Anna Roussos

One of the things I've enjoyed most about creating content over the past few months has been the opportunity to share what I'm seeing across the market.

After more than two decades working across the construction, architecture, engineering, civil and property industries, you gather a lot of insight from the conversations you have every day.

The interesting part has been seeing how useful that information can be for others.

Recently, a client told me that the market updates and commentary I've been sharing have helped shape the way they're thinking about growth, hiring and workforce planning for the year ahead.

For me, that's the value in it.

Not simply sharing opinions, but helping people better understand the market they're operating in and make more informed decisions as a result.

There's a lot happening across our industries right now, and I look forward to continuing to share what I'm seeing from the front line.

One of the advantages of spending more than two decades working across South Australia's construction, architecture, engineering, civil and property industries is that you get a front-row seat to the challenges facing our industry.

You hear the conversations happening behind the scenes, on project sites and across leadership teams.

The discussion at the Property Council's State Budget Lunch reinforced something we're already seeing in the market.

There is no shortage of opportunity.

The challenge is delivery.

Private developers and construction businesses are navigating rising construction costs, increasing salary expectations and ongoing competition for skilled talent, all while trying to ensure projects remain commercially viable.

At the same time, major government investment across infrastructure, health and defence is essential for the future growth of our state.

The question isn't whether these projects should happen.

The question is how we continue to build the capability, workforce and capacity needed to deliver across both the public and private sectors.

It's a challenge that won't be solved overnight, but it will be one of the defining conversations for our industry over the coming years.

For 24 years, I have had a front-row seat to South Australia’s construction, architecture, engineering, civil and property industries.

I’ve sat across from construction leaders, architects, developers, project managers, graduates and business owners, hearing the real stories behind career decisions, leadership challenges, success, failure and lessons learned the hard way.

And often, I find myself thinking about those conversations long after they’ve finished.
So I’ve decided to start sharing some of those lessons.
Not because I have all the answers, but because I believe there is value in what we can learn from each other.

In this video, I share a recent conversation with a construction manager and one comment that really stayed with me:
“People are no longer looking for a job. They’re looking for reasons to stay.”

A powerful reminder for leaders navigating today’s market.

As we head into mid-year reviews, most businesses are focused on performance.

But in today’s market, they should be focused on retention risk.

In construction and property, we’re still seeing strong demand for experienced professionals, and while movement has stabilised slightly, the right people are still being approached consistently.

Mid-year reviews are often the moment where employees decide:

Do I stay and grow here?
Or do I start looking elsewhere?
The difference comes down to more than just salary.

It’s about:
Clear progression pathways
Exposure to the right projects
Confidence in leadership and pipeline
The businesses that approach these conversations strategically, rather than as a tick-box exercise, will retain their best people.

Those that don’t may find themselves back in the market, competing for the same talent they’ve just lost.

Over the course of my career, my relationship with rest has changed.

I’ve learned that rest is not laziness. It’s recovery.

And recovery is how high performers build capacity.

That’s why, over the long weekend, I took the opportunity to properly switch off. Not because I’m unmotivated, but because I understand that recharging is strategic.

Rest allows us to return with clarity, energy, and the capacity to perform at a high level.

Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is pause.

A lot of people talk about wanting to move into development management.
The reality is that very few opportunities genuinely provide a pathway to do it.

This is one of them.

We're looking at candidates from client-side project management, senior project management and commercial contractor backgrounds who want to broaden their career into development.

The right person won't just be given the title. They'll be given the support, mentoring and exposure needed to succeed.

Based in Adelaide, this role offers the opportunity to move into a Development Manager position, working on commercial projects and learning from an experienced industry leader with more than 25 years in the sector.

If you've had exposure to project delivery, stakeholder management and working closely with builders, this could be a fantastic next step.

REM package circa $196k, depending on experience.

For those considering a move into development, this could be the opportunity that bridges the gap between where you are now and where you'd like to be.

If that sounds like you, I'd encourage you to get in touch for a confidential conversation.

There are typically 8 key reasons people start looking for a new role, but most don’t stop to properly unpack why.

Instead, they jump.

New job. New salary. New environment.

6 months later… the same frustrations creep back in.

Why? Because the real motivators weren’t fully understood.

Before you start applying, or accepting an offer, take a step back and do a career audit.

The 8 areas to sense-check:

Salary
Progression
Leadership
Team & culture
Flexibility
The work itself
Stability
Purpose
It’s rarely just one.

But here’s the part people often miss…

Do the roles you are expecting actually exist in the way you think they do?

This is where reality vs expectation can get blurred and why having the right conversations before making a move is critical.

We’re having more of these conversations than ever right now.

Breaking down what someone wants, what the market is offering, and where the gaps are.

Because the best career decisions aren’t reactive, they are informed.

That is exactly why I have created a Career Audit Kit, something practical you can work through before making a move, or even ahead of your mid-year review.

So you can walk into those conversations with clarity:
What’s working
What’s not
And where you actually want to go

Because if you get clear on that first, you’re far less likely to find yourself back at square one.

May is coming to an end, and somehow we are almost halfway through the year.

It has been a huge month, both in business and in life. Mother’s Day, marking 10 years since my bone marrow transplant, and of course, the Jodi Lee Foundation Trek, where the Roussos team raised an incredible $74,000 for such an important cause.

Life as a business owner, mother and advocate is never slow. There is always something to do, someone to support, somewhere to be. But every now and then, it is important to pause and reflect.

To look at what we have achieved, feel grateful for the people around me and remember how far I have come.

And to make sure time is not moving so quickly that I forget to stop long enough to truly appreciate the life I am living.

I am sharing this because someone else may need the reminder, too.

For a long time, Site Managers just accepted whatever project came next. That’s starting to change.

There’s been a clear shift in the Adelaide market recently, Site Managers are no longer just focusing on getting the current job delivered and hoping the next one works itself out. More are starting to question what sits behind the role they are taking on, particularly when it comes to a builder’s actual pipeline. And rightly so, because not every “secured project” is as solid as it sounds.

What’s also becoming harder to ignore is the quality of subcontractors. You can have the best drawings and the best intentions, but if the trades aren’t reliable, the job becomes a constant uphill battle. More Site Managers are calling this out early and are far less willing to walk into environments where they know they’ll be firefighting from day one.

Location is another factor that’s being pushed to the surface. For a long time, long commutes were just accepted as part of the job, but that tolerance is starting to wear thin. Expecting someone to add 45–60 minutes each way, every day, on top of the pressure of running a site isn’t sustainable. The challenge, of course, is that in a market like Adelaide, projects aren’t always where you want them to be, so while expectations are shifting, reality still forces a level of compromise.

The difference now is that stronger Site Managers aren’t waiting until the end of a project to think about these things. They are asking better questions earlier, weighing up the full picture, and being far more deliberate about where they commit their time. It’s not about being difficult, it’s about being realistic in a market that’s become a lot less predictable.