What's your job about?
Johnstaff is a client-side Project Management Consultancy that specialises in social and economic infrastructure projects (ie. health, transport, aged care, education etc.). As a Project Engineer, I assist the Project Managers, Senior Project Managers and Project Directors to meet project deliverables. The project team relies on the Project Engineer to manage day to day correspondence and escalate project issues if required to the rest of the team.
I am predominantly focused on two infrastructure projects, one in the private sector and the other in the public sector. Some of my weekly tasks include taking meeting minutes, reviewing consultant fees and attending site visits during the construction phase of the project. I enjoy the more high level overview one can get from the client-side PM role, as you are able to get insight into cost and contractual aspects of the project, in addition to on-site activities and the intricacies of the engineering/architectural design process.
What's your background?
My family and I moved to New Zealand in 2012 from Singapore. After completing my secondary education, I spent a year abroad travelling and working in Europe and Asia in various nannying, Edinburgh Fringe Festival volunteering and teacher assistant roles. Having enjoyed Maths, Physics and Art/English as subjects at school, it seemed a logical choice to take Engineering at the University of Auckland.
Midway through my final year of Civil Engineering, I began applying for various graduate roles in construction and client focussed consultancy companies. Though some engineers go down the design consultancy route, having done some work experience in a structural design consultancy, I decided the long hours spent staring at a computer screen in a clinical work environment and the pressure of design responsibility was not for me.
The interview process at Johnstaff was straightforward and much less complex than other roles. After one 10 minute screening phone call and a more formal 1 hour interview, I was offered the Graduate Project Engineer Role commencing in February 2022. Though I could have started in November 2021 once university classes had finished, I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to enjoy one last long lengthy summer in my hometown without having to take leave.
Could someone with a different background do your job?
Yes, absolutely. Many of my colleagues do not have construction or architecture related degrees/diplomas. Given a large portion of the role is administrative (organising meetings, meeting minutes and maintaining list registers), as long as you have a good sense of organisation and common sense, most people who think logically would be able to do my job.
What's the coolest thing about your job?
The coolest thing is being able to feel like you’re contributing to something meaningful that many people will benefit directly from (hospital services, aged care etc.). You also get the best of both worlds between working from an office and completing site visits/visiting other workplaces for meetings, which prevents the work weeks from getting too monotonous.
What are the limitations of your job?
The workload can vary week to week and often we as project managers are expected to solve consultant quarrels or project issues as soon as they arise. It can also be challenging to identify which project issues need escalating when you have limited project experience. You need to be someone who can readily let things go at the end of the work day and be ready to make mistakes, otherwise you may struggle to move past project issues once they are no longer relevant or simply cannot be resolved.
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