22 Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc. WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT You’re Having Talent Problems in Your Company. Are You to Blame? You can’t engage in a very long conversation with a construction company owner without inevitably hearing about their struggles recruiting and keeping good employees. They often complain about the lack of skilled job applicants and conclude this generation of young adults aren’t loyal and are not hard workers. But are these perceptions true or is this just grouching from the old get-off-my-lawn bosses? Recruiting Means More Than Posting a Job Online Many construction company owners suffer from unrealistic expectations. They believe posting an available position on Indeed will result in dozens of qualified and skilled applicants just dying to work for them. They assume that the most important function that will determine their business’ success—skilled talent—can be solved with a primitive passive approach. Consider legendary University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban. While his seven national championships are a natural and compelling tool to recruit blue chip players from across the country, Saban doesn’t assume that the best players will just show up at his door. He and his staff invest incredible time, energy and resources to identify the best players and convince them of why they should want to play for Alabama. Is your recruitment and hiring process a marketing and outreach effort designed to convince the best talent why they should want to join your team, or is it more like a shotgun approach of seeing who will show up when you post a $200 ad? The Best Talent May Not Be Skilled The best long-term employees are often those who have a great attitude and work ethic, yet may not have the immediate job skills. Those people are worth hiring. New employees are rarely plug-andplay. Expecting an abundance of perfectly-aligned skilled talent to walk in the door as soon as you need them is unrealistic. The best employee leaders are those who worked their way up your company ladder, gaining important skills and progressing in their careers within your company. Business owners who don’t have a progression plan for employees to take on additional leadership roles within your organization aren’t really an appealing landing spot for anyone but the least motivated workers. Many companies aren’t investing in their own employee training, but expect other businesses will train their future employees—that’s a poor success strategy. SEMCA instructor Kerrigan Pearce introduces welding students to the equipment. SEMCA carpentry student works with instructor Alex Joshua to get tools for framing.
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