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Monadelphous

4.1
  • #2 in Construction & property services
  • 1,000 - 50,000 employees

Mario Du Plessis

What I enjoy most about my job is the people I get to work with. Working collaboratively on projects and the sense of comradery when completing projects is extremely fulfilling.
What's your job about?

As a Construction Management graduate, I work in Maintenance and Industrial Services of the Oil and Gas division of Monadelphous. Our main purpose is to provide core and campaign maintenance to both offshore and onshore facilities for our client companies such as Shell, INPEX and Woodside. 

In my current rotation, I am working in Project Controls, which involves maintaining and supporting the development of standardised processes and procedures across all our contracts ranging from the onboarding of new employees to the establishment of commercial documentation. Processes and procedures are ideally set up so that information can be easily tracked, engineered and exported to reports and dashboards to assist leadership in project-related decision-making. Our team contains a Lead Planner & Scheduler, Lead Cost Controller, an Estimator, two Project Coordinators, each with their own field of expertise. As a graduate, this is a great opportunity to get broad exposure to what is happening on our sites, while also working alongside various disciplines. 

My main responsibilities include supporting each member of the team as they require. As part of this, I have recurring tasks which include maintaining and updating a monthly dashboard, processing monthly claims, weekly work orders for onsite claims and reviewing and facilitating sign-off of services requests. On top of my recurring tasks, my days are filled with multiple projects of varying size. I’ve worked closely with each member of the team on different requirements. Tasks have included contract rates update, resource levelling, setting up offshore estimate sheets and data integrity of propriety system to name a few.

What's your background?

I was born in South Africa and lived there until I was 15. I then moved to a small country town in Australia called Broomehill, where I worked at CBH Group over the harvest period. After finishing school, I went on to work full-time with CBH Group. After two years, I decided it was time for a change. Having enjoyed working at remote sites and with large machinery, I thought to find a degree that would best facilitate these interests. Long story short, I stumbled across the Construction Management degree at Curtin. Life as a university student was great with flexible hours and weekly events on campus. I really enjoyed my time at university and highly recommend it to anyone. During my final years at university, I joined a committee that promoted networking events for students with industry professionals.

This was an amazing experience that helped me build up my own knowledge and network, which later paid off when I need to engage participants for my dissertation interviews. 

After graduating I was fortunate enough to be offered a graduate position with Monadelphous and have been with the company ever since. I’ve really enjoyed my time here so far; I’ve had the opportunity to work alongside some great people and am always surprised at how welcoming the culture is across the organisation.

Could someone with a different background do your job?

Yes, a lot of what I do is based on experience and prior knowledge. As a graduate, I am still building my skill set and knowledge base, but I am confident in the process due to the support provided by my team. Certain technical aspects of my role may require further education but is easily achievable depending on previous qualifications and experience. But with the Monadelphous culture, support and encouragement I believe anyone with the right attitude and interest will be able to be successful in my role at Monadelphous.

What's the coolest thing about your job?

What I enjoy most about my job is the people I get to work with. Working collaboratively on projects and the sense of comradery when completing projects is extremely fulfilling. A small example would be working with the commercial team to roll out rate updates on a large contract and ensuring our blue-collar workforce are paid correctly. Later having the opportunity to meet some of the guys when they come in to pick up the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and chatting to them. Through this, realising the tangible effect timely and correct payment has on them and their families are very rewarding.

What are the limitations of your job?

For me, the greatest limitation of my role is the lack of site time. Currently working in the Oil and Gas division of the business, there is limited site time associated with my role at this stage. Gaining access to an offshore facility requires a large commitment of resources, therefore as a graduate, it is hard to gain the opportunity to get to the site. This is only my first rotation though, so I am sure I’ll get plenty of site-time later on!

Which three pieces of advice would you give to a current university student?
  • Find work experience in the role you see yourself doing. 
  • Be yourself throughout the interview process and in new roles. 
  • Always put your hand up to try and do new things.