project coordinator

interior designer

associate project manager

architect

structural engineer

Gresham Smith

This really has been the best place I have ever worked at. Lots of in-house training. Remote work from anywhere in the world!!! Great work/life balance when you can take work home with you, due to last minute changes that ALWAYS get allowed to be pushed through to please the client sometimes with a change order, but very rarely. So needless to say very little schedule extension. Jump from project to to project with little direction other than this needs to be done ASAP. Disorganization with standards and procedures and too many place to have to go train yourself on how they want things done because mostly work was too busy too have time to show you or they would just do it themselves. You would generally have to wait for a training session or search for the procedure  in like 3 different places and hope you got the most up-to date one because the old procedure weren't just replaced? There were some really great management that was working diligently to correct this before I left, but not sure if it is or not. Revit family library really needs some work to on build up and organization. All in all until I got my new supervisor about 6 months ago and my old one moved up the chain of command (and became unbillable) Along with a lot of other changes - "Revamping the Industrial Division" This new supervisor started diverting all of the billable hours towards the Knoxville and Charlotte offices for about 3-4weeks when work got slow. Everyone in the Nashville Industrial office started riding overhead. Next thing came the lay offs after they had kept saying we got all this work its coming and had been doing a lot of previous hiring and getting ready for it. Me my old supervisor and about 4 others just in the Industrial department got laid off. I was treated well in my Exit interview... It was slightly emotional, my direct supervisor wasn't even in the room, I hadn't made a lot of friends, but I felt I had made good friends with the VP of the Industrial Division and with the HR manager throughout my time there and they were the ones giving my exit. Im not sure exactly why thing happen the way they do, but Gresham Smith really helped me in my time of need, and I really wish that I never had to stop working for them, If they called me back I would work for them again, but would ask to be in a different division, such as Mechanical,Plumbing or HCA.

Typical day at work would be arriving at 8 am, checking incoming mail and distributing it to employees, checking voicemail and calling back clients, vendors, etc. Check email and respond as necessary, then tackle duties as they arised. Workload would come in via email, verbal communication, desk inbox or via voicemail. I attended regular meetings, taking notes and contributing to the meeting by creating and mainting reports that we would discuss and edit as necessary. Adminitrative tasks were daily included answering multi-line phones, arranging and scheduling meetings, document creation, financial reporting, updating client contracts and insurance certifcates. I was a Project Manager Assistant, so I assisted the Project Managers as needed by doing drawing markups, writing proposals, observation reports, logging incoming and outgoing files, drawings, etc. I was the Operations Coordinator as well and attended meetings on a regular basis with other coordinators and upper management to project labor and expense projecting. Maintained labor and expense reports to stay within budget requirements for the client. I acted as a safety Coordinator for the firm and attended yearly course given by Red cross for my AED/CPR certification. I assisted in fire drills, medical emergencies, etc. I enjoyed my job and the people I worked with.

In a typical day at work I would come in and generally have no idea what projects I would be put on.  I would be assigned writing of SPCC plans or SWPP plans, or could be asked to format document in word, QA/QC other peoples work, work in excel with data entry and analysis, production of final deliverable.  All of these are just some examples of what I worked on in a normal work day.  However, there were many days where I had nothing to do.  I would come in and sit at my cubicle wait for work.  the problem was that a few projects the firm had thought they were going to win, did not win, leaving me with nothing to do as I was the intern and given the last scraps of possible work.  This made the job difficult as I did not know where the next work was coming from and I was stuck.  My Coworkers were understanding of my position and tried to get me stuff to do but they were in the same position.

Company paid well and had good benefits, projects were interesting for the most part, but it is difficult to switch markets if you are unhappy with your assigned project type.

The leadership is forward thinking and
The company really improved it's projects in design and expanded to new markets during my time there. They generally hire good people and work them hard. Employee turnover is slow.

Biggest complaint is that the firm is very cliquey. Pay is still good, but advancement is extremely slow unless you are friends with the right people in leadership. Employees at the main office in Nashville advance much faster than those in other locations. 

If you thrive at 'brown nosing' or 'yes man' politics in a 'good ole boy' southern culture, then this is your ideal workplace. Minding the politics here are far more important than delivering projects on budget, winning new projects, good client relationships, being a team player, or technical competance.

 They treat their administrative assistants in an "old school" & detrimental way. It takes 23 minutes on average to recover from a distraction & you are interrupted from your flow constantly.
Top heavy, HR dominant. "Unique" cultural blend... but ultimately very polarized. 
Free gourmet Food & booze as coping mechanisms....
Very Fraternal, the women in leadership as very masculine & lead with their insecurities/ego. 
Image is everything.... Pretty on the outside, Completely hollow within.....

Great for many years then let go for "budget cuts" despite being a loyal and involved employee.  I hardly took sick days. A small attempt was made to get me moved to another department but I never heard back from that manager. My spouse is on disability and had to go back to work despite feeling poorly most days. I really hoped to retire from there. In all fairness it was a nice place to work and they were flexible if you needed to take care of family/personal business.

I worked there during a peak time when we were all working on an $80 M project that absorbed almost all of the firms resources. We had bery tight schedule and many of us had to work long hours to keep the project on schedule. GS&P was always a fair employer but I would have liked to get paid at least time and a half for overtime. They only paid straight time for overtime.

They still produced some of the best working drawings of anyone around and I will always admire the quality of what they produce.

High Stress, Time demands regarding projects and work load, Managers that do not interact with employees, lack of mentorship from managers and market leaders

The most enjoyment at this position was from relationships from other peer staff, and the projects were somewhat challenging. 

The hardest part of the job was the lack of support and direction from the leaders, with their doors closed!

•	Facilitate the development of the work breakdown structure (WBS), interfacing with Procurement, Engineering, and Finance Departments as needed.
•	Implemented and maintained an Earned Value Management System on the project.
•	Prepares and maintains project forecasts and status updates for main Site Schedule and Plant Outage Schedule
•	Develop Microsoft Project Outage Schedule Templet
•	Develop WI (Work Instructions) for set by step procedures during Plant Outage

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Project coordinator 12 salaries reported	$63,500 per year
Interior designer 3 salaries reported	$86,633 per year
Associate project manager 4 salaries reported	$76,750 per year
Architect 5 salaries reported	$90,200 per year
Structural engineer 3 salaries reported	$85,000 per year

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