By Tristan Hooker
Caroline Hodges loves her job. She’s the Project Co-ordinator at Hamilton based underground thrusting/civil works/directional drilling specialists, Civtec.
Caroline, who has been working for Civtec since March 2016, was originally on a three-month fixed-term contract.
“After three months, I was going to head to Australia but that didn’t end up happening so I stayed on and haven’t left yet!”
Caroline has a Master’s Degree in Biological Science. She had just completed her thesis on freshwater cyanobacteria and handed it in a week before she started working at Civtec.
“It was great timing,” she says, “because I was thrust out into the workforce and didn’t have anything to go to – then Civtec took me on.
“Because Civtec was getting so big so quickly, they needed someone to come in and do some policies and procedures writing for the bigger tenders. That was initially my role, as well as helping set up the health and safety plan, quality plan and environmental plan.”
Caroline says the skills she has learned while working at Civtec, combined with her university studies, have allowed her to gain a perspective which will be valuable in furthering her career.
“Even though I’m not exactly working in the field of science which I studied, a lot of the skills I’ve learned such as report writing, researching and communicating with clients, as well as the calibre of language, has really helped.
“I’m learning a lot of skills here which will be transferrable when or if I move onto a different role, even if it’s back into science. Project management is a huge thing for science, especially if you’re doing research – so being able to say I’ve managed people and projects will be really valuable. I’m learning a lot here.”
Caroline’s role as Project Co-ordinator sees her heading out to the sites to check on the projects.
“Every day I’ll go out and see the site, check in with the guys out there and do site audits, check their vans are all clean and tidy and that they’ve got all their first aid kits and things like that, as well as just have a chat to them and make sure everyone’s happy and everything’s going as it should be.
Probably my favourite part of working at Civtec is the interaction with all the staff. As you get to know everybody you find they’re all super nice and really courteous and helpful.
The dynamic of the team in general is really good. As the management team, we all sit in the same area and everyone interacts with each other. There’s no segregation of levels or anything like that. We’re all on the same level.
Caroline says anyone who wants to apply to work at Civtec check out the vacancies on Civtec’s web page or on TradeMe or simply call into Civtec’s office and drop off their CV.
“Often Shane or Darrell will be here so they might be able have a quick, informal interview with someone who has called in to drop of a CV,” says Caroline.