Bethany Bird, Assistant Quantity Surveyor

“Go to a careers fair – it’s a fantastic opportunity to meet different construction companies and have face to face conversations.”

Bethany Bird, Assistant Quantity Surveyor

Bethany has worked as an assistant Quantity Surveyor with Kier for just over 3 years, managing costs and the project budget, sourcing sub-contractors and carrying out external valuations. She is responsible for most of the sub-contractor liaison and, on smaller sites, leads the project on both the client and sub-contractor sides.

Bethany is enjoying gaining experience and knowledge in her job and has ambitions to progress to become a Quantity Surveyor and then a Senior Quantity Surveyor.

Every day is different in my job; some days I am working solo and some days I work as part of the team.

Bethany was given advice on her options after college by her tutors, she says, “I knew I didn’t want to go to university and so joined an employability group at college where we were introduced to a variety of work options. I was told about the management trainee scheme at Kier and did some further research as it sounded interesting. Although I knew I wanted to be a Quantity Surveyor, the management trainee scheme provides experience in lots of different departments on a rotation which gave me a good insight into the whole industry.

Bethany’s advice to anyone considering a career in construction is:

Do your research into the different professional roles available, not just the typical roles. Go to a careers fair – it’s a fantastic opportunity to meet different construction companies and sub-contractors and get good insight through face-to-face conversations. The construction industry isn’t just working on a building site, there are so many more roles available that involve office work or a mix of both.

To find out more about becoming a Quantity Surveyor visit What Is A Quantity Surveyor? Salary, Skills & Role | Go Construct