The Bright Horizons of Safety Measures

August 27, 2022

The Bright Horizons of Safety Measures

Safety measures is an essential industry. Demands for building assessors and talented experts grow each year and it’s no wonder why. Safety measure experts ensure that buildings are safe for all stakeholders and are compliant with legislative requirements. They protect our people and properties while helping building operators to understand and mitigate their risk. Hendry is committed to shepherding emerging talent into the industry to fill this gap.

We give engineering, architectural and construction management graduates an opportunity to get their start in safety measures. There are endless bright horizons ahead for those who wish to pursue them. Roles can offer a lot of variety, travel and opportunities to work with a diverse range of clients across a wide scope of projects. But don’t just take our word for it. Hear from 4 of our talented building assessors who got their start from Hendry’s graduate program.

Meet Laith: Advancing into a larger role

When I joined the graduate program, Hendry provided me with the opportunity to be part of across a wide range of industrial, transport, apartment buildings, healthcare and educational projects. The team also helped me to work towards my goals by providing support and mentoring.

What attracted you to join a graduate program?

As a graduate, my goal was to gain valuable experience, expand my knowledge in the industry and to be part of a great team. Hendry had an excellent reputation for providing growth opportunities for its employees through a well-structured training and career development program. The opportunity to work alongside well-known experts in the field and be part of various projects attracted me to join Hendry’s graduate program.

On an average day, I would check my scheduled work, head on-site to conduct building inspections, review on-site documentation and meet clients to offer them relevant advice. As I was mostly out in the field, on office days, I caught up with my colleagues, worked on tasks and planned my upcoming work and travels, both locally and interstate.

There were always new challenges and opportunities every day which required attention to detail and team collaboration to come to a resolution. These challenges helped me grow and improve both my problem solving and teamwork skills.

I am driven to be the best at what I do. I love this industry, and I think it is a great choice for my short- and long-term goals. This has led to my greatest achievement – the advancement into a bigger role within Hendry. My new role has helped me expand my learning and given me the opportunity to work on more complex and challenging projects.

Meet Victor: Balancing work and play

When I was studying my Associated Diploma, I wasn’t looking for jobs. But prior to my completion, a classmate contacted me and asked if I would be interested in a graduate position with Hendry. I had very basic knowledge and no experience. So, I joined the graduate program.

My initial goal was to better understand AS 1851 and the NCC in relation to my role. I am a perfectionist, so I don’t want to just do the job – I want to do it as close to perfect as I can.

How did a graduate program help you to grow?

Working with accomplished building assessors is what helped me to grow. Going on-site with assessors who know their stuff and asking questions has given me more knowledge and clarity on various areas that I wasn’t good at. This type of training helped me see real-life scenarios and how to resolve them.

The largest project I worked on was the Parks Victoria contract. An average day with this project consisted of organising site visits and planning the run according to what the admin team scheduled. I arranged accommodation and car hire for the duration of the run. Once underway, I would contact the representatives in the area to touch base. On the day of inspection, I would attend their office, collect keys and then proceed with the inspection, completing all tasks to the best of my abilities. This contract involved significant travel time to and from the inspection site and between different areas. An example run would be Geelong to Mallacoota, on to Cape Conran, then back to Geelong.

I set out to better understand AS 1851. You never stop learning, but I do know more today than the day I started, so I have achieved my initial goals.

Currently, I am in a good place with a good balance between work and play. I am happy to put in the time and travel for jobs that need to be done as Hendry compensates us. As for what’s next, it’s more of the same. Gaining knowledge, inspecting, travelling, completing reports and providing a service to clients that puts Hendry in a positive light.

Meet Alexander: Peeking behind the curtain

I met someone from Hendry while studying. He mentioned that Hendry would be an excellent place to start my career in building and construction. My primary goal was to familiarise myself with the role and do a good job.

What did you do as part of the graduate program?

I started off doing smaller sites, convenience stores and restaurants. Later on, I got to work on office buildings, schools and warehouses. One of my greatest takeaways was getting to ‘peek behind the curtain’ of different buildings. Getting to access these sites felt like a privilege.

I was challenged to grow by being given more complicated sites and support from my colleagues and seniors, too.

I have lost the “graduate” in my title and am now a building assessor. There is still more for me to learn and to do in this role. My goal remains the same – to do a good job and to be an asset to the company.

Meet Dika: Becoming the best version of yourself

Hendry is a multi-disciplinary consultancy company with a focus on holistic compliance of a building. This made it a very compelling opportunity to get involved in ensuring compliance through participation in the graduate program.

My goal when joining was to learn the ropes as soon as possible, capture the general issues and try to provide valuable advice to clients. I have been quite lucky to experience working through different business units in the company such as asset audit and advisory, hazardous materials, emergency planning and building surveying. As a graduate, this exposure allowed me to try on different hats as I went. Not only to learn how to do things correctly, but to see what I liked and discover my own road.

I have been lucky enough to be involved in a lot of major projects ranging from a commercial tower and museum to schools, public spaces, shopping centres, banks, small cafes and restaurants. Most recently, I’ve worked on heritage buildings through Parks Victoria. This project gave me the opportunity to service interesting buildings and travel to remote and beautiful Victorian country towns like Bright, Wilson Promontory and Nelson.

Providing advice to non-regulatory bodies or tenancies proved challenging at the start. But since then, I have built relationships and explained jargon and non-technical terms effectively. Servicing some of the major landmarks of Melbourne has always been a highlight, together with helping clients achieve compliance effectively.

What can a graduate program help you to achieve?

The graduate program was set up and worked really well. Working as a fully-fledged building assessor in Hendry gave me the opportunity to hone my skills and work on multi-disciplinary contracts.

I always wanted to learn as much as possible and become the best version of myself. Every day, I’m doing and learning, and more challenges arise, which I believe is part of the fun and joy.

Interested in a career with Hendry?

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