Updating Results

Monadelphous

4.1
  • 1,000 - 50,000 employees

Kate Baker

It is empowering to be given the opportunity to speak on behalf of a business unit to present an idea, and I take pride in the cornerstones of new relationships that can be built from these presentations.

What's your job about?

My role involves providing project and contract management support to our Monadelphous South West Operations team, as well as liaising with Clients and vendors involved in our works execution. My involvement starts with engaging with new potential Clients or receiving tender packages, and includes the development of capability statements, presentations and tender responses to best showcase Monadelphous’ capability. Once works are awarded, I am involved in the setting up of Contracts and Subcontracts to assist with these works, including establishing and maintaining Client reporting documents to align with KPIs and Contract expectations.

Every day is different for me, depending on whether we are executing shutdowns, providing labour hire of personnel, or executing major packages of project works. Our locations stretch from Boddington in the Peel Region, through to Ravensthorpe in the southern Goldfields-Esperance region, with my role providing both office and onsite support as needed. My week is usually split 50% onsite and 50% in the office to catch up on paperwork and reporting.

What's your background?

I grew up in Bunbury, Western Australia and have lived here my whole life. I boarded at St George’s College while at University and spent most of my weekends travelling between netball games and back home to Bunbury to see my partner. In my last year of University, I was offered a graduate position with Monadelphous and my first role was at Worsley Alumina, located 45mins from my home in Bunbury. After enjoying a year close to home, I was then rotated to the Pilbara and worked at Cape Lambert and Karratha, before getting married and then working at Dampier in a secondment role for the remainder of the year. I was then rotated to Oil and Gas on the Gorgon FM contract at Barrow Island, before signing off my three-year Graduate Program with a placement at Muja Power Station, a bit further down the road from Worsley. I continued to work at Muja for nearly 18 months, predominantly working in improving our HSE systems and compliance, before taking a few of months off for the birth of my first daughter in 2016.

Since then, I’ve been working in our Bunbury Office for South West Operations, where I’m no longer limited to one single site. I now have two daughters, and the number of Clients we now work for has doubled in that time. I’ve been involved in pricing some large and important tenders, some which we won and others we weren’t successful, and I’ve met so many amazing people across this time that have helped shape both my knowledge and attitudes in the workplace. In 2019, I was promoted to Senior Project Engineer, with graduates reporting through to me across our various sites, and I can’t wait to see what the future will bring for our South West Operations team.

Could someone with a different background do your job?

Yes, absolutely! Over the years, my role has become fluid and moulded to encompass my strengths, which I believe is so important for a team to function efficiently. The skills that I predominantly utilise in my job include astute report writing, presenting in front of Clients, manipulating data, and communicating with people to gather information. These skills are transferable across multiple industries, qualifications and backgrounds.

What's the coolest thing about your job?

I love the autonomy and responsibility that comes with my job. While reporting may sound cumbersome, I take pride in being given the independence to create these documents however I wish, to present information for someone else to interpret easily. I look back on some of the earlier reports that I produced as a Graduate and see how far I have come in terms of refining what a professional document should look like to align with our company image.

I love meeting with new people too and speaking in front of Clients to explain our ideas for executing new works. It is empowering to be given the opportunity to speak on behalf of a business unit to present an idea, and I take pride in the cornerstones of new relationships that can be built from these presentations.

What are the limitations of your job?

My job can sometimes involve spending a lot of time in the car and on the road. While I am very fortunate to be back at home most nights, it can sometime involve getting in the car before 5am to be back again well after dinner has gone cold.

I also bear a lot of responsibility in my role, both to ensure our contracts are being executed as required and to ensure I’m across what’s going on across all of our locations. While some of our employees and limited to one site location, I can sometimes have up to 10 different jobs all going on across the South West that are calling on my assistance. It helps to be organised, and to set clear boundaries to my team when I am at capacity, but this can be easier said than done.

3 pieces of advice for yourself when you were a student...

  • The communication and teamwork skills you are learning at University are just as important as the content you learn, especially once out in the workplace.
  • Enjoy the opportunity to try anything. University is a wealth of options and opportunity, and this is the best time to give anything a go.
  • Find what you love and mould your career around this passion.