Felicity’s journey into the construction industry began with an email from her school career advisor. A pipelaying traineeship opportunity with Community Solutions caught her attention, and she quickly submitted her resume. Within a couple of weeks, she landed an interview and got the job. While she found the experience valuable, she realised pipelaying wasn’t the career she truly wanted. However, it gave her a crucial foot in the door.
Determined to move into a supervisory role, Felicity took on a supervision traineeship for a year. Unfortunately, due to company constraints, she was made redundant. Felicity was very sad and disheartened when she got this news, but Community Solutions field officer, Aaron, saw Felicity’s potential and was determined to find her another role she would love.
“When I was made redundant, I was so upset, and I didn’t know what the future would hold. I didn’t know what else I would do,” Felicity explained.
Community Solutions field officer Aaron found Felicity another position with a different host employer. Although she wasn’t certain about this role initially, she decided to give it a go, and it paid off.
“Aaron gave me a nudge and encouraged me to go for it. They made the change and process so easy, and the team gave me the confidence to keep going,” Felicity said.
Over the past 16 months, she has been completing a Certificate III in Civil Construction, a three-year qualification that she will complete in just 18 months.
“This traineeship has given me a really good foundation and skillset to progress into the next step in the industry,” Felicity said.
Beyond her studies, she has also earned additional qualifications, including a roller ticket and loader ticket, allowing her to operate heavy machinery. These extra skills have helped Felicity to stand out in the industry.
At just 19 years old, Felicity found herself leading pre-start meetings in front of 70 plus men, an experience that was at first intimidating. Pre-starts involve briefing a team about their responsibilities for the day and ensuring everyone understands the project scope and potential risks. While it was daunting at first, she took on the challenge and gained the confidence to own her leadership role.
Felicity’s impact goes beyond her work on-site. She returned to her high school a year after graduating to share her story and encourage young women to consider careers in construction.
“I told them who I was, what I was doing, and that they shouldn’t be scared to give it a shot,” Felicity said.
One of the students from that session signed up for an information package and now works at RoadTek with Felicity.
Felicity credits much of her success to the support she received from Community Solutions. From making the recruitment process seamless to offering ongoing encouragement, the team has been there every step of the way.
“Community Solutions take such good care of their trainees and apprentices, and I could not recommend them enough,” Felicity said.
“Unfortunately, I have had a few injuries at work and Community Solutions have taken great care of me and have made the administration side of things so simple and easy, so I can focus on the job and nothing else,” Felicity added.
Now, as Felicity approaches the completion of her traineeship and earns her qualification as a civil construction labourer, Felicity is focused on paving the way for other women in the industry.
She recently launched her own podcast, Hard Hats and Heels, where she shares her experiences and provides insight for women looking to break into the construction industry.
Recently, Community Solutions Talent Acquisition Specialist, Joh, had the pleasure of joining Felicity on her podcast. In the episode “Resume to Reality” they dived into all things related in the job application process for construction, covering:
Both Joh and Felicity did an amazing job at sharing such great insights, and we were thrilled to be part of the conversation! If you’re interested to learn more, check out the episode here!
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