Through its Careers in Focus campaign, the Greater Phoenix Chamber Foundation shares meaningful career insight from Valley professionals. Below, Lisa Melton shares what it is like being a woman in construction and how she became the first female construction investigator at the Arizona Registrar of Contractors.
Lisa shared that she entered the construction industry in her 30s. Her previous career was in criminal law, where she was a legal secretary/assistant in the criminal division of the Arizona Attorney General’s Office and later in private practice. Melton said that while she found this career fascinating, she realized that there wasn’t an opportunity for advancement, since she was not going to promote to an attorney. Ultimately, Lisa decided while she loved her job, it wasn’t the work experience she wanted to have for the next 40 years, which led her to pursue a different career.
“Like many women, I took some time off work for family obligations. I knew that I wanted to find a different path, so I accepted a position as a small general contractor when I returned to work. I did subcontract administration and various administrative tasks. I found construction fascinating. And I also found the path for advancement to be wide open,” said Melton.
Lisa then threw herself into her new career and pursued two construction management classes at a time to learn about construction means and methods, construction safety, building codes, reading blueprints, and other construction-related topics. She did not complete her degree but realized the more she learned, the more opportunity she found.
“There are so many different players in a construction project. Every time you learn a part of the construction process you understand the entire process more, the more you understand that process, the more beneficial you are to an employer. The more beneficial you become the more valuable you are and the more compensation you can seek,” said Melton.
Over the next decade, Lisa was promoted through the ranks; safety officer, quality control manager, field superintendent, and project manager. During that time, she said that she met many successful people with construction management degrees and met many without formal education that worked their way up the construction ranks to very lucrative positions.
“If you strive to gain an understanding of all that you’re exposed to, eventually all those different parts of construction can build into a knowledge that makes you a highly desirable employee who can have a very successful career,” said Melton.
Build Your Future Arizona is an initiative of the Greater Phoenix Chamber Foundation that creates awareness about high-paying construction careers, training opportunities, and maps career paths to employment in these high-demand occupations. Creating awareness of women in construction is an important mission to Build Your Future Arizona and when asked about the importance of women in the industry Melton responded,
“I think women working in office administration in the construction industry has been a position that makes the leap from the office to the field of project management very possible. When a contractor needs someone in the field to act as a quality control manager, site safety, or superintendent and they are already familiar with a current employee’s work ethic, knowledge, dependability, and decision making, it makes them a much better risk than an unknown entity. It’s important to let your superiors know about your career goals. I think the key to making this leap is making it as advantageous to your employer like you. Part of that benefit to the contractor is financial as typically when you’re “on-the-job” training you are not paid the wage of the experienced person in that position. This means that you also bring a cost-saving to the project. However, once you have the experience you should receive equal compensation.”
Lisa was also asked to share advice for women thinking about pursuing a career in construction and shared how she has met several successful female tradespeople and contractors. Melton stated, “I believe that gender is of little importance in the construction industry as in most industries. Women should not believe that this industry is only for men. I have met people who didn’t think a woman should be doing the job I was doing or have the opportunities I was given, but if you ignore the dinosaurs and focus on your goals the opportunities are limitless.”
Overall, Lisa believes that Build Your Future Arizona is an important initiative because it helps people learn about opportunities and rewards in the construction industry, which is beneficial when people are looking for a new career. “The more we can connect prospective workers with prospective employers, the greater the rewards to our industry and our citizens,” stated Melton.