Work Site is quite like the world of “Mystery Fictions” because it’s all about interpreting other people’s thoughts.
M-san, can you briefly describe your job?
I am a Construction Project Coordinator providing support in meetings with our counterparts from US Military and Government and the staff in charge of project design. I work as an interpreter at work sites on the US Military Bases and translate essential documents for project execution. We, coordinators, play the role as a liaison on a variety of occasions in construction projects, including site inspections, examinations, coordination of meeting schedules, etc.
In such procedure, it is important to decipher what other people are saying and if necessary, predict what kind of information others will expect me to transmit. I always practice these methods in communicating. It is fun and a bit like reading a mystery fiction.
This job is physically demanding, but there are energetic women who are successful in performing duties!
It seems that your job mainly takes place at jobsites, do you think your work environment is comfortable for women?
You may be mistaken if you expect a coordinator’s job to be a clerical work translating documents in our main office. Frankly speaking, working as a coordinator often involves performing duties in a very challenging environment, and not all worksites give you a comfort of modern office settings. In the summer, you may get tanned. When it’s raining, you will need to walk around on a muddy field wearing raincoat and boots. And at work sites, you will have to use a temporary toilet.
Despite such environment, there are tough and energetic women performing their duties quite successfully. This job involves negotiations and coordination between multiple parties. Women’s involvement as mediators in such procedures makes things progress smoothly, since they are good at softening the mood of conversation while accurately transmitting important points to other parties. Where I work, there are quite a few women including managers who are performing their jobs extremely well. This is an encouraging environment that makes my job enjoyable and valuable.
Excellent Coordinator who applies strength in English and communication skills in site works
When do you find your job enjoyable and at what kind of moment do you get a sense of accomplishment in working?
My strengths lie in English and communication. So, I get a sense of satisfaction in working by applying my strengths. At a work site, I support and work together with site engineers and other professionals, and it’s fun learning the work progress while witnessing how a project gets completed.
In the course of a project, I may run into problems, but I take them as great opportunities to improve my own skills. So, I stay optimistic and enjoy making efforts to resolve these problems. This is what gives me a sense of accomplishment. And guess what! Beer is especially good when you have it after finishing a major project!
What skills have you acquired working as a coordinator?
I gained negotiation skills, which helps getting the information we need from our clients. Working at a work site, you get to hear and practice technical terms and jargons, and in conversations, each person has their own way of expression attaching their own nuances. In such circumstances, delivering a word-to-word translation wouldn’t lead to correct understanding.
As I stand on the frontline in a negotiation, I need to correctly interpret what the experts say. For this, I need to memorize the technical terms and develop my knowledge in the relevant fields and get prepared to speak with the same level of understanding as the experts. Without having a proper picture in mind, there will be errors in transmitting information. Being exposed to such challenging situations has naturally helped me improve my English skills.
What are the Subsequent Careers that Many Coordinators are struggling to find?
What career path can they pursue after working as coordinators?
It used to be understood that once you are proficient in performing coordinator’s job in AEC, you should proceed to work as a site manager as your next step. Nevertheless, there are many who have become site representatives who can perform duties as interpreters and translators after having worked as coordinators.
On the other hand, many of those who joined the Company with an intent to work as coordinators maintain their desire to practice and improve their English skills, and some coordinators have ended up leaving the job, struggling to overcome the dilemma over whether they should move on to the next step as a site representative, for which they have to acquire new qualifications in project management and architecture, or they should keep pursuing their desire to improve their English skills.
To prevent getting stuck in such setback, there are now a diversity of career paths coordinators can pursue. Utilizing knowledge and experience at work sites, some would choose to get transferred to other departments or sections of the Company to engage in quality control, preparation of documents and negotiation, through which they can continue to enhance their strength in English skills, some will choose to transition to a managerial position, and others would proceed to become site managers, etc. With diversified choices that coordinators enjoy regarding their subsequent career paths, AEC offers a great environment for your career planning over a long time-span. This makes it easy for employees to keep working for long time.
Workplace that is culturally diverse, progressive and open to new changes
What do you like about working at AEC?
AEC is a progressive company where a chance for promotion depends on one’s capabilities. Everybody enjoys an equal opportunity for getting promoted to managerial positions, regardless of their nationalities, genders, educations, or ages. AEC is also a fast-growing company that is quite flexible in adopting organization changes and new evaluation systems. Younger members are given fair evaluation for their efforts and proper opportunity to apply their strengths. So, the morale is high among employees and the atmosphere is competitive and at the same time, friendly.
Shortly after I joined AEC, my supervisor gave me a chance to perform a presentation, and I was later permitted to take on advanced tasks to create an educational framework of my organization. Such an environment, which inspires employees to make effort to contribute to the organization, is another great feature that may appeal to many people.
It’s not as hard as you think to improve your English skills!
Can you leave a message to potential job applicants?
Many people think that AEC expects its employees to be knowledgeable from the start, but most applicants for coordinators’ positions start their jobs completely from a scratch with no previous work experience at construction sites. You should keep in mind that there is nothing to be afraid about having no knowledge at the beginning, because you will learn the knowledge after you join the Company and improve your English skills by practicing it in your job.
I hope I can create a fun and cooperative team with new members who are proactive in learning and not afraid of making mistakes, sharing joy, passion, and enthusiasm in work. We also welcome young female applicants, as we have many female members who are successful in their duties. If you know your own strength and ready to demonstrate it, you will be able to make excellent achievements.
Schedule for one day
- AM 8:00 Work commences: Check emails & prepare for a meeting
- AM 8:30 Join an online meeting (as an interpreter) with US Manufacturer
- AM 9:30 Create meeting minutes (to be reviewed and shared with attendees)
- AM 10:00 Create documents for new projects (translation)
- Check and verify specification and translated documents
- PM 12:00 Lunch-break
- PM 13:00 Check emails
- PM 14:00 Pre-construction sessions and preparatory works with US Military Personnel
- PM 16:00 Translate and submit daily work report from respective work sites
- PM 17:00 Training & support for new members: check emails and documents prepared by new members
- PM 18:00 End of a Workday: Leave for home