“They have the problem solving skills we need on our project sites,” Ventura says. “It’s not so much their ability to design but to think through and reason through the problems that occur.”

However, Conti has built relationships with some construction management programs, due to the practical information the students receive, such as scheduling, budgeting, forecasting, estimating and other aspects of the business. The firm also has hired people from business programs.

BROWN

Brown, at KBE, considers candidates with job experience, be it an internship, military construction work or time spent in a family business, valuable when hiring. He also looks for people with computer skills.

Not all construction firms rely on construction management programs to produce new leaders. Although not hiring at the moment, A.P. Construction in Stamford, Conn., has been successfully bringing people from other disciplines, such as architecture or specialty trades, to fill leadership positions, says Nick Everett, senior vice president. He finds geographic availability and compatibility are more important than a college construction management degree.

“Not that we hold a degree against anyone,” Everett says. “We are looking to get more young people in the company, but we have got to see things turning around before we start hiring.”

Pope disagrees about trying to recruit people to the field from other disciplines. He says, “Construction is an industry you have to want to do and like to do in order to stay for a sustainable period of time to get the experience to excel.”

KOVEL

Turner will hire people with expertise in finance or insurance to work in those types of positions within the company. It will not try to train a person with financial expertise to work as a superintendent. However, he acknowledges there have been people who supplemented their base with further education and became successful construction managers.

“But that’s the rarity not the rule,” Pope says.

On the other hand, Lambeck says, “We’re finding people who have worked in other fields are changing their focus and going into construction, either because they worked on a construction project and found it fascinating, they had family members involved in construction, or they worked as carpenters building houses and want to go up a couple of notches and be involved in more complex construction projects.”

Increasing Enrollment

Enrollment has stabilized at NYU, with about 100 students. Lambeck has not observed a downturn in interest. In fact, with the recession, he has noted an increase in people returning to school.

Wiggins says enrollment in construction management is up at NJIT.

The same is true at Central Connecticut. Kovel reports average growth of 10% per year for the last eight years. The program, at 245 undergraduates, is now reaching capacity. However, it is still not turning anyone away, particularly women and minority students.

“We’re putting out as many students as we can,” Kovel says.

Challenges ahead

“The biggest challenge is to remain intellectually active and to continually learn,” Wiggins says. “Many [people] get into a project and get away from education, but to stay current in the profession is tough.”

Construction has not changed much over the years, adds Lambeck, but it needs to modernize, perhaps incorporating the use of robotics.

“We have to look at ways to increase productivity on the job site and reduce the number of workers it takes to construct a project,” Lambeck says.

Pope adds that industry is learning to build more efficiently and to construct structures that have the least carbon footprint possible. To succeed, students will need an understanding about technology and sustainable design.

Kovel foresees more need for expertise in document control and maintaining Web sites and programs that affect a company’s ability to complete the work.

“We find most construction companies are fully capable of doing the work,” Kovel says. “But most of them have difficulty in the paperwork area. Technology is changing so rapidly, that will be a major challenge in the near term.”

Lambeck also says the industry needs find better ways to avoid disputes, between owners, contractors and subcontractors; limit the need for litigation; and ensure people are paid on time.

“When you have a dispute nobody wins. The only ones that seem to win are the lawyers,” Lambeck says.

Compliance and government regulations will become more difficult in the future, Brown says. “As a result, work will become more complex,” he adds. “Workforce shortages will continue to be a problem. And we will likely see increased competition and expectations from the owner.”

In addition, Lambeck expects construction managers of the future will need to focus more on safety.

“There are lots of things to work on,” Lambeck says. “We address those in our program. We try to deal with the issues at hand in the construction industry.”

Useful Sources

Central Connecticut State University

New York University Schack Institute of Real Estate

New Jersey Institute of Technology