This post originally appeared on Northeastern Global News. It was published by Cynthia McCormick Hibbert.
MIAMI—Most work days, Northeastern graduate Carrie Caston can be found in a hard hat hundreds of feet off the ground, on the roof of one of the many new high-rise buildings springing up in the Magic City.
Caston is a saleswoman for Sky Climber, an Ohio-based manufacturer and designer of suspended scaffolding used in painting buildings, installing glass, doing concrete restoration and other structural work.
“I get to go every day to different high-rises all around South Florida,” pricing jobs, identifying potential customers and managing projects, she says.
The only female territory sales manager in her company and one of the few in the field, Caston says working for Sky Climber gives her a unique perspective on the building boom in her native South Florida and career opportunities in construction—especially now that Northeastern is offering graduate-level courses in project management at its new Wynwood campus.
“I find solutions,” Caston says. “I work with engineers and general contractors, assess the buildings and determine what equipment they need.”
“I have the dream job I never dreamt of,” she says.
As a student at Northeastern University in Boston, Caston did not foresee that one day she would follow in her father's footsteps in the construction industry. She majored in the music industry with a minor in business but found it hard to break into the notoriously difficult entertainment field.