In this timely article, Dr Claire Handby looks at the transferable skills construction professionals often undervalue. Based on her own extensive experience working in the sector, she provides insightful advice on how those working in the industry can make the most of their credentials.
My first taste of construction came on a high school work experience placement with a scaffolding company. I split my two weeks between the estimating department and building sites in the glamorous locations of Hull, Manchester and Leeds. As a northern girl at heart, I loved every minute of it, so much so that a short time afterwards I chose to study a BTEC National Diploma in Construction.
Following the BTEC, I moved on to completing a BSc (Hons) in Building Management and, during my placement year in 1996, worked in construction project management with a developer. After graduating, I secured my dream role with Laing as a construction management trainee. My first major project was the construction of the Millennium Dome, now the O2 Arena. It was incredible.
I stayed with the business through its transition to Laing O’Rourke before moving to Mace six years later. Altogether, I spent ten years working full-time on construction sites before being headhunted into management consulting. That journey took me through EY, Deloitte and KPMG, working across major infrastructure, real estate and government programmes. In 2023, after 15 years in large corporates, I launched my own leadership business.
At the time, each career move felt huge. Looking back, though, I realise I took far more with me than I ever appreciated. So many of the skills that drove my success elsewhere were forged in those early years in rigger boots and a hard hat, learning fast and grafting on site.
I see the same pattern in construction professionals considering what’s next. Some want a change after decades in the same role. Others are facing circumstances they didn’t choose. Some simply have itchy feet.
Sometimes it’s the body saying it can no longer handle the physical demands. Sometimes it’s a desire for something new. Whatever the reason, many people undervalue what they’ve spent years earning. I’ve lost count of the number who describe themselves in interviews as, “I just work on mucky building sites.”
They couldn’t be more wrong.
What you’ve been doing all along
Think about what a normal week on a construction project demands:
- You’re reading programmes and understanding the consequences if steel arrives three days late.
- You’re coordinating multiple subcontractors and keeping work moving without conflict.
- You’re spotting safety risks before they become incidents.
- You’re guiding frustrated clients through variations and finding workable solutions.
- You’re keeping teams motivated through cold, wet February mornings when nobody particularly wants to be there.
The industry calls it getting the job done.
Everyone else calls it leadership, planning, risk management, stakeholder management, communication, negotiation, commercial awareness, and resilience. These are highly valuable skills. Many organisations, both inside and outside construction, pay very well for people who can demonstrate them.
When I moved into consulting, I worried I’d be exposed as “the one from the building site”. Instead, my experience became an advantage. I could take complex problems and break them into sensible, practical steps. I knew how to get people with competing agendas around a table. Most importantly, I didn’t lose my head when things went off track or get intimidated by the behaviours of one person, as no one came up to the level of the characters I had been with on site.
Years later, when I was leading the transformation of multi-billion-pound programmes, it wasn’t consultancy theory that helped most. It was the site-honed instinct to recognise when something was drifting off course and the determination to get it moving again.
Learning to translate
One of the biggest barriers in a career move is language.
A CV full of construction shorthand makes perfect sense to someone in the industry but can leave recruiters elsewhere scratching their heads.
“Ran the job on a £15m school build” means a lot within construction.
“Led a team of 60 across 14 contractors, delivering a £15m project on time, within budget and with an excellent safety record” tells any employer exactly what you’re capable of.
The skill isn’t changing your experience. It’s translating it. Try this exercise.
Write down the three toughest problems you’ve solved in the last five years. For each one, note what was at stake, who you had to bring with you, how you solved it and what value was created.
What emerges won’t just be project examples. You’ll uncover evidence of your judgement, leadership, communication, and resilience.
Then test those stories on someone outside construction. If they understand what you did, why it mattered, and the value you brought, and you can explain it with confidence and conviction, you’ve cracked it.
Where it can take you
Suppose you’re looking to move away from physical site-based work; the options are wider than you might think. Health and safety, estimating, quantity surveying, planning, logistics, facilities management, procurement, training and assessment all build on knowledge you already possess.
Beyond construction, marketplaces such as healthcare, energy, and transport need people who understand how projects are delivered in the real world. Trustee and board roles are worth exploring too. Volunteering in the charity sector can be a great way to gain experience and demonstrate those wider leadership skills.
There’s a message here for employers as well. When someone can no longer perform the physical aspects of a role, it’s worth asking what else their experience could bring before letting that knowledge walk out of the door.
Recognising what you already bring is the starting point for any successful career move. As I explore in my book, Uptick: Clarity, Courage and Confidence for Your Next Chapter, your years on site have built far more than buildings and infrastructure. They’ve built skills, judgement, resilience and leadership. Those are worth far more than you might think.
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About the author
Dr Claire Handby is an executive coach, Independent and Non-Executive Director for boards & businesses, and a Visiting Professor at the University of Salford, with three decades of experience in business and leadership. She is the author of the international bestselling book Uptick: Clarity, Courage and Confidence for Your Next Chapter (July 2026) and the upcoming book Zip It: The essential guide for those who have been professionally silenced (March 2027).
Connect with Claire on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/dr-claire-handby.