Considering a Construction Job Overseas?

Back in July, I wrote Should you Consider NOT Going to Work Abroad!? about the positives of NOT going to work internationally (from a UK geographical perspective). To provide a balanced view, this piece looks at the advantages of taking the plunge and leaving your home country to go and work overseas.

I need to confess my bias at the outset - I have done this myself and loved it – I moved from the UK and lived and worked in Hong Kong for many years before returning to the UK and would recommend an international job move and adventure to anyone!

The possible reasons for going to work internationally are potentially infinite, and certainly some job titles lend themselves to this possibility more than others. In our experience, the professional construction job titles that are most in demand for jobs elsewhere in the world are:

• Quantity Surveyors
• Cost Consultants / PQS
• Estimators
• Contract Administrators
• Quantum Consultants & Experts within construction disputes
• Delay Consultants & Experts within construction disputes
• Project Managers
• Construction Managers
• Planners / Senior Planners
• Programme Managers
• Engineers / Civil Engineers
  
  

When Maxim Recruitment opened in London in 2003, we mostly recruited Professional Quantity Surveyors and construction dispute professionals for the London market. However, we quickly realised that with a well optimised website and a global outlook, we could reach employers and candidate jobseekers all around the world and match them together.

Suriname, Jamaica, Dubai and other exotic locations became core business locations for ambitious QS, Senior Quantity Surveyors and Commercial Managers that we recruited for grateful clients.  Before long, we found a job for someone based in Jamaica to relocate to Hong Kong. From then onwards, we realised that international recruitment from any location relocating to any other location was a serious and important element of our construction recruitment business operations.

There is a vibrant and geographically mobile construction skills marketplace, and many construction professionals live and work in a number of countries around the world, before settling permanently in one of them or ultimately returning to their home country to work or retire.

But where is working “overseas”?

Clearly “overseas” is intended to mean working abroad from your home country – but in 2024, Maxim Recruitment has business operations and partner companies operating in many international locations including England, Canada, Hong Kong, Australia and Dubai – each of which serve many other locations and countries within that region or continent, so we are fortunate to have international presence.

So where could you or do you want to work internationally?

In reality, to answer this, a number of factors need to be evaluated and research undertaken into where your construction skills are in demand.  It can be helpful to visit your desired countries beforehand – perhaps on holiday, to see what they are really like, and then to make a list of target countries in order of preference.

Let’s briefly look at a few market trends in a few of the locations around the world where we often recruit construction professionals.

Hong Kong

One of the reasons Maxim established in Hong Kong in 2011, was to satisfy the demand from British companies such as Laing O’Rourke, Kier and the Hong Kong subsidiary of Balfour Beatty for UK experienced construction professionals to work on major projects.

Over the years we have recruited tens if not hundreds of Quantity Surveyors, Planners, Project Managers, Engineers and Construction Managers among others to work there.

In 2024, the Hong Kong construction market is more localised and inward looking and local staff from Hong Kong are generally favoured often over more expensive international candidates. However, it is worth submitting your CV, registering for job alerts and following Maxim Recruitment company posts on LinkedIn.

Canada

We established our office in Toronto, Canada in 2018 and began by finding work for British “expats” with client organisations and niche cost consultants. Initially the requirements from some of our new instructing clients gave us were to find them expertise with the NEC form of contract to help grow their partnering offering rather than continue with adversarial contracting models.  With this strategic objective, local Canadian experience was not what the Canadian employer was looking for and this created fantastic career opportunities for international candidates to relocate to Canada to take up these roles.

More recently, Hong Kong candidates have been well received in Canada with a perception that a good education system and strong technical skills make Hong Kong educated QS, PQS and Estimators attractive for cost consultancies to employ. It is definitely worth submitting your CV via the Maxim Recruitment website, registering for job alerts and following Maxim Recruitment company posts on LinkedIn to find out about new opportunities as they are published.

When thinking about our favourite clients in Canada, and the premium workforce they employ, we can visualise a fantastic blend of local Canadians, British, Hong Kong and a range of other nationalities of construction professionals all working together highly effectively.  It is also worth noting that parts of Canada speak French, making it an attractive international destination for fluent French speakers.

The Middle East

Our most popular jobs are often located in the Middle East and Dubai is a perennial favourite location that potential candidates contact us about. See our  latest vacancies in Dubai although we don't always publish every one, so again it is definitely worth submitting your CV, registering for job alerts and following Maxim Recruitment company posts on LinkedIn.

The UK

There is an ongoing strong interest internationally for candidates to come and work in the UK.  While the UK construction industry is short of skilled professionals, it has become more difficult for some nationalities to secure UK work permits. Some UK construction employers of professional construction staff are unwilling to look at candidates that don’t already have the right to work in the UK.

Clearly, if you are a construction professional and you do have the right to come and live and work in the UK, this could be a fantastic option to progress.  Potential applicants can discover the right to live and work in the UK through ancestral connections to the UK or may through good fortune acquire the right through marriage.

If none of the above apply, we would recommend that candidates do their own research into possible routes to achieve their right to live and work in the UK before applying to recruitment agencies or direct to employers, as most are not excited to receive applications from candidates that are not able to confirm that they have this right.

In Summary

Working “overseas” means different things (and locations) to different people, however the construction industry is, in general terms a highly competitive and geographically mobile industry to work within and offers a range of exciting opportunities for those interested to discover them. Through the cultivation of your career and CV, it is possible to develop skills that are in high demand in various countries around the world.  Certain locations, such as many countries in the Middle East can offer work visas (if not necessarily Citizenship) to encourage relocation, while with some other countries it can be more of a challenge to secure the necessary right to work – despite the country experiencing significant skill shortages.  Wherever possible, Maxim Recruitment will be happy to help and advise on your career options relating to working overseas.

Steve Thomas
Construction Recruitment Director, UK & Canada
Maxim Recruitment
LinkedIn

Steve is responsible for Maxim Recruitment in the UK and Canada. He is based in the Maxim head office in Leicester, UK and the Toronto office in Canada. He regularly travels to meet employers and job seekers and attend construction industry networking events in the UK, Canada and worldwide. Steve has over 25 years of experience in construction and property recruitment and enjoys working with many repeat clients. He manages dedicated search and headhunting assignments for a range of premium UK, Canadian and international clients.