So I am a female in the construction industry. It should be no secret that I face a few different challenges. Challenges are necessarily a bad thing because the right ones push you to become a better person. One challenge I know I will always face in varying degrees of severity is about gender equality. No matter how much I try, I always worry how I will measure up to my peers in the field.
More than I care to admit, I stress about how I will compare to my female counterpart during a job. It is hard to explain if you haven't experienced it, but without wanting to, I fear that if I am working with another girl who knows so much more than I will make me feel like I know nothing. It is no secret that girls can be extremely comparative. Like how was I going to measure up to this other girl on the first day at work? It is a naive thing to care about, but I sometimes I just can't help it.
Before starting my internship this summer, I was a little worried about how well I would get along with the other female intern that I would also be living with for the whole summer. Most of my peers are guys, and in my experience, they tend to be very straightforward with you and do not stress over the smaller details like I do.
Girls are complicated and I can tell you that first-hand from personal experience. Half the time I can't decide which side of my head I should part my hair for the day, and my whole day can easily be thrown off if one thing in my morning routine is wrong. Sometimes I can only imagine how hard it must be to live with me. What if the girl I got stuck living with turned out to be just like me?
Well, let me tell you. I found out real quick.
The girl I would be working with and living with is Kelsie, and we are essentially the same person. It is actually kind of bizarre.
Instead of it being a nightmare like I was concerned about, we get along like two peas in a pod. We are the same in all the right ways and different in the ways that we end up complementing each other. We both drink almond milk, love coffee, care for our plants, enjoy a good breakfast in the mornings, love fresh food, and always down to watch Netflix and just chill. It is valuable to have someone to talk to about the good and the bad when you are in a completely new place working a completely new job.
Kelsie is the perfect roommate, impeccable friend, and driven worker. I really won the lottery by getting to spend my summer with such an amazing person.
In the end what I realized is that people make the company what it is. I decided to work for Frank L. Blum because of how wonderful the community of people is there. But more than that, the company knows who will be a great fit under their roof. Now it is clear to me that, great companies hire great people.
