Expo showcases construction industry jobs

By Lindsey Turnbull

A first of its kind event was held on Tuesday at UCCI, the WORC Networking Expo & Construction Showcase, in a bid to open up the industry more to Caymanians, particularly young people who may not be aware of the wide array of well-paid jobs within this sector. Around 25 construction businesses had well-manned booths with staff on hand to chat with school students in the morning and then the wider public in the afternoon, about a career in the industry. 

Organiser Denise Myers, WORC Programme Coordinator, gave some background as to why such an event was needed.

“From 2019, the figures showed the construction industry dominated the labour market and today the most recent figures show it continues to dominate, so what we are hoping to do is to remove the stigma around construction,” she advised.  “Often, when persons think of construction, they think of blocks being laid in the sun, and so we want to expose persons to the idea that it is more than that, that there is a wide array of careers under the construction industry, so we are trying to highlight some of these careers.”

Ms Myers confirmed it was their intention to get as many Caymanians as possible into the industry.

“We have invited students because we want them to be able to make informed decisions in terms of the careers that exist. Careers evolve and we are seeing this in the construction industry, so we want them to come and explore, to ask questions. We will be having break-out sessions where we are asking persons within the industry who have been successful to share their story as to how they got started and how they got to where they are at now, in order to motivate the attendees.”

Organiser Allison Anglin, WORC Programme Coordinator, said the response from industry had been excellent to this first of its kind event.

“WORC saw the opportunity to break the stigma about the construction industry, so we reached out to a lot of people and we got an amazing, overwhelming response. We are really excited to showcase jobs such as in engineering, architecture and maintenance, and we also invited recruitment agencies because we want Caymanians to see the employment opportunities that are in the landscape. We are all one community so we wanted to bring everybody together and highlight everything in one go,” she advised.

Heritage Holdings Group of Companies was one such buisness taking part.

HR Manager Sabrina Bonthorne said they were hoping to reach out to a lot more Caymanians to showcase the opportunities available to them.

“We do a lot of internships and we’d like a lot more Caymanians to get into the field because we feel construction isn’t just about the outside. There is a lot of technical work that comes into it so we are providing a lot of information in our brochures with all our jobs so we can get a lot of young Caymanians informed. It is very difficult choosing a career, especially when leaving high school going into the real world, so we’d love it if people got the entire picture of the industry,” she said.

Catrina Stewart, HR Manager with the Department of Planning, was also keen to share information about their business. She said they hoped to share with attendees what Planning was all about, i.e., ensuring the life safety of people through making sure buildings are built to code, while at the same time highlighting the business and explaining to young people all the great opportunities available to them if they chose the Department for their career path.

Desmond White, Subject Leader for Design and Technology at John Gray High School, led a group of young people around the Expo. He said they hoped students would get a chance to hear and see the areas that relate to what they were studying and the many opportunities that were available on island when they study these subjects and then eventually pursue these careers.

“The students are from years 10 and 11,” he said. “They are currently studying a cross-section of subjects, including building technology, electrical technology, technical drawing, graphics, and construction. These are students who have opted to engage in these subjects and so we hope this will sensitise them to the many opportunities that are there, so they will make that link between what they are doing now and how it can feed into their future careers.”

Mr White felt the opportunity would be useful because sometimes students did not quite know what they wanted to do upon leaving school.

“That’s ok, but the more opportunities we give them to realise what is there and what the opportunities are, then the more likely they are to be able to make better choices that will feed into career pathways, such as apprenticeships and further education. It might help them to realise there are many lucrative avenues - not just office work - that they can make a career out of,” he stated.

Jeremy Scott, Director of WORC, said:

“From our data, we know that construction is a big demand here so the more we can direct our youth to those industries then the future for our Caymanians can be brighter and more sustainable from an economic standpoint,” he said. “I believe having the students here and having them be able to talk to our own Caymanians within the industry should ignite a spark and help them appreciate that this is not far off from where they can be involved and aspire to.”

Ms Myers said moving forward, they hoped to form an alliance in terms of apprenticeships, internships and mentoring with the business involved, so they would be undertaking follow-ups afterwards with the companies as to how to get people into the construction industry.