If you are looking to hire new employees for your Construction Business and have had no luck with putting an advert on Indeed.com or a post on Linkedin asking your network to help you find someone, this post is for you.
You may have said to yourself over and over things like:
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- We can’t get good people
- We’ve hired the wrong people for certain jobs, and
- There aren’t enough qualified people in my industry
And you’d be right…
The statistics tell us that for every five people retiring only one new person is beginning their career in the industry. So rather than put”bums on seats” we need to think differently if we want to hire the best of the best in the industry.
So in the next 60 seconds, you are going to have a list of 25 new and alternative methods you can use to hire great employees.
And then, I’ll share a step-by-step process with you so that you will never have to worry about hiring problems ever again if you follow the steps.
Some Alternative Hiring Methods (25 ideas for you)
Here are a list of ideas for you to mull over. The first idea is to “share your culture” on social media every day, however this means you need to share more than the last project you worked on.
The key is to share your core values, how you work with your customers and how much you appreciate your team of loyal employees. (I’ll dig into core values in a minute)
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- Share your culture on social media every day
- Put the spotlight on your employees
- Your website must have a career page sharing why it’s a great place to work
- Put your own job fair on – perhaps with other non-compete contractors
- Advertise on radio
- Promote your new roles on your Facebook page
- Create a recruitment video to show what it’s like to work at your company – put it on your careers page
- Print recruiting business cards for your employees (with QR code) – pay them a bonus if someone joins through them
- Past employees may have been great people but left and realise the grass is not always greener. Get in touch with them again.
- Your customer base who know and trust you may have people in their network looking for a role. Ask them to help you.
- School careers people can be great ambassadors for your business. Have a chat with them
- Suppliers are terrific sources of great people. If they know that you provide a great home for talented people they can refer people. Give them a business card with a unique QR code and pay them a bonus if someone joins through them
- Targeted ads on Indeed all year round (not the “my company is awesome” ads). My employees are awesome ads are way better
- Job sites. Put up posters around job sites. Add a QR code. Make it easy and track where the leads come from
- Put up a sign in a clients garden if you have domestic clients or for commercial projects do something similar. QR codes added again
- If you are part of a local home builders association or a trade association why not speak with them to discover how they can help you. Once in a while you will find someone who genuinely wants to help you
- Advertise compensation plus benefits packages – along with core values if at all possible. Todays workforce are saying they leave a job for money but are often looking for a company they can enjoy working in and where they get rewarded fairly
- Position yourself as a forward thinking company (tech, tools, amazing projects)
- Offer apprenticeships. Adult apprenticeships are incredibly effective because many people in professional roles feel incredibly unfulfilled
- Veterans groups. Think of the amazing discipline our armed forces personnel have learned. Many lose their identity when no longer part of the “family” units. Offer them a new “family identity” and career path and they could become amazing team members.
- Women and Mums groups are a terrific source of new talent. Often they are looking for a part-time role between 10am and 2pm in between looking after children. However, many are looking for a new and fulfilling career either on sites or in an office environment
- Build a talent bank so you can hire as required. Never throw away contact details. Create a monthly newsletter or Whatsapp group and show them how much you care by keeping them updated. If they are great people, they may refer other great people
- Retired employees can often bring a wealth of experience and expertise. And with the cost of living the way it is today many simply have to keep on working. So why not let them help you train your up and coming team members
- Offer flexible employment. With COVID we have all had to adapt. If your team have to look after a sick dog or have an emergency, create a culture where everyone pulls together and covers for them while knowing they will make up hours away from work another day.
- Pour love on your existing workforce (don’t take them for granted). By doing this you set the standard for incredible employee retention because your team know you are there for them. And you stand out from your competitors who treat employees like dirt.
People First Culture – Is your Business Culture Fit For Purpose
According to www.dictionary.com the verb culture comes from the Latin word CULTURA which means cultivation, agriculture, tillage and care.
Apply this into your business and for you to grow and thrive you need to build a culture where your employees feel that they are able to grow and become an important role in the growth of the company.
To do this there are a few steps you need to put in place which my clients were unaware of as important in hiring
- S.W.O.T. analysis
- Trends in the market
- Your Core Values
- Your Why
- Your 10-30 year plans
- Your 3-5 years plans
- Your 1 year plan
- Your quarterly plan
You may think that choosing the correct market is the most important, however your core values are critical to hiring the best people, because
- Your team look after your customers
- Your customers buy your products or services
- Your products and services create revenue
If your customers get a horrible experience they will find someone else to do business with in the future rather that do repeat business with you.
When your team live by your core values and are driven by a purpose to serve these customers as if they are family you can be certain your company will grow.
Hiring terrific people who people who believe what you believe is crucial
We call them 5-Star Employees
What exactly is a 5-Star Employee
If you have ever watched the rowing events in the Olympics where 8 men are rowing in unison and gliding over the surface of the water, this is what your team of employees can and will look like
Because your 5-Star Employees
- Share YOUR core values
- Have a score of 7 or higher on the 11 Qualities of 5-Star Employees
- At the interview, they meet or exceed the role-specific skills and aptitudes
- Are committed and capable of meeting or exceeding the defined success metrics for the position
- Their salary commensurate with a minimum 3X Return on Payroll because they are elite performers.
And while you may think there are very few of these “Unicorns” around, you should know that they are definitely out there but represent the top 15% of available talent in any industry.
So for every seven candidates you have applying for a job role, only one of them will be a 5 Star employees.
And to hire just one 5 star employee you require three candidates to interview meaning twenty one applications
Imagine for a moment you have a high-performance team that loved working with your company and created an ROI of three times their salary
Would your life change at all…?
Of course it would…
Plant The Best Seeds Into Fertile Soil Where They Can Grow
We have already spoken about 5-Star employees. These are definitely the seeds you want to plant in your business.
You may have to “prune” out some of the 2 Star and 3 Star employees though because your 5 Star employees thrive best when surrounded by people like them.
The hiring process we suggest is as follows
- Telephone screening (15 minute call)
- Whole person assessment (online)
- Culture interview
- Skill test interview
- Assignment
- Decision
- Offer
This is probably longer than you currently use however I want you to remember this key statement shared with me by a successful Millionaire friend
“Hire slow and fire fast”
Having a “Talent Pool” allows you to hire almost on demand because you have been consistently advertising and building a database of potential 5 star employees for when someone leaves you.
You need specific Job Descriptions for each silo in these talent pools so that you are building relationships with the best people all the time.
Would you like our help to help you Attract, Hire and Retain 5-Star Employees in your Construction Business?
Whatever your business goals, you cannot scale your business to the next level without building a high performance team who share your core values, your purpose and have a fertile culture where they can grow and achieve their potential. If that sounds overwhelming and like too much work for the time you have available, we can help!
Our Breakthrough Coaching is the ultimate time-saving solution for ambitious and time-poor construction business owners. So if you would like our help for hiring the best people in your industry, get in touch!
Click HERE to arrange 25-minute Breakthrough Call TODAY
