The best students have a combination of aptitude and attitude!
When we teach our electrical estimating apprenticeship, we often say that the best students have a combination of aptitude and attitude. To our delight, some of our most successful students have indeed been women, women without any electrical experience.
How can a woman with no electrical experience be an estimator?
You might be asking yourself, how does that work? Well, the truth is that most women are detailed oriented, are able to follow directions (or ask for them when they are lost!), and are willing to prove that they can be very good estimators.
Candels teaches a systematic approach to estimating. We start with theory to build a solid foundation. Then we review things like building construction and why it is important to note how the building is being built. We spend a lot of time going over specifications because the devil is in the details! If the student follows our approach, success is ensured!
Any related experience can be helpful!
Aptitude is a subjective thing. Any experience related to some part of the estimating process can be the springboard into an exciting, lucrative career. We have had students that are office assistants with electrical contractors (logical fit). My background is marketing analysis so, believe it or not, part of my job used to be to compare and contrast products that I didn’t understand and knew nothing about. Estimating is kind of like that too! You don’t necessarily have to know how something works, you just have to know what to do with it in the take-off.
Think about your life and your work experiences. Is there something that relates to the estimating process? Call me to chat about it……….. 877-CANDELS.
Glad to see this article. In 1982 I hired a woman to train in the estimating profession. She had just passed her JIW test but wanted to work in the office. Although she no longer works for us, she has become one of the best estimators in our marketplace.