Attract, Engage, Retain, Grow: An Effective Hiring Process

In April 2019, the Associated General Contractors of America reported that seven in 10 construction firms had hiring issues. At that time, the economy was humming along toward record expansion. Skilled workers were difficult to find and the trend toward digital transformation amplified hiring challenges, especially in operational roles.

Now, COVID-19 has accelerated the move toward digital transformation. With the increased prevalence of remote work environments, roles that previously didn’t call for a tech-infused skillset now do.

Hiring remains a critical element in the success of construction and engineering firms. Effective hiring takes time and specialized knowledge. Done well, you get the right people in the right positions, working together to help your firm succeed. Ineffective hiring, on the other hand, can be costly and hinder growth.

Recruitment help is out there: there’s an entire industry built around staffing, headhunting, talent acquisition, and placement. Outsourcing recruitment and hiring might make sense for you. Before you finalize your strategy, consider how different approaches might meet your specific needs.

Identify your organization’s need for help

Recruitment is more than filling jobs, it is about finding long-term employees who want to be there, provide value, and contribute to growth.

You may need external support if your organization has:

• Problems with employee retention and high turnover
• Minimal response to posted job openings
• Rapid growth that is hard to match with adequate hiring
• A need to innovate or update institutional tech knowledge

Scenarios like these reveal a need far greater than just filling an open position. These scenarios present opportunities to address fundamental gaps in your hiring processes that may prevent you from finding high-value employees who bring stability and evolution to your business.

Understand and attract

To land the right employees, take time to understand exactly what you need. Sometimes it may be clear, such as the need for a project manager. But oftentimes there are nuances to the position you require.

For example, consider the need for an accountant. Accountants can fill multiple roles within a company and have many specialties. Do you need a bookkeeper and also someone with a specific secondary skillset?

In other instances, you may not be sure what you need. You may be developing a new technology role, and are not sure what skills to look for.

It’s difficult to attract the right candidates when you don’t know what you need. It may help to ask a professional search firm to come alongside and help you define the role, responsibilities, and required experience.

Engage passive candidates

It’s common to seek candidates from the pool of people actively looking for work. However, that may not be the best way to find the ideal employee for your firm. Passive candidates (those not actively searching for new work) often make the greatest hires. It takes a certain approach, tact, and time to attract and cultivate passive candidates. Engaging passive candidates often marks the difference between merely filling positions and actually finding high-value employees.

A professional search firm with extensive experience in the construction industry can broaden your candidate pool and provide valuable perspective into which candidates see your organization as a destination, and not as a stopover.

Make quality hires and grow

Allow yourself adequate time to find the right candidate. Once you have vetted the field and narrowed it down, it’s finally time to hire. And, because you’ve taken a strong approach, you’ve increased your odds of retaining your talent and creating the staff engagement and continuity that often translates to growth.

How we can help

At CLA, our team can serve as an integral part of your search and hiring process. We provide resources, processes, and technology to accelerate and improve your hiring. Get in touch for more detail on how we can help you attract — and retain — the ideal employees.

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