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Recruiting Ideas
Ask any senior contractor about how they recruited their good crews and great supervisors and they will tell you the secret in one word, “Years”. It is no mystery. We have to go through a several people who look good on paper (their resume) to discover the one who has the "right stuff". Only after mostly trial and erFor, do we find that one professional who is the right person for us. Unless you are paying well above market salaries, this reiterative process is the realistic way to find quality people who want to work. There is some luck involved, but, it is mostly patience on the contractor’s part.
With drug testing, criminal records and background checks disqualifying a high percentage of potential hires, we need to increase the number of applicants. Finding more people who could potentially work for us gives to us a choice of people. Always having one more prospect gives to us a plan “B” in an emergency.
In growing companies, this is doubly problematic. I am certain that it takes more one hire to fill a new position, say a Safety Manager or General Foreman. As a company grows, it will likely add these kinds of positions. The business is more complex at higher numbers of people so, additional specialties are needed. I have seen one situation where four people were hired over a couple of years (3 people fired) before a satisfactory manager was found.
So, what is a key of building a great set of crews and managers? Finding sources of prospects.
We have listed 20 ways to find more people who could be your next employee. Take a look and see if any of these ideas will help you with your human resource. There is never a danger in having too many applicants.
Finding and hiring good people can make the contracting business much easier. Having the wrong kind of people will certainly bankrupt even the best contractor. First let’s list ways to find and / or recruit people in ways you might not have thought of.
Did you know 45% of people who start college don't finish? Think of that Civil Engineering or Construction Management student who doesn't care for the classroom. He or she may be your next field superintendent. Certainly, their education level is higher than average. Get to know the dean of your local college(s). That person may be able to direct or refer you to a soon to be ex-student.
For the rest of the article, email us atmstevens@stevensci.comemail us at clientservices@stevensci.com and write "Recruiting Ideas" or go to stevensci.com and click on forms page and type same.
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Matt Stevens is a management advisor who works only with construction contractors. He has performed training and business consultation for the contracting community since 1994. Matt can be reached at mstevens@stevensci.com.">mstevens@stevensci.com.
search terms: Pre-construction, post-mortem, lessons learned, Finding People, Profit Strateg, Making Money, Labor Productivity, Best Practice, Hiring Labor, understanding people
Posted by Matt Stevens at April 2, 2006 2:53 AM
Comments
Re: Construction Workers Coalition. This is similar to what CEFGA - the Construction Education Foundation of Georgia - does in Ga.
Posted by: Rob Sumner at March 16, 2005 10:59 PM