After completing her matric, Onele never imagined that she would fall in love with a career in construction or engineering. But 5 years into her career and she's never looked back.

Onele is a Junior Foreman for a construction company that focuses on restoration and building parking garages and other concrete structures. In this article, she tells us more about her career in construction.

After completing her schooling, Onele made a promise to herself that she would never pursue a career that would require expertise in science and maths. But little did she know what life had in store for her. “It’s funny when I think about it because I never thought I would follow a career in engineering or construction,” she explains. “After completing my matric, I applied for office administration at college. However, I was told that because I hadn’t done accounting in high school, I could not take any courses in office administration.

Onele explains further: “The application office suggested that I apply for a course in the engineering faculty because my matric maths results were good enough for me to study engineering. I wrote the aptitude test and passed.” From there on, Onele says that fell in love with engineering and construction, and the rest is history. She now works for CPS Group.

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A foreman is usually a construction worker with experience in a particular trade and holds supervisory responsibilities over workers, materials and plant on a section of work. It is the duty of the foreman to train employees under his or her supervision, ensure appropriate use of equipment by employees, communicate progress on the project to a supervisor and maintain the employee schedule.

“What I love most about my job is seeing the finished project,” says Onele. “I feel a great sense of joy when I walk pass a project and can say that I was part of the construction process.

“Currently I’m working on a big project which I am very grateful to be part of. I have a great manager, Mr Espin who is very patient with me and is very good in teaching me the ropes. I also love the fact that working in this industry allows me to face challenging tasks, enabling me to learn and grow each day. My boss, Mr Pieter Smith, has also played a huge role in my career. He has always believed in my ability to do my job." 

Want to follow in Onele's footsteps? Browse all the latest foreman jobs right here. 

Onele suggests that confidence is key for those aspiring to follow in her footsteps. “You need to believe in yourself and your abilities,” she advises. “This is even more important for women because they tend to be scared of this industry as it is male-dominated.”

Putting her own advice into practice, Onele now has 5 years’ experience in the construction industry and says that she is still learning and growing each day. "I'm working towards starting my own construction company in few years time," Onele says.

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