Assisstant Quantity Surveyor Review

My role is an assistant Quantity Surveyor working within a commercial time on site. I assist the lead commercial manager in dealing with day to day commercial jobs which most notably include cost control, enhancing value and managing cash forecasting. I am currently working alongside the commercial lead on Liverpool street crossrail station.

I have learned many new skills whilst working alongside talented and industry leading professionals. I am assisted with my university work whilst on the project but Laing O'Rourke also offer various internal training programmes which aim to develop vital skills in the construction industry.

I do enjoy the programme I am currently enrolled in as I am given a wide range of responsibilities which help shape me into a successful employee. The mixture of university lecturing and on-job learning makes the years 'fly by' and thoroughly enjoyable. There is a lot of support provided by the learning development team also.

I do feel valued by Laing O'Rourke and I am made to feel like an integral member of the team. However, the pay structure is quite rigid which doesn't necessarily allow for a great deal of flexibility in the early years of my development. As a result even if you feel that you are excelling and you are told that you are excelling this doesn't always reflect in your pay.

The programme is well organized with various modules each year. The modules are good as they enable a large cohort of cadets to come together and share their experiences working on different jobs in different areas of the country. Also there are mentoring systems available to help coach cadets into a good career in the future.

There is some support given from the university and this is much better now that I have changed to the university of Greenwich as I was previously at London university south bank and it wasn't very supportive at all. The lecturers at Greenwich university are very passionate about quantity surveying and this is portrayed in their lectures.

I receive a good amount of support from my employer and the learning development managers are always available to assist with any issues I may have. I also receive a great deal of support from my line manager who is very helpful and also interested in my personal development. Any support I may require is only an email away and there are plenty of people within the business who are happy to set time apart to deal with any arising issues.

Luckily I am still living at home with my parents so my outgoings in terms of costs (bills) is not very high. However, I would not be able to afford to move out of home as the salary I am currently on is not enough to pay for rent/mortgage. Therefore the salary would not meet my living costs and social costs if I was to be living on my own.

There are not a great deal of activities to get involved in outside of work and I think it would be better and install a breadth of togetherness if there were more outside of work activities. This been said, there is plenty of social drinking to get involved in within the project teams which can be a great ice breaker to get to know new people in the team that you haven't spoke with before.

Yes

Yes, because Laing O'Rourke invest a great deal of time and money into young talented professionals and turning potential young talents into business unit leaders who are striving to innovate the industry and push/break industry norms. There are also a lot of people who have been in the same situation as myself and are more than happy to assist with any queries that I may have.

My advice would be to be confident but not over confident and to remember that Laing O'Rourke are investing in the potential that they see in you as they are more than aware that you dont know everything or that you dont know anything at all. They will be able to identify if you have the willingness to learn and if you are striving for a great career within Laing O'Rourke.