What's your job about?

I work as a member of the cost management team and have worked for one of the biggest retail clients in Australia on their national program of capital works.

I spend my time providing cost management services to the client from tendering stage through to the final account. I can be looking after 5-10 projects at a time dependent on the client’s program of projects for the particular financial year. My days are rarely spent looking at a single project in prolonged durations, instead my hours shuffle between different projects at varying stages, answering phone calls with my client, project managers and time out of the office on site visits.

What's your background?

I grew up between Japan and Australia, moving between the two countries until 2005 when I permanently settled in Australia.

I was offered the job at Turner & Townsend whilst studying and working as an assistant project management for a different firm. One of my university friends worked for Turner & Townsend and had mentioned my name in conservation. Though I wasn’t searching for a new job at the time nor did I know what Turner & Townsend did, when I sat down with the company and learnt more about them I couldn’t look past the opportunity. Since making the move, the company supported me through my final semester of university and offered me a fulltime position. Now I am reaching 2 years of employment! Prior to all of that, I also worked as a contract administrator for a mining infrastructure subcontractor in my first couple years of university.

What's the coolest thing about your job?

The most rewarding moment for me is when you provide your client with advice. My role is associated with project finance and related risks, and as a result of your advice the client has been able to realign the project outcomes to a more positive position. Satisfaction for me is when my client call me for my professional advice regarding project costs. It demonstrates I have been able to build a trusting relationship with them and they choose to come to me for that advice and not someone else.

What are the limitations of your job?

Working on a national program of projects in the fast moving retail sector, I found myself very quickly juggling a lot of responsibility across several projects. There are sometimes late nights at the office or maybe no lunch breaks however without responsibility, there isn’t opportunity to influence.  

Pieces of advice for yourself when you were a student...

• There are times to use your intuition to demonstrate your abilities. But recognise there are also times when it’s more important to ask questions than to guess. Consider this – if there is a lot at stake for the task you are doing, it’s always better to ask the questions to avoid getting it wrong.
• It is natural to shy away from things you don’t like or don’t know but challenge yourself. Raise your hand to do something you normally wouldn’t, even if you cringe in that moment, it will work out better for your career progression.