Meet Pauline Duncan
Pauline Duncan is the Chief People Officer at Simonds Group. Simonds Group currently has around 800 staff across their Simonds Homes and Builders Academy Australia businesses.
Pauline is an influential force, who’s traversed different industries landing where she feels very much at home in building and construction. Pauline’s passionate about supporting other women with opportunities to enter the industry.
“There are many pathways into the industry, I strongly encourage women to take on the challenge”.
We spoke to Pauline recently about why she feels having more women will support the industry and how Builders Academy Australia is working to make this happen.
Who is Pauline Duncan
Pauline Duncan has had a diverse career , “I came into building and construction three years ago from a consulting background and I love it,” she says.
“Working in the residential construction industry we are privileged that we build homes for all Australians. It’s a very tangible output and we are proud of the homes we build”.
Pauline fits right into the building and construction industry and appreciates the opportunity to join Simonds Group.
“I think that students of school age perhaps had limited exposure to the breadth of roles in the construction industry,” she says. Exposing students earlier to a broad range of industries and pathways to employment is critical.
This doesn’t happen by osmosis. Providing relevant information and training for careers advisors, Principals and Head of schools is important.
There are a wide range of roles across the industry through sales, operations, construction, professional services and how these are advocated and presented in terms of options and pathways will assist”.
Thankfully, Pauline is one of several women in the industry who are working to progress change.
Good for women, good for the industry
The building and construction industry is currently made up of approximately 2-3% women.
There’s a real opportunity for women, with substantial benefits for the industry.
“Women bring complementary skills and experience,” Pauline says.
“There’s now a focus on women in trades, which is timely and exciting.” She says a lot of this can be attributed the work and advocacy of leaders like Danita Wawn, CEO of Master Builders Australia, Rebecca Casson CEO Housing Industry Australia, Tamika Smith Top 100 Women and Fiona McDonald Executive Director Tradeswomen Australia, amongst many others.
Pauline believes that it’s also important that women in the industry have support from the male champions of change.
“Working alongside Men to champion change is powerful and will accelerate the shifts,” she says.
Why BAA
As both a builder and a training organisation, BAA provides practical skills for students to apply in the real world.
“All of BAA’s trainers run their own business and are on the tools. We have a very particular model that I think attracts really good people who have strong relationships with the students.”
This means that qualifications from BAA have a great reputation amongst employers.
“I look to BAA first when filling roles as I know the quality and rigour of their training and qualifications”.
On top of this, BAA has a great learning environment that doesn’t feel like your normal classroom.
“It’s fun. You’re going to really enjoy the relationship with your trainers with the other students. We receive positive feedback about the quality of the content.” BAA will support you in gaining the qualification and the skills to start an awesome career in building and construction, no matter what your background, everyone at BAA shares a love of the industry.
Want to find out how building and construction courses can get you started in a new career in Building and Construction? Call us at 1300 LEGEND (1300 534 363) or request a callback today.