Jessica Kelly

5.00 AM

Alarm goes off, drag myself out of bed and getting ready to head to the gym. Coffee and food are my number one priority at this time.

5.30 AM

Arrive at the gym.  

7.45 AM

Arrive at work. Get myself organised and set up for the day ahead. Check my emails and write up a to-do list for the day.

8.30 AM

Write up Monthly Meeting minutes from a Kāinga Ora site visit the day before. (I forgot to take a photo at the site! So instead here’s a photo with Isaac, a fellow Graduate, from when I was up in Auckland.)

The meeting minutes will highlight any outstanding or future actions that are required from the Contractor, Project Manager, Design Manager or Engineer To Contract. This was the final meeting for the project as we are nearing completion, so was a quick set of minutes to wrap up the project.

9.00 AM

I then have a meeting with one of my colleagues to discuss a fit-out project we are working on for a large supermarket. We are in the process of applying for a discretionary exemption building consent, so the objective of our catch-up consisted of ensuring we have all the necessary documents to lodge the building consent prior to Christmas shutdown.

9.30 AM

Walk down to our local dairy to get milk for the office and stretch the legs.

10.00 AM

Time for my second coffee fix of the day. We have an excellent Breville coffee machine in the office, which sure helps to keep my coffee expenses low.

10.15 AM

Time to open my Kāinga Ora laptop and check emails for the day and write my to-do list. I am seconded into Kāinga Ora 3 days a week so having two laptops and workflows had forced me to quickly learn how to juggle multiple different jobs at a time – keeping a to-do list for each is key! Today’s work consisted of updating a Christchurch-wide construction and development presentation, formalise a business case memorandum for a project of mine in Blenheim for the funding to be approved, and tender some Engineer To Contract works in Christchurch.

12.15 PM

Make some lunch with the leftover food from our Christchurch office weekly lunch we had yesterday. Have a good few yarns with the ladies of the office and get my social fix for the first part of the day.

12.30 PM

Continue with finalising the Business Case for a Kāinga Ora project

1.15 PM

I went for a walk to clear the mind and move my body. I personally find going out and taking short breaks every now and then good for my productivity and focus. Plus, the sun started to shine. Bonus. And I enjoy being able to alter my desk to a standing desk at points throughout the day to change things up.

1.30 PM

I go on a live team viewer with our IT expert Oliver, as he helps me with a few IT issues.

2.00 PM

Paddy, my manger, helps me review my finished Business Case before I send it off to Kāinga Ora’s Senior Development Manager for approval. Paddy is epic and helped spot a few errors and clarifications I needed to get confirmation on.

3.00 PM

I jump back to my Frequency laptop and start the building consent application for the fitout job in Rolleston. I have never submitted a building consent application before, so this is a new experience for me. I’m continuously learning new skills each day, which I love.

4.30 PM

I write some reminders for tasks I need to complete at some point before the rest of the week or things I ran out of time to finish today. I pack up my laptops and head home.

5.30 PM

I have an early dinner pre training, as I don’t like to eat after a late training.

7.00 PM

I jump back in my car and drive to hockey training. Summer sessions are a combination of fitness and training.

9.30 PM

Get home and catch up with my flatmates about their day., I live with my best friend, so it’s very entertaining. Have a few good laughs eating my post-training snack and then I start to get ready for bed.

10.00 PM

Time for bed. Rest and recharge for another day tomorrow!

Thinking of experiencing life as a Frequency Graduate? Sign up to Prosple to receive job alerts for Frequency.