Construction : Typical employers

The UK construction sector consists of over 250,000 firms and is an extremely diverse industry, composed of contractors, consultants and building materials and product producers. It is dominated by small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with a relatively small number of large companies.

Big players

The top three companies in the UK construction industry in 2010 were:

• Balfour Beatty - areas of specialisation include: architectural technology; building management; building services; construction management; design and build; geotechnology engineering; project management; quantity surveying; and structural engineering;
• Carillion - recruits into building management, building surveying, civil engineering, construction management, geotechnology engineering, project management, quantity surveying, structural engineering, and surveying;
• Laing O'Rourke - offers a range of engineering, construction and specialist services with operations in eight core sectors: lifestyle; business; social infrastructure; transport; power; mining and natural resources; oil and gas; and utilities and waste.

Other major employers with global businesses include:

• Atkins - recruits graduates into various areas including: architecture; building control; building surveying; civil engineering; commercial management; facilities management; planning; quantity surveying; and structural engineering;
• Bechtel - company portfolio includes energy, transportation, communications, mining, oil and gas, and government services;
• Mott MacDonald - a management, engineering and development consultancy delivering solutions for public and private clients worldwide. Services include large infrastructure such as bridges, tunnels, highways and railways plus expertise in energy and environmental engineering and transport planning.

The industry is served by a number of professional bodies and institutions for various professions in the sector including the:

• Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA)
• Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE)  
• Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)

Small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)

SMEs are organisations with less than 250 employees and an annual turnover of up to 50 million Euros. Working for a smaller company can be rewarding because you are more likely to forge a path for yourself within the company, although opportunities to try other departments may be limited.

SMEs are unlikely to use the testing and assessment techniques of larger companies or follow lengthy recruitment procedures. SMEs are more likely to advertise their vacancies through the local press, university careers service bulletins, local graduate vacancy listings, jobcentres and word of mouth, rather than rely on their reputation and a presence at graduate recruitment fairs.

Your careers services should have listings of jobs with small firms. See also Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) . For Scotland, see Talent Scotland . For Wales, look at GO Wales Jobs . For Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, see Gradireland .

The variety and scope of work might be narrower and opportunities for overseas working fewer with SMEs. Try to look past the salary package and consider the organisation as a whole and what opportunities it offers.

Self-employment

38% of construction workers were self-employed in 2009 and that trend may have increased during the recession due to redundancies (Office for National Statistics, 2010). Self-employment is not usually possible in this sector until graduates have several years’ experience and are professionally qualified.

Find out more about self-employment.