CONSTRUCTION CAREER PROFILE:
TURNING CHALLENGE INTO OPPORTUNITY
Growing up in India, Siddhant Mehta witnessed the construction of beautiful buildings and developed a natural curiosity about how such structures were made. While pursuing an undergraduate degree in civil engineering, he decided the next step would be a Master’s degree in construction management. Siddhant wanted to study abroad, and he enrolled at Purdue University in the U.S. This marked a major turning point in his career.
Bold Pursuit of a New Pathway
During his first year of graduate school, the university was unable to offer internship opportunities to master’s students at the time. As an international student looking for a job, Siddhant knew an internship experience was a must. So, he took matters into his own hands, visiting on-campus construction sites to research the day-to-day operations of a construction team. Eventually, Siddhant built a relationship with one of the project managers and visited the jobsite during his final semester to continue his research and assist the construction team with small tasks.
When the time came to look for post-grad employment, Siddhant was selective in pursuing roles at companies willing to sponsor his H-1B Visa as an international resident in the U.S. He narrowed his search to five top-choice general contractors and focused entirely on sending cold emails, negotiating, and networking via LinkedIn. After several months, he received offers from four of these companies and accepted a position at Skanska, one of the world’s largest construction networks.
The Start of a Fulfilling Career
As a Project Engineer at Skanska, Siddhant has a lot of responsibilities. He handles bidding for trade packages, writing scopes of work, and onboarding and managing his subcontractors until they close out a project. This includes reviewing his subcontractors’ requests for information (RFIs) and submittals, managing all cost control, processing payment applications, and coordinating with the architect, owner, design team, and consultants. Siddhant also currently manages the LEED process for his projects. It’s hard work, but it’s all part of a job Siddhant pursued tirelessly.
“Looking at how everything panned out, it’s pretty amazing,” he says. “A lot of things had to be in place for this to happen — and credit to everyone who helped.”
Siddhant attributes a lot of his success to the people who supported him along the way. Exploring, talking with people, and asking questions are part of deciding what path you want to pursue. Siddhant encourages others to be open to new or surprising opportunities.
Leverage the Power of Networking
Everyone’s path in the construction industry looks different — and Siddhant’s journey proves anything is possible when you have the right mentoring and support in place. From finding opportunities to work and study abroad, to landing your dream job at your dream company, the construction industry has plenty of fulfilling paths to offer. And there’s no better place to make connections than as a part of the ConstructReach Community.
No matter where you are in your career, start building a professional network just by signing up. Get started at Social.ConstructReach.com.
