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SEARCHWhen Kate Kirkman of South Canterbury, New Zealand, isn’t at the salon, she might be wearing steel-capped boots and a high-visibility vest on a construction site.
When Kate Kirkman of South Canterbury, New Zealand, isn’t at the salon, she might be wearing steel-capped boots and a high-visibility vest on a construction site. She works for a civil construction company during the day Monday through Friday and finds time to work on nails Monday and Wednesday nights and every second Friday.
Kirkman started out in recruitment before spending several years working as a personal assistant to the general manager on a mine site in Queensland, Australia. After relocating to New Zealand to be closer to her partner’s family, she started working for her current employer. She has many responsibilities at the company, including applying for council approval to work on roads, organizing site meetings so the company can quote projects, and putting together documentation for applications for larger developments. “I also facilitate the annual business strategic planning meetings and subsequent quarterly reviews, as well as presenting the business goals to the staff once finalized,” she explains. “I’m responsible for generating advertising, whether it’s through Facebook, paper, or radio. I conduct all recruitment for the company and am also the HR support for performance matters.”
Although she hopes to become a full-time nail tech and educator one day, Kirkman enjoys her job because of the people she works with. “They’re a great group of guys to work with,” she says. “Although I probably nag them more than their wives or mothers sometimes, I do really enjoy the group of people that I get to deal with each day.”
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