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International Women’s Day Profile – Lauren Li

An interview with Lauren Li. Lauren is a recent RMIT PCPM Graduate.

Where are you working now? 

“Charter Keck Cramer – QS”

What is your role and what activities does your role entail on a daily basis?

“I have been working as an Assistant Quantity Surveyor since Nov 2021. I work as financiers’ quantity surveyor and prepare initial reports and progress reports for projects that require financing. I have been working on projects including residential, commercial, and land developments. I conduct site visit a few times a week, to check on the actual progress of works onsite and report it to the financiers for their drawdowns. I also work on cost plans and construction cost estimates when we are engaged directly by the developers.”

What do you like best about your role?

“I enjoy going on site to see construction in action and appreciate the opportunity to ask site managers questions about the projects. I ask questions about the progress of the job, whether there is any delay experienced or expected, and what kind of difficulties they have and why.”

What attracted you to your role? 

“A friend of mine has been working as a quantity surveyor since 2009. We got to know each other when I was working at WSP as a structural draftsperson. She encouraged me to pursue a career in quantity surveying and provided me with a lot of support during my study at RMIT.”

What is most important to you when looking for a job?

“I love challenges and hate boredom. I love jobs that provide continuous stimuli to make my life exciting.”

Tell us about your career journey so far 

“I was extremely lucky to get my current job at the end of the 3rd year of my study at RMIT, and I cannot be more grateful for this opportunity. With 19 months’ experience under my belt, I am hoping to be promoted to quantity surveyor in July this year.”

Tell us about the challenges and triumphs you have faces as a female in a male-dominated industry

“The fact that I am a single mother of a 7-year-old girl and I started my career in my mid-30’s has made it extra challenging for me. Being a male-dominated industry has made the construction industry not particularly tolerant to flexible working arrangement. I am extremely grateful for my boss to have agreed to implement a trial for flexible work schedule with me, which allows me to pick up my daughter from school and take her to tutoring in the afternoon, and make up the hours for work in the evening instead. Since we have started the trial, I have been working extra hours in the evenings and on weekends to make sure all works could be completed on time. This is my way to show my appreciation to my boss, knowing how difficult it is for the business to provide me with this flexibility.”

If you could say one thing to young females looking to enter the industry – what would it be? 

“Follow your heart’s desire – your own passion is what really matters.”

Why should students in school consider your industry as a further study and career option? 

“Quantity surveying is a great career option for those who are great with numbers and are genuinely interested in the cost aspect of construction. It is a mixture of field work (but not too much) and office work (that is never boring).”

What did you enjoy best about your degree? 

“I got to do a lot of interesting group works with some really talented young people, and I learnt a lot from them.”

You can connect with Lauren on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauren-li-rmit/

Thank you Lauren for sharing your story!

If you would like to share your story you can here: https://forms.office.com/r/D3yEG8YStt

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This entry was posted on February 28, 2023 by and tagged , , , .