The workforce shortage in Australian construction is not a secret.
Builders are struggling to find people. Apprenticeship numbers are not keeping pace with demand. And the industry continues to recruit from a pool that represents less than half the population.
So when a program finishes training a group of job-ready women, hands them the skills, the confidence, and the industry connections to hit the ground running, the question becomes simple.
Who is going to hire them?
That is exactly the challenge Amanda Bulow, founder and CEO of Awesome Women in Construction (AWIC), is putting to the industry right now.
What the Program Delivered
AWIC’s Construct Your Future program, funded through the Queensland Government’s Skilling Queenslanders for Work initiative and delivered in partnership with TAFE Queensland, was designed to break down the practical and psychological barriers that stop women from entering the industry.
The missing piece for many women was not ambition. It was confidence, exposure, and support. Many simply did not know where to start, or lacked the networks and practical skills to take the first step.
The program addressed all of that. Participants across the TAFE Queensland campuses at Acacia Ridge and Ipswich completed training covering trade pathways, job-readiness skills, and direct industry connections.
Now the program has wrapped up its current round. And the participants are ready.
The Ask
Bulow’s call to the industry is straightforward.
30 jobs for 30 women in 30 days.
She is looking for employers who can offer casual, part-time, or full-time roles, apprenticeships in carpentry, boilermaking, painting, and cabinetmaking, opportunities in the Acacia Ridge, Ipswich, and surrounding areas, and work experience or employment pathways in project management and professional roles.
These are not people starting from zero. They have completed structured training. They have industry exposure. They are motivated.
The program has done its part. Now the industry needs to do its part.
Why This Matters for Builders
The construction workforce shortage is well documented. Builders across Queensland are carrying more work than they can comfortably staff. Apprenticeship completion rates remain a persistent problem. And the pipeline of new entrants into the trades has not kept up with the targets governments are setting for new home builds.
Women represent a largely untapped solution to that problem.
The construction sector has been working hard to address its workforce shortfall, yet women still make up only a small portion of the industry. Programs like Construct Your Future exist specifically to change that, not by lowering standards, but by removing the structural barriers that stopped capable people from ever getting in the door.
Hiring from this cohort is not a charity decision. It is a practical one.
Builders who engage with programs like this early build loyalty, reduce recruitment costs, and contribute to a training pipeline that benefits the whole industry over time.
A Challenge Worth Taking Seriously
The labour problem in construction is one that everyone acknowledges and not enough people are actively solving.
Here is an active solution, sitting right in front of the industry.
AWIC’s long-term vision is to build a self-sustaining pipeline of skilled, confident women who can step into a broad range of trades and construction careers, not because they were pushed, but because they were supported.
That pipeline needs employers on the other end of it.
If you have a role to offer, reach out to AWIC directly at [email protected].
The program has done the work. The question now is whether the industry will meet it.
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