Back to Blogs

Now that we’re almost at the end of the year, it’s the perfect time to re-evaluate your career options and decide what you really want to do. You need to look beyond the now and decide where you want to be in the future.

While opportunities in rail are plentiful and abundant, exploring a career path can be a complicated process. However, by identifying your interests, vision, and career goals, you can set the course for a healthy, successful career path.

pexels-albin-berlin-892541

 

Project delivery roles vs maintenance roles

There's still significant investment in the rail sector nationally, as well as unprecedented demand for skilled rail professionals. With rail being the nation-building focus of the federal government, several key project delivery roles have emerged. While there’s demand for civil infrastructure candidates, specialist rail systems candidates are particularly difficult to source. Roles in high demand include:

  • signaling 
  • overhead wiring
  • tracks and power tracks

Another key area that’s being undermined by skills shortages is the operation and maintenance of existing assets and projects. There has been a fundamental underinvestment in this area, provoking mainstream media to shine the spotlight on the lack of focus of ongoing maintenance across all infrastructure sectors.  

These shortfalls mean that job seekers now have multiple options on what type of roles they want to take on - the delivery or maintenance of projects.   

 

Looking beyond salary 

In the course of your career, you’ll probably be faced with a situation where you're choosing between two jobs and two different salaries. But before you accept the role with the higher salary, consider the following non financial benefits to help you to make the right choice:

  • Is there flexibility around working hours or arrangements? Consider an organisation that allows employees access to job sharing, working part-time, or working their permanent full-time hours over four longer days.
  • Is the company well resourced? Choosing a company that is well resourced means you won’t be overworked.
  • What is the company culture?  Indications of an excellent company culture includes great leaders who are visible and accessible and allow employees opportunities for growth, advancement, and learning.

If you look beyond pay as the main driver for changing your career, you will recognise the true value of the benefits on offer.

 

Creating a clear career path

With significant investment in construction engineering and railroad investment, qualified job seekers are being faced with multiple job offers. However, when you’re searching for a new role, make sure you carefully think about how it will impact your long-term career prospects.  

Accepting jobs on impulse may litter your resume with short-lived jobs, making you look unreliable to potential employers. This could lead you even further away from achieving your career goals. Ultimately, you need to have a clear direction of what you’re really looking for. If the potential career progression on offer appeals to you – rather than the salary or the benefits – then it’s imperative to understand how the job will serve you in a few years time and how it helps achieve your career goals.

Career planning is essential in setting your career goals. A career plan with clear, actionable objectives will allow you to navigate in the right direction. You can create one here using our template.     

 

Where the job opportunities are right now

We’re observing two major trends for rail job seekers: 

  • Mid-tier opportunities - Nowadays, job seekers don’t need to only consider large tier 1 firms to improve their professional development. Awarding smaller to mid-tier infrastructure contractors lead roles on megaprojects are on the rise, which means candidates are gaining more exposure to these types of projects than in the past.  
  • Specialised project based rail roles - There are also opportunities for highly skilled professionals who want to work on specific projects. This may suit specialised candidates such as rail engineers - particularly those who have a desire to work on a large number of different projects. The increase in joint venture partnerships means you can now widen the breadth of companies you work for.  

Conclusion

Not surprisingly, the current pandemic has led many people to re-evaluate their career path and choices. While the rail sector has presented many opportunities for job seekers, it has also created confusion and perplexity.     

When considering a job offer, it’s important to look beyond just the salary being offered and look at the compensation holistically. In addition, creating a clear career path with actionable goals and visions will guide you in the right direction.  

CGC Recruitment can help to identify the right career path, allowing you to achieve your professional and financial goals.  

For more rail infrastructure trends and insights, checkout CGC in Focus 2.0.

 

About CGC Recruitment

There are currently strong opportunities to grow your career in the rail infrastructure sector.  If you think you meet the criteria for roles in this sector, contact us today.

Advice on how to acquire new skills, career planning, and tips on how to find the right recruitment agency are just some of the tools CGC recruitment can assist you on your professional journey.  

CGC Recruitment is a team of highly-motivated, experienced recruitment consultants, offering candidates unique industry insights.  We ensure our candidates are offered a consistently high level of service at every engagement. Contact us today to find out more.

You can search our latest vacancies here, or alternatively, upload your CV and we’ll contact you when we have a suitable vacancy available.