Katie Kelleher: ‘Yes, women can operate cranes’

It’s the first day at your new job, and you show up at the appointed time and place.

Nobody seems to know who you are or why you’re here, or care.

That doesn’t stop everyone staring at you, hard, as you make your way from the front of the room to the back, hoping to get away from all the eyes.

But they’ve turned around and are still staring as you slide down the wall and sit in a foetal position.

You’re here to operate cranes on construction sites. You’ve passed the courses and earned the qualifications. You did the interviews and got the job.

Now you’re thinking it was a big mistake and that you should go back to recruitment, even though the money’s way better here.

You’re the only woman in the room.

That’s Katie Kelleher’s story, as she tells CIOB People editor Nadine Buddoo in the latest episode of the 21CC podcast.

You won’t know whether to laugh or cry at the sheer, switched-off obtuseness that greeted Kelleher on her first day in 2015.

In the end, though, she helps to illustrate the hilarity of this bizarre way of welcoming new people to the industry.

Kelleher admits she might not have stuck with it had she been a bit younger and less confident. But she did stick with it, and thrived, and is now a valuable voice in the industry.

Check out this funny, uplifting conversation. It will do your spirits good.

For more on how female crane operators are helping to dispel the misconceptions about what women can achieve on site:

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