George Karolidis
Job Title: Senior Project Manager
Company: E-J Electric Installation Co.
Location: Whitestone, N.Y.
Age: 30
Years on the Job: 10
Interests: Spending time with his family and gardening
As an NYU electrical engineering student, George Karolidis stopped at the E-J Electric booth at a career fair, which changed the course of his career.
“I was interested in the high profile and complexity of the projects, and E-J gave me a tremendous opportunity at a very young age,” says Karolidis, who was born and raised in Queens, N.Y.
Karolidis, a licensed professional engineer in the state of New York, earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and his master’s degree in construction management. While schooling taught him the basics, much of his training came from on-the-job experience.
“Working with some of the most seasoned managers, project managers, and foremen in New York truly gave me the conditioning needed to build in the city that never sleeps,” he says.
Electrical construction is complicated and detailed, and it can only be truly understood with rolling up your sleeves and digging in, he says.
“To succeed in this industry today, you must be hungry, humble, eager to learn, coachable, and learn to roll with the punches,” he says.
As a senior project manager, he makes sure the field workforce has the proper tools, material, and layout to be successful on the job. His favorite part is completing the work and overcoming obstacles in the field.
“No matter how good everything may look on paper and in the 3D model, turning that into reality has its challenges, whether it’s coordinating with other trades, sequencing the work, planning from start to finish, or remaining on budget,” he says.
In the future, he sees himself managing a group of project managers and multiple projects.
“I plan to continue to learn about the trade, work on my people skills, build people up who work with me, and continue to find ways to improve processes,” he says.
