Zoe Bartholomew – Management Trainee

In 2014 I started my surveying apprenticeship with E G Carter & Co Ltd. For 1 day a week I attended Gloucestershire College to learn the theory of construction and quantity surveying. For the first two years I completed my BTEC and successfully achieved a distinction star. Then I started my HNC in September 2016 and am currently predicted to get a distinction.

Throughout the course of my four-year training programme my role has changed and grown, with that has come added responsibility. During my first year I was very much the office junior, I shadowed one of the company’s Managers which enabled me to develop a general understanding of what the company does, and more specifically how we work within Partnership Housing,which is the team I work within. Initially I was primarily observing the day to day way life within the team, undertaking basic tasks in the role of an assistant. I was able to spend a little time on-site, which enabled me to better understand the processes which contribute to the projects we deliver. As my knowledge grew with experience I was given more and more of an active role, taking the lead with certain elements of a project. The responsibilities I have include placing sub-contract orders, measuring work and monitoring progress, processing payments for sub-contractors and suppliers and more recently chairing our internal review meetings.

I am now providing assistance to a senior surveyor whilst beginning to undertake surveying duties on my own project with supervision.

I believe that my role as a female within the construction industry is something that myself and the company is proud of. This is something that I would like to help roll out, so that the modern construction industry can help influence woman to carve out a successful construction career.

As well as being a female within the industry I am open to new ways of learning and help spreading my knowledge with other members of the team. An example of this is sitting with our PR department and explaining some of the technical jargon within construction. This then makes it easier for our PR Coordinator to understand the technical aspects of our projects.

I also am an active member of our future apprenticeship programme and attend local career fairs. By doing this I can approach young motivated students and explain the process of our apprenticeship scheme. I feel that if the potential apprentices meet someone going through the process it allows them to ask the questions that they may not necessarily be able to ask the employer.

The apprenticeship has helped me grow in confidence, I am positive that I will become a successful quantity surveyor thanks to my apprenticeship.