Construction Skills Queensland (CSQ) — Filling a crucial gap in the market with a digital platform that engages and inspires key audiences to consider a career in construction.

As an initiative of our existing client, Construction Skills Queensland (CSQ) , the team came to us with an exciting idea to create a credible and reliable source of information for prospective construction employees (students and career seekers) and influencers (parents and teachers) during the consideration phases of deciding on a career path. 

With CSQ’s focus being on professional development for individuals already in the construction industry, and in view of the industry shortages, CSQ recognised the need for a more strategic response, particularly targeting school students and young adults who have recently left school. As such, we identified the need to develop a platform that would inform, inspire, and guide key audiences on how to enter and engage with the construction industry.

One thing that was clear from the beginning was the need to set a strong foundation in the design and development of an MVP, as the first step in a larger product development roadmap for what is a major strategic focus for CSQ.

Our Exploration phase was guided by multiple stakeholder workshops with both the CSQ MarComms and Construction Pathway program teams to align on the team’s vision for success and solution requirements. From there, we conducted a comprehensive user and content mapping workshop to define key user needs and content points that needed to be considered for each page of the website.

We also reviewed qualitative and quantitative research to gauge target audiences' perceptions of the construction industry and conducted our own desk research into peer websites that had set out to solve similar problems. Some of these included the United States Air Force, the Australian Defence Force, and QTAC – all with a clear recruitment pathways focus.

We created a comprehensive central information hub to provide online resources for students, young adults, parents, and educators in an inspiring and engaging format. Knowing that each audience had a unique set of needs in the career consideration phase, the website featured dedicated landing pages for each user group with relevant information and targeted FAQs.

The site also features a Career directory with the ability to filter by interest, school subject, entry pathway and work environment to ensure that users were able to customise their experience to fit their needs. Career detail pages were designed to communicate important information like salary expectations and recommended training, all with the goal of providing users with the tools needed to make an informed decision.

In bringing to life the first digital application of the Construction Pathways brand, it was necessary to establish a strong presence. Another consideration was how we linked to the parent brand, CSQ, while carefully differentiating the two and their respective audiences. Some examples of this application was the strategic use of bright colours to attract a younger audience while not overwhelming the user, as well as the animation of key brand elements like the multicoloured arrows on the Home page, which was finnessed by the team to ensure responsiveness without impacting site performance.