Precast Inc. - May/June 2008 - (Page 46) BUSINESS & MANAGEMENT Recruiting and Attracting New Employees There is no single strategy for getting the best workers. By William Atkinson D trying to find qualified applicants as close as possible to the uring the housing bubble that existed from 2002 to midcompany, then works outward from there. It carefully screens 2006, finding construction labor became more and more applicants, then sends resumes of potentially qualified people difficult. Even though the bubble has burst, it is still a to the company. The company can then conduct a phone major challenge for many precasters to find good workers. One interview. If it is still interested in the applicant, it can then reason is that many construction employees who found invite the applicant in for a personal interview. “We encourage themselves out of work on the residential side simply migrated the company to spend time during the interview selling itself to to the non-residential construction side where strength the applicant, because it is a seller’s market, and applicants are continues. And if the residential market begins to gain strength selective in who they interview with,” Vineyard said. In fact, on before the non-residential begins to weaken, finding good average, about 85 percent of the applicants workers will continue to be a challenge. ConcreteCareers.com sends out end up getting job offers. For these reasons, precasters must find both old and new How do precasters themselves recruit new employees? The approaches to recruiting employees. Before creating such a one strategy that seems successful for most precasters is strategy, though, it is important to determine the caliber of word-of-mouth, where current employees recommend people employee you are seeking and/or willing to accept. How easy they know for employment. But while there are a number of or difficult it is to locate employees depends on the quality of different approaches, virtually none are universally effective. people you are seeking, according to Gene Vineyard, president While one strategy may work extremely well for one precaster, of ConcreteCareers.com based in Bremen, Ga., a recruiting it may be useless for another. For example, while radio agency that helps precasters find management personnel as advertisements may work well in one market, they may fail in well as production employees. If you are content to hire “warm another. Some precasters may find newspaper ads are more bodies” (who will either leave shortly after being hired or, effective. worse, stay around for years as marginal contributors), an adequate supply always has been, and probably always will be, available. However, according to Vineyard, “Despite what the Temporary agencies media wants us to believe about a recession, good people are For C.J. Pink, London, Ontario, a close working relationship still very difficult to find.” He emphasizes the term “good.” with a temporary agency has proven to be the key to success “Companies that come to us and pay us a fee to find people in finding new employees. “In Ontario, there are not a lot of for them are looking for higher-quality people than if they just employees available to hire,” said Dan Bundy, plant manager. ran an ad in the paper,” Vineyard said. “Ontario doesn’t have a lot of “They want people who can make construction people, so we are really Precasters must find immediate and significant contributions to struggling. We have tried the traditional the company. If companies want good ‘hiring pool’ approach, where we grab both old and new people, they are still going to be hard to people at the corner and hire them for a approaches to recruiting find.” day or a week. However, that just While finding good management people doesn’t work.” employees. It is important to can be a challenge, an additional The company will occasionally hire determine the caliber of challenge with production employees is people who are recommended by that they are usually less likely to be current employees, who might be their employee you are seeking willing to relocate than management friends or family members. and/or willing to accept. candidates. Primarily, though, C.J. Pink works with Recruitment firms use a variety of an agency that not only provides approaches for finding potential employees. temporary employees but also recruits for the company. At one ConcreteCareers.com begins with a concentric circle search, time, C.J. Pink worked with a number of temporary employee MAY/JUNE 2008 | PRECAST INC. 46 http://ConcreteCareers.com http://ConcreteCareers.com http://ConcreteCareers.com
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