The economy may be slightly unstable, but within the construction industry it is on its way upward. However, progress is not moving as fast as it would like because there’s a widespread worker shortage.
Regardless of where these construction companies reside, whether it be northern California near Silicon Valley or Kansas, employers cannot find qualified candidates or job seekers interested in the construction business, the Topeka Capital-Journal reported.
“Unless we act, the construction industry in Kansas and across the country are going to be facing worker shortages pretty shortly,” Brian Turmail, spokesman for the Associated General Contractors of America told the source. “The job market is already pretty tight to start with.”
Turmail estimated that 100,000 construction workers across the United States left their jobs last year, due to retirement or a change of heart. Currently, about half of the industry consists of people at the age of 50 or older. These firms may want to consider utilizing HR software solutions to find job seekers on websites, forums or social networks.
As a part of the recruiting process, hiring managers were told to talk about the construction company’s benefits package on job listings, while human resources raises wages to retain current workers, according to Reuters.
“When the market starts to come up and we start seeing more projects become available, the fear for us is where are the workers going to come from,” Rob Moore, president and CEO of Big-D Corporation explained to Reuters.
HR software solutions can help identify applicants who may not have direct construction experience, but may have some of the skills that can be reapplied to the sector. Builders are open to the idea of training the next generation of hires, but it’s getting them into the door that is the problem.