With the QBCC constantly updating its licence application forms, they have introduced a specific way of presenting your experience in a Builders Licence application.
With two pages to fill out for each site, you’re asked to talk about both the scope of the project, and your role on it across supervisory, administrative, and management services.
It’s an investment of your time to get this right on the first go, so here are 5 ways to help showcase your skills and experience.
Describe the Site in Good Detail
Start with the nature of the project, both its scope and a general description. What type of building was it? If the project was a renovation, then you might want to talk about the before and after, along with unique features about the site itself – t was a steep slope that needed earthworks?
Remembering that whoever is reading your experience hasn’t been to the same site as you, referencing the building materials you used (steel frame, tilt panel, new or luxury construction products) can also help fill in the blanks, as well as show case your experience on specific construction methods.
Explain Some Challenges
Talking about the specific technical challenges you faced on the project can help to demonstrate that you were genuinely on site during construction, and that you were involved in solving these problems as they occurred.
Even if a site runs smoothly from start to finish, there’s always something that crops up – maybe it’s an older part of town and you had to deal with traffic on a narrow street, or the dewatering just never ended. If it was an older building, you might have had to solve structural or foundation repairs, and manage a heritage overlay.
Discuss Your Responsibilities
Every construction project moves through stages, and as a site supervisor it would be normal to expect that you would have been hands on during those times. You should include information about how you were actively involved in these stages and what your responsibilities were is another way to reinforce your application with proof of your building knowledge.
A tip: If you’re stuck on the terms and definitions for those responsibilities, look at the Referee Report for cues on responsibilities you can write about.
Always Use Your Own Words
Generic terms and broad statements can stand out, or be something they’ve already seen a dozen times from other applicants. You also want to be careful about giving the impression that your application doesn’t have specifics because you weren’t really there, and are filling in the blanks in broad terms to hide it.
While there are useful support tools out there to help you generate the words and content for the experience section, it’s no substitute for your own voice and your own way of describing things. Your own words really count and will help highlight that standard of your application against the others.
A Take Home
The more information you can include in your experience write up, the better your prospects at being able to show the QBCC that you have genuine, on-site experience in supervising and managing a construction site.
Of course there’s a lot more to it than this – not only do you need to make sure the jobs themselves are relevant to the licence you want to apply for, there’s Referees to think about too.
We always say that a QBCC Builder Licence application is made of many parts. It takes time to stitch all of that together, so use it wisely and start early.
