Construction
What Construction Majors Need to Know
In an O*NET survey, construction majors were asked to rate what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important in their occupations. These answers were weighted on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the most important.
Knowledge Areas for Construction Majors
Construction majors often go into careers in which the following knowledge areas are important:
- Production and Processing - Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
- Building and Construction - Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
- Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
- Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
- Public Safety and Security - Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
Skills for Construction Majors
The following list of skills has been highlighted as some of the most essential for careers related to construction:
- Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Coordination - Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
- Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
- Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
Abilities for Construction Majors
As you progress with your construction degree, there are several abilities you should pick up that will help you in whatever related career you choose. These abilities include:
- Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
- Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
- Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
- Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
- Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
Find Construction Programs
MS in Management - Construction Management
Gain the leadership skills and expertise you need to manage large-scale construction projects with this specialized online master's from Southern New Hampshire University.
Related Programs
Learn about other programs related to Construction that might interest you.
MS in Management - Construction Management
Gain the leadership skills and expertise you need to manage large-scale construction projects with this specialized online master's from Southern New Hampshire University.
Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Construction
Some degrees associated with construction may require an advanced degree, while others may not even require a bachelor’s in the field. Whatever the case may be, pursuing more education usually means that more career options will be available to you.
How much schooling do you really need to compete in today’s job market? People currently working in careers related to construction have obtained the following education levels.
| Education Level | Percentage of Workers |
|---|---|
| Less than a High School Diploma | 6.3% |
| High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED) | 39.3% |
| Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production) | 21.3% |
| Some College Courses | 32.9% |
| Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree) | 0.8% |
Online Construction Programs
The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.
| Degree Level | Colleges Offering Programs | Colleges Offering Online Classes |
|---|---|---|
| Certificate (Less Than 1 Year) | 0 | 0 |
| Certificate (1-2 years) | 54 | 1 |
| Certificate (2-4 Years) | 1 | 0 |
| Associate’s Degree | 63 | 7 |
| Bachelor’s Degree | 0 | 0 |
| Post-Baccalaureate | 0 | 0 |
| Master’s Degree | 0 | 0 |
| Post-Master’s | 0 | 0 |
| Doctor’s Degree (Research) | 0 | 0 |
| Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice) | 0 | 0 |
| Doctor’s Degree (Other) | 0 | 0 |
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Majors Related to Construction
You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to construction.
| Major | Number of Grads |
|---|---|
| Electrical & Power Transmission Installers | 29,904 |
| Building Management & Inspection | 6,049 |
| Carpentry | 4,214 |
| Plumbing & Water Supply | 2,745 |
| Masonry | 370 |
| Other Construction | 232 |
References
*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.
- College Factual
- College Scorecard
- National Center for Education Statistics
- O*NET Online
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020
- Image Credit: By {} under License
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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