Hire and Rental News - February 2018

WOMEN in HIRE o kick start this initiative, Hire and Rental News talked to one of the industry’s prominent women of hire – Christie McCormack, the new Queensland President of the HRIA and National Manager for Titan Hoarding Systems. With 18 years of hire industry experience behind her and a Master of Business Administration (MBA), Christie McCormack is currently working for Titan Hoarding Systems as its National Manager responsible for the overall financial and operational outcomes of the business. From a chance meeting with an old work colleague as her entrée into the hire business, Christie said it has been sheer hard work, luck and determination that led her to her role in hire today. After many years serving Association led initiatives on the Queensland committee, Christie has taken on the role of President for the Queensland branch. Here Christie talks about her roles in the industry and the unique challenges of the job. Q: What roles have you held – either in hire or other industries? A: The crane hire company I worked for (Christie’s first job in the hire industry) Lifting the glass ceiling in hire 'Women in Hire’ is a collaborative initiative by the HRIA launching in 2018 as a forum for women working within the hire industry – a traditionally male dominated industry. With the launch of the initiative, the HRIA is providing a setting for discussion about the unique issues and challenges faced by women within male dominated arenas. The forum will provide an opportunity to look at ways the Association can help the hire industry change organisational cultures in ways to attract female employees, currently a much underutilised talent, and help them to thrive. was acquired by a market leader that also had an access division so although I was in a financial role, I was exposed to all aspects of the business and it was a good foundation for my hire career. I very quickly had to learn how to read a crane lifting chart, allocate crane jobs and will never forget my first ride in a man cage on a 400T crane. I then went on to work for Coates as the NSWAsset & Scaffold Coordinator, becoming the first female to work in Coates’ NSW Operations team. I worked in a team of three and between us we looked after the assets for 76 Coates NSW branches. Because we had to fill in for each other I had to learn about every piece of gear Coates hired so it was a very challenging role. From there I went on to work for Select Plant Hire, a division of Laing O’Rourke Construction Australia as a Hire Desk Controller. Laing O’Rourke had not long been in Australia since acquiring Barclay Mowlem and had a large project pipeline. I was responsible for all of the dry hire requirements for all Australian projects. Four months into my new role my partner was posted to Townsville with the Australian ARMY so I resigned but my innovative boss at the time didn’t accept my resignation and instead decided to allow me to work from home, 2000km away. This was unheard of within the company at the time but I am forever grateful for the trust and foresight he showed to afford me the opportunity. With the move my role changed and I managed both the wet and dry hires for Queensland and managed my direct reports remotely, flying between Townsville and Sydney regularly. After spending most of my time in Townsville without my partner due to his Army deployments, when the opportunity arose for a Commercial Manager role in Brisbane I applied for the role and was successful, so my son and I moved to Brisbane (yes my partner later joined us). I became the Commercial Manager for Select’s East Coast operations and was later asked to establish the Work Winning Function working with the Laing O’Rourke Bid and Pre-Contracts teams across Australia. In this role we successfully bid on many multi-million and multi-billion dollar projects. During my time at Select I was involved in one way or another, on almost every single project Laing O’Rourke worked on. Q: What are your qualifications? A: I have just completed a Master of Business Administration. I also have a Graduate Certificate in Business Administration, a Diploma of Management and a Cert IV in Management. I’ve also completed other external courses on topics such as Governance and Ethics, International Complex Negotiations and Conflict Management as well as a host of internal courses such as Procurement Contracts and Contracts T "Challenges?...Getting your foot in the door in terms of the opportunities and then once you do, the biggest challenge is to be taken seriously, especially as a leader. There is a presumption all females in hire are administrative based and have no technical knowledge which is not correct..." 18 HIRE AND RENTAL NEWS • FEBRUARY 2018