Workforce

Five Ways to Attract and Retain Talent for General Contractors

In such a tight job market, general contractors are finding themselves competing for top talent and are increasingly seeking ways to attract and retain the best workers. Here are some ways general contractors can gain an edge in the war for talent.
By Caroldean Ross
January 6, 2020
Topics
Workforce

Demand for construction talent is at a record high.

Strong market fundamentals are bolstering the need for high-quality construction nationwide, from ground-up development to redevelopment and adaptive reuse.

In fact, the demand for construction talent is so high that it has resulted in an ongoing labor shortage. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 434,000 vacant construction jobs in this country as of April 2019, and general contractors are eager to fill them.

In such a tight job market, general contractors are finding themselves competing for top talent and are increasingly seeking ways to attract and retain the best workers. Below are five ways general contractors can gain an edge in the war for talent.

1. Demonstrate to candidates that the company is stable.

Stability is the number-one quality employees in the construction field are seeking. Given the market’s current strength, the pipeline of construction jobs is rich, and many candidates who stayed put during the last downturn may now be open to making a change—as long as the hiring company has a solid foundation and a very transparent business plan in place for long-term growth. Companies with demonstrable strategies for success will attract the best candidates and encourage them to stay.

2. Aim for a great cultural fit.

Candidates are drawn to companies that value their employees’ talent, work/life balance and input. A positive company culture that supports rewarding staff for their hard work and ideas creates opportunities for profitable and long-term relationships between contractor firms and their employees. For this reason, general contractors should look for candidates who not only have the right genre and level of experience—with “dirt under their fingernails”—but who also are the right cultural match for the company.

Knowing that cultural fit is going to be most the important criterion in an employee, it’s helpful for companies to create a list of must-haves, like-to-haves, and nice to-haves in a candidate that aligns with the firm’s culture, and to be flexible among the three categories. There is no perfect candidate out there, and a company’s “unicorn” might arrive in a different shape than previously envisioned.

Focusing on cultural fit when interviewing will yield far better results than holding out for perfection. This practice also sets the stage for effective succession planning when the time comes to pass the torch to the next generation of company leaders.

3. Cultivate strong relationships with potential candidates over time.

The best time for general contractors to start talking to potential candidates is before the job becomes available. Right now, the market is strong and there are few candidates sitting on the bench, so it’s a good time to reach out to workers at competitor firms, get to know them, keep in touch and contact them as soon as a position opens up.

Networking is much more effective than cold calling when it comes to finding the right match for a position. Taking the time to cultivate and maintain relationships can pay back dividends well into the future.

4. Find candidates’ pain points and solve them.

In cultivating relationships with potential candidates, it’s wise to ask workers about what they like and don’t like about their current positions. Discovering these pain points and finding ways to solve for them is a great way to attract workers to a new post. Whether that pain point is an aggravating commute, poor prospects for advancement, or an unsupportive supervisor, turning that situation around and offering the opposite can pull a candidate out of an unsatisfying position and into a much better one—often even more readily than higher compensation.

5. Work with an experienced recruitment firm.

Successful staffing firms with specific expertise in the construction industry have their finger on the pulse of the industry. These companies know which rocks to overturn for which situation, and with whom to talk when general contractors are looking to hire. Recruitment firms rely on their network of long-cultivated relationships—not a cold market—which yields infinitely better results.

The right talent placement agency will also have expertise in general contractors’ field of specialty to create a more seamless search. That specialty puts these agencies in direct contact with the strongest candidates for a position, which gives their clients a decisive edge come hiring time.

by Caroldean Ross
RETS Associates is a leading national real estate recruitment firm specializing in connecting today’s companies with valuable talent to deliver long-term profitability. With a proprietary database of more than 50,000 experienced candidates, RETS helps global, national, and regional real estate and construction companies strategically recruit and hire both permanent and interim employees. Learn more at www.retsusa.com.

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