is somebody that oversees the contracts of a big organisation, makes sure that everything’s going right, making people do what they’re supposed to do really.

What’s it like being a female on site?

I like to think it’s good that I’m doing something different, not something that all girls do, a bit out of the ordinary. In the workplace being female hasn’t really mattered to me because they treat me like one of them, one of the lads, looking out for me all the time.

I think it’s definitely something that girls should think about doing more, because it’s not that they’re not able to, it’s just that they’re a bit scared. I think you have to walk in, you have to keep your head high and prove that you deserve to be there.

Paul Champion
Strategic Project Manager

Mobile: 07540 704920