If you’ve been wondering whether it’s just you, or there’s something actually going on, rest assured, it’s not your imagination. When it comes to construction, good help really is hard to find. There is a shortage of capable construction workers in America today, and there are no indications that this problem is going to go away soon. Fewer people are attending trade schools, and most high school graduates are aiming for university instead.
So what does that mean for people in the construction business? It is indeed tougher to find good people, but that doesn’t mean they’re not out there. What it does mean, however, is that you can’t just expect them to put in all the effort to seek you out, you need to let them know you’re there and give them a reason to come to you. Here’s how.
Market On Social Media
If you’re looking for younger hires, you have to go where they are, and that’s online. The days of people buying a newspaper and combing through the ads for job postings are long gone. Today’s younger, hireable demographic is fragmented and in many different “places” on the Internet. They may be on Twitter, or Reddit, or, if they’re older and in the Generation X category, they might still be using Facebook.
Carefully look at all of your online advertising options. You have plenty of places to let people know that you’re looking for workers. Target the ones that do the best job of attracting the kind of people you’re looking for and devote your resources there.
Hire Beyond The Usual
In the same way that people looking through want ads for jobs is not as common as it once was, so is the notion of “Joe Average,” sole breadwinner, putting in an honest day’s work and going back to the “little woman” who’s at home full time and cooking dinner for the family also a lot less common. These days women, African Americans, South Asians, East & Southeast Asians, Jewish, Muslim, and Hindu workers may all be looking for jobs.
Of course, there are laws in place that forbid the use of discriminatory hiring practices, but the reality of the current workforce is, if you’re picky about your employees being a certain way, in terms of ethnicity, gender or religious affiliation, you’re cutting yourself off from a wider pool of talent.
Provide Benefits
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, make sure people know you treat your workers right. Give them the convenience of using an employee time clock app instead of having to keep track of punching in a card. Offer benefits. Provide an open and supportive working environment, where not only is their diversity encouraged; they know that their safety at the workplace is a priority.
When you create a working environment that makes employees feel valued, and respects their time with accurate time clock software and other benefits, you create a good work environment. The key to not just finding good employees, but keeping them for the long term is creating the kind of environment that will make them want to stay.
