With a nursing career spanning 12 years, in London, Samoa, Australia and New Zealand, Elizabeth Cruickshank felt like she needed a change of direction.
“I asked myself, what would make me feel fulfilled? And I decided to give building a go.” At the beginning of 2015, she enrolled in the Manukau Institute of Technology Certificate of Carpentry with financial assistance from a Māori and Pasifika Trades Training Scholarship.
“Part of me thought that if I just tasted it, that would be enough and I could go back to my normal life. But my confidence grew,” she says.
“There are days where I’m exhausted from the physicality, but there’s also an empowering feeling that I actually did it. It’s really hard, but I’m pushing boundaries that I didn’t believe I’d cross.”
With help from her building tutor’s industry connections, Elizabeth landed a part-time job at Renovo Construction Ltd.
“My tutors at MIT have been really supportive, and I feel very blessed to work for a supportive boss and site manager. I feel like I get trusted with doing jobs just as equally as the other guys. I feel respected.”
“It’s made me quite excited. There are so many facets of the industry that you could progress into. You never know what you might find until you give it a go.”
Elizabeth says looking after people is part of who she is, even in her new profession. “I don’t think I’ll ever stop being a nurse, it’s something that’s always in you. But I see building warmer, drier homes as part of healthcare. When you have a healthy home, you’ll be healthy yourself.”
“If your house isn’t warm, safe and functional, it’s hard to go out in the world. You’ll always have a deficit,” she says.
Growing up in Mount Roskill, her family home wasn’t always in the best state of repair. “I felt quite disempowered. I didn’t feel like I could do anything practical to fix it. But now I’ve started doing projects around my mum’s house and fixing little things.”
“I really enjoy the physical nature of it, it feels like the blood’s flowing and the brain is ticking,” she says. “I took for granted how much is actually involved in construction – maths, physics, spatial awareness – there’s more to it than people believe.”
As for the future, Elizabeth’s ultimate dream would be to become a property developer or manager. But for now, she’s just taking each day as it comes.
“I think it’s about courage,” she says. “You’ve got to believe in yourself. Some people say that building’s a man’s thing. But it’s so weird that we’ve made it manly to hammer a nail into a wall. Anyone can do that.”
“The boy’s culture doesn’t faze me at all. If you’ve done nursing, you’ve dealt with every possible body fluid, so things like timber and power tools are a dream after that. I just want to learn what I need to learn and get on with it.”
Shaun O’Mara, Director of Renovo Construction Ltd, says that Elizabeth has been a welcome addition to his team.
“I would have offered her a permanent job after her first week,” he says. “I think she’s fantastic. She has great work ethic. She’s balancing full-time study, part-time work with us, and casual nursing work too. She’s an excellent example of a scholarship student.”
He encourages more girls to consider trades. “We’d love to have more women in the workplace.”
The shortage of good builders in the industry was what led him to approach MIT for new employees. “I was looking for a new avenue for finding a workforce. The market is saturated at the moment, and it’s difficult to find workers,” he says.
Shaun has taken on 27 up to MIT building apprentices in his business, working with them on their skills and steering them towards employment.
“It’s beneficial for them, and it’s beneficial for us,” he says. “The students are all good-hearted, and most are keen to learn.”
For people thinking about entering the trades industry, he advises them to do some research first. “There are schemes you could be involved in through school, that will give you time on a building site to see if you like it. It’s a hard trade, so you’ll find out straight away whether it’s for you.”
If you’d like to sign up for a career in trades, with help from a Māori and Pasifika Trades Training Scholarship, visit the MIT website www.manukau.ac.nz/MPTT or call us on 0800 62 62 52.
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