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Construction

Mentoring for people in nonresidential building construction.

Nonresidential Building Construction is a construction field with its own language, its own way in and its own unwritten rules. A mentorhero session puts a mentee in front of somebody already doing that job for 30 minutes, so the questions get answered by a person instead of a search engine. Construction careers are built on who you happen to work beside. Mentoring gives that contact to people without a family in the trade.

Session length
30 minutes
Cost to the mentee
Free
Sector
Construction
The benefits

Why a session helps in nonresidential building construction.

The language of nonresidential building construction

A mentee leaves the session understanding the terms used on the job, not a glossary written by somebody outside it.

The route in, said plainly

Which qualifications, tickets or first jobs matter in nonresidential building construction, and which are a waste of money.

Thirty minutes, no cost to the mentee

Short enough that a working mentor can give it, long enough to change what somebody does next.

Somebody who has done the job

Mentors are matched on the work itself, so the person on the call recognises the problem straight away.

The words used on the job

The language of construction.

These are the terms that come up in a nonresidential building construction session, and what they mean in practice.

CSCS card

The card that gets you on site, and the first thing anyone asks a new starter for.

Snagging and handover

The last stretch of a job, where reputations are made or lost.

Programme and critical path

The build schedule and the tasks that cannot slip. Site language for priorities.

Subbie and main contractor

Who you actually work for on a site, and who pays whom.

Roles people ask about

Where the jobs sit.

A mentor can walk a mentee through any of these, from the first job to the one after next.

  • Apprentice trade

  • Site operative

  • Setting out and site engineer

  • Quantity surveyor

  • Site manager

  • Project manager

What mentees bring

The questions that come up.

  • Going from the tools into supervision or management

  • Which tickets, cards and NVQs are worth the money

  • Whether to go self-employed or stay PAYE

  • Moving from residential into civils or fit-out

  • Getting taken seriously as a young or female site worker

What a mentor can teach

Half an hour is enough for this.

  • How a job is priced, from take-off to final account

  • What a site manager expects in the first week

  • How to move from trade to technical without a degree

How it works

Four steps, no cost.

  1. 01

    Say what you do or want to do

    Tell us the part of nonresidential building construction you are aiming at.

  2. 02

    We match you

    A mentor working in the field, chosen on the job rather than the job title.

  3. 03

    Thirty minutes on video

    Bring the questions. No preparation, no cost, no obligation.

  4. 04

    Come back when you need to

    Sessions are repeatable as the next decision arrives.

Questions

The things people ask first.

Do the mentors actually work in nonresidential building construction?

Yes. Matching is done on the work itself, so the mentor either works in nonresidential building construction now or has spent long enough in it to speak from experience.

What does it cost a mentee?

Nothing. Sessions are funded by our partner organisations, so mentees never pay.

I am changing careers into this field. Is that still a fit?

Yes, and it is one of the most common reasons people book. Thirty minutes with somebody inside nonresidential building construction is the fastest way to find out whether the move is right before you commit to a course.

Can employers in this industry offer sessions to their people?

Yes. Partners fund sessions for their workforce, their candidates and their local community, and get live reporting on hours delivered.

Working in nonresidential building construction?

Give 30 minutes as a mentor, or book a session as a mentee. Both start on the same page.