You could take a college course to get some of the skills needed for this job. Courses include:

• construction skills
• highways maintenance - excavation operations
• construction and civil engineering operations

Entry requirements

Entry requirements for these courses vary.

You could apply to do a Road Surfacing Operative, or Highways Maintenance Skilled Operative, Level 2 Intermediate Apprenticeship.

These apprenticeships take between a year and 6 months and 2 years to complete.

Entry requirements

You'll usually need:

• some GCSEs, usually including English and maths, or equivalent, for an intermediate apprenticeship

You may be able to apply for jobs if you've got experience in other areas of construction, like labouring and groundwork, or from operating plant machinery, like mechanical diggers.

You'll need:

• knowledge of building and construction
• knowledge of public safety and security
• the ability to work well with others
• to be thorough and pay attention to detail
• physical fitness and endurance
• patience and the ability to remain calm in stressful situations
• customer service skills
• the ability to operate and control equipment
• to be able to carry out basic tasks on a computer or hand-held device

You'll need to:

• be over 18 years of age
• have a full driving licence

You may need to join the Street Works Qualifications Register and get a safety card, depending on your job.

As a road worker, you could:

• operate power tools and plant machinery
• build and maintain roads, tunnels, drains and pathways
• repair potholes and resurface damaged highways
• maintain roadside verges and central reservations
• paint road markings, and put up traffic lights and road signs
• dig trenches to install or repair cables and pipes
• grit roads and clear snow in winter

Your working environment may be outdoors in all weathers, physically demanding, dirty and noisy.

You may need to wear protective clothing.