The great recession that took place over a decade ago greatly crippled the construction industry. And with a pandemic currently terrorizing the world, it’s going to hurt even more. However, the history of the industry recovering from losses is a great sign that the flat market will boom again soon. And besides, there is a lot of ongoing construction that still needs to be completed.
With that in mind, construction companies aren’t giving up on improving their workforce quality just yet.
How Recession Drained the Pool of Young Workers in Construction
Since the recession in 2007, the construction industry has lost most of its young workers and retained the baby boomers. Now, as they retire, new and younger employees are so hard to come by. With the modernization of the world, generations Y and the millennials prefer to apply to jobs that are heavily engaged in using innovative technologies like robots, artificial intelligence, wearables, computers, and so on.
That said, the deficit in stronger and rising talents in construction is becoming more apparent. In fact, the hiring rate for men below 30 years old has decreased to about three-fourths between 2005-2016.
Also part of the reason why youths are losing their interest in construction is the push for them to pursue college. Of course, this doesn’t include those who take engineering and architecture. But the real problem is the lack of younger skilled workers whose expertise could’ve been in welding, plumbing, electrical, tiling, masonry, and so on.
So to tackle this challenge, the industry has been embracing the use of modern tools, equipment, devices, and even digital tech like construction scheduling software, hoping that more youths will find a good future by taking a position in construction. Some others import their workers from other countries just like Canada, Australia, and New Zealand who even offer migration assistance for skilled worker applicants.
But like we mentioned earlier, there is hope. With the crisis going on, people are likely to grab the first job they see on ads out of desperation. So, invest in your job postings but be keen enough to screen applicants. Remember, in construction, skill is crucial. You can hire inexperienced ones but hire one who wants to be trained. Otherwise, expect a hard time in your construction crew management.
Check our blog that discusses how to hire the right people that will make up your project team.
Now, let’s move on to our recommended sites for posting your construction job ads to increase your hiring rate.
10 Best Places to Post Your Construction Jobs
Don’t feel discouraged when you keep on hiring the people. It’s not you. It could be the labor market.
People are getting wiser when it comes to applying to jobs. They can fake their credentials and learn about the terminologies and logic of the industry so they’d do well in their interviews. If you won’t do a proper background check, you will be tricked.
Sometimes, you have to be picky when finding sites to post your ads at. There is what we call general job search engines and niche job boards. General job search engines usually allow postings from different industries, making your job ad visible to a wide variety of applicants. Meanwhile, niche job boards are specialty sites that cater to individual industries. This makes your ads become targeted and will only show to applicants you’d really like to hire.
That said, we recommend that you focus on putting your paid job ads on your postings in niche job boards. And to eliminate the guesswork, we already listed down 10 sites you should use in finding your new crew members.
This site from the U.S. lets you publish your construction job ad for $249/month. At this price, you already get to access the resume database so you can message job seekers directly when you see their qualifications for your job. Meanwhile, buying more slots for job postings will get you a discount.
Another niche job board to check is CareerCast. This construction-dedicated site won’t only let you post ads to find candidates, but it also lets applicants post their resumes that you can browse so you’ll get a higher chance of finding the right addition to your team. Plans start at $199 per month.
This site is specially designed to help construction companies based in the UK. It’s one of the largest construction job boards with almost 330,000 job seekers using the site. If you are willing to get talents from the UK, you should prepare a whopping £625 for one job ad that will be promoted by the site for 28 days. Other plans cost between £750 and £1,000.
Looking to hire operators of your heavy equipment? This site is the place to be. For $249.99 per month, you can already access their resume database, hence giving you bigger and better options on who to contact for the job. They have a plethora of other plans that you can subscribe to monthly or annually, depending on your needs. You can even pay to become the site’s ‘featured employer’ and gain more exposure.
Another from the UK, but this one is cheaper than Careers in Construction. The lowest plan is at £249/month for a single ad, while 5 ads will cost £596/month.
Hiring foreign workers may not be so cost-efficient since you need to provide for their accommodation. But when one applicant’s skill set is equal to two skilled workers, then it may be worth it to import a crew.
If you are seeking to hire Canadian talents, this site is the place to go. It can be pricey to post a job here, though, with one job posting costing $99, while two ads will cost $185. Posts will be visible on the site for 30 days. Alternatively, you can post 3 ads for $210 that will be visible for 90 days.
This site is a part of Construction Equipment Jobs, only that it caters to a wider scope of construction job roles. For $199.99/month, you can buy a single job slot, while paying $833.33 will give you unlimited provision for job posts per year!
This site is quite popular in the US. Recruiters can post one job ad for $265/month, while 3 job ads will cost $375/month. Another option is to pay $665/month to buy one job slot and access to the resume database.
RoadTechs cater to different industries but most of them are related to construction. You have the option, though, to pick the general construction listing. For $200, you can already promote one job ad for 28 days. There are other plans too that’s good for 3 months to 1 year.
If you are building for the oil and gas industry, you can try to. Post ads on this site. With 690,000 unique visitors using this site per month, you’ll definitely find someone fit for a role in your team. One job ad will cost as much as $550/month, though, while two jobs cost $990/month.
Other Places to Post Construction Jobs
Like we mentioned earlier, bigger and more popular job search engines can also be used for promoting vacancies in your company that you wish to fill in. Indeed and Monster are two of the most popular sites that job applicants use in applying for jobs.
Other sites you’d want to try using include:
- Glassdoor – Free & paid.
- Google for Jobs – Free.
- Craigslist – Starts at $7.00.
- Careerbuilder – Starts at $199.00.
- Snagajob.com – Starts at $89.00.
You can also post your construction job ads on local newspapers to attract candidates from your area. This way, you no longer have to spend extra cash for housing foreign workers.
Final Words
While these construction job sites can help speed up your hiring process, you should bear in mind not to hire mediocre talents. You should also practice writing a good job posting so that the right people will jump to your posting.
Tip for posting construction job ads: Write a clear job description and optimize it with targeted keywords. Place them in the title so that job hunters will immediately get an idea of what the post is all about.
To write an irresistible ad, try to write the ad from the perspective of a job seeker. Detail the skills and other qualities you expect from a crew member. Give them an overview of the benefits of joining your company. Choose the sites where you should post your job ads, since, if you noticed, the fees for promoting job ads aren’t very affordable. Focus on your area first before going far.
Finally, talk to your existing employees and find out where they found out about your company. Then be sure to post your ad there too. With all these tips and job sites to use, it shouldn’t be difficult to find a new crew member.
