International Women’s Day Profile – Stella Bantragoulas

Interview with Stella Bantragoulas a current student at RMIT.

Where are you working now? 

“Currently working at Hickory.”

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

“My position at Hickory is a Building Cadet which requires me to do a range of different activities depending on the project I am on. At the moment, I am based on site at one of our high-rise residential projects called Aspire. At Aspire my role is Assistant Contracts Administrator (CA) which requires me to work closely with the Senior CA to assist with the coordination and management of each trade package.”

What do you like best about your role?

“The best part of being a Cadet at Hickory is that they give you a number of opportunities to learn new things by allowing you to change your role as you move to different projects and by making you feel valued enough to speak up and share what interests you.”

What attracted you to your role? 

“What attracted me to being a Cadet at Hickory is that they value each cadet’s education, they allow you to have a flexible work schedule to suit the demands of uni, especially when it comes to exam periods.”

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

“The most important thing to me when looking for a job is that there is the possibility for career advancement within the company and the opportunity to continuously learn throughout my career at the company.”

Tell us about your career journey so far 

“My first introduction to the construction industry was completing work experience at Metricon Homes when I was in high school. My work experience at Metricon Homes was only for one week however, I was introduced to all aspects of building homes which included the engineering, coordination and design that is involved in designing and building each client’s home. After completing my work experience with Metricon I was very interested in the construction industry as there a large number of pathways you can take and a lot of opportunities. From here, I found an interest in Civil Engineering and begun my studies at RMIT Melbourne, at the end of my first year at Uni I began my Cadetship at Hickory and have been with them for over a year now.”

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

“The biggest challenge I have been faced with while working in construction is learning how to overcome the discomfort from being one of the only few females on site. This can sometimes make it awkward to develop rapport with workers onsite. My personal triumph so far is gaining the confidence to go on site and complete tasks without discomfort, this is a big one for me as I am someone who is very quiet and introverted.”

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

“My advice to young females who are looking to enter the construction industry is to simply just do it. Even though the idea of working in a male-dominated field is scary, it is an extremely rewarding industry to be a part of as it is continuously growing and the number of women in the field is greatly increasing each year.”

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

“The great thing about working in the construction industry is that every day is different which keeps you motivated to go to work each day and causes you to develop a large range of skills. In the construction industry there is also countless opportunities to advance your career and a large number of different pathways you can pursue to suit what suits individual interests.”

What did you enjoy best about your degree?

“The best thing about studying a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil and Infrastructure) at RMIT is that they integrate practical classes into most of their subjects and assignments are based on real life problems and parameters.”

You can connect with Stella on LinkedIn here: http://www.linkedin.com/in/stella-bantragoulas-072a3625a

Thank you Stella for sharing your story!