How to Find Skilled Construction Workers During the Trade Labor Shortage

The skilled labor shortage is growing and many commercial construction employers don’t know how to find skilled employees.

Are you a skilled labor employer looking to hire skilled labor?

Do you know the best place to find construction workers?

It can be overwhelming, but here’s the good news: the workers are out there and available—you just need to know where and how to find them. Even amidst such a labor shortage, you can find and hire top talent to increase production and benefit your bottom line.

Ready to learn more about how to hire construction employees quickly and efficiently?

In this article, we’re sharing industry tips and secrets on how to find skilled construction workers. Keep reading to learn how you can start hiring the tradespeople you need today.

The Need to Hire Skilled Labor in Construction

Is there really a shortage of skilled workers in construction? 

Unfortunately, yes. Here’s how it looks:

• There’s currently a need for about 430,000 construction workers.
• It’s estimated that construction spending in 2021 will increase to $1.45 trillion, up 1.3% from last year.
• If construction continues to increase, the need for skilled construction workers could soon reach 1 million.

These facts show that:

1. Commercial construction is a growing industry.
2. There aren’t enough skilled construction workers to keep up with the demand.

But as a commercial construction employer, you need workers. So, how do you find and hire the workers you need during this challenging time?

3 Ways to Find and Hire Skilled Construction Workers

If you want to know how to find construction labor, it may mean making some changes to your hiring process. 

Before we share the best place to find construction workers, though, let’s take a look at some of the more traditional ways employers look for workers.

1. An Internal Hiring Process

Creating an internal department to handle the recruitment and hiring process is how employers have hired candidates for decades. This method often involves some form of the following:

• Cold calling potential candidates
• Posting job listings on their website
• Using third-party hiring websites
• Attending job or career fairs

These are all ways to connect with potential employees and get your name out into the marketplace. But they also require that you have extra:

• Money
• Time
• Resources
• Energy 

What if you invest these four things into hiring and don’t get much return? That’s what’s happening recently in the skilled labor employment space. In fact, you may be experiencing this already and know how frustrating it can be.

An internal department is necessary to help onboard new hires, but it may not be the best way to find and hire skilled labor in this shortage.

2. A Referral Program with Bonuses

Another potential option is to set up a referral program that provides bonuses to any employees who successfully refer new hires.

A referral program provides some benefits like:

• Increasing your candidate pool
• Decreased time-to-hire
• Lowering overall recruiting costs
• Investment in your current employees

However, a referral program also means that you’re relying heavily on your employees, who may not have the time or energy to think about referring potential candidates. 

Additionally, there may be a lack of quality assurance or control with referrals until you spend the time to personally vet and interview these potential hires. Connecting with poor candidates means more wasted time and money.

Referral programs can help you cast a wider net and decrease some costs, but it’s not the best option to successfully find and hire candidates every time you need them.

3. Traditional Trade Labor Recruiting

Lastly, you could use a staffing or temp agency to help you find skilled workers. These companies work with employers to help find candidates and fill employment vacancies.

A recruiting agency can be beneficial as it:

• Has access to a larger pool of candidates
• Handles recruiting and interviewing candidates
• Allows you to focus less on hiring and more on day-to-day production

But the traditional model of trade labor recruiting hasn’t been able to meet the needs of trade labor employers. You also need to find a good recruiter or agency, which can be a challenge.

The ideal recruiting and hiring process involves:

• A large pool of candidates
• Industry knowledge
• A gating and vetting process that hires top talent

Fortunately, this process does exist, and it could be the solution you’re looking for.

The Best Site for Finding Construction Workers

Given the growing demand for construction projects and the decreasing availability of skilled workers, the companies that will get ahead know how to find construction labor.

Your internal hiring process may have some success, and a referral program could generate some opportunities. Reaching out to a recruiting agency is an excellent way to complement your internal processes but may still leave you without adequate candidates.

But there is a way to satisfy your staffing needs every time they arise: Skillwork’s travel staffing approach to skilled labor recruiting.

The Skillwork Difference

At Skillwork, our goal is to make finding and hiring skilled construction workers quick, easy, and affordable. We can find the right hire nearly 85% of the time—we know how to find skilled employees. 

What makes us so successful and different from a traditional temp agency?

1. We know the needs of skilled labor employers: As former trade employers ourselves, our personal experience with skilled labor gives us industry-relevant knowledge.
2. We care about our clients: By taking the time to understand you and your business, we position ourselves to find the right candidates the first time.
3. We use a travel staffing approach: Travel staffing allows us to tear down geographical barriers to hiring and expand our pool of qualified candidates. 
4. We have a unique recruiting process: Using our proprietary 8-step vetting process, we can find, vet, interview, and deliver high-quality candidates quickly and effectively. 

We do all the heavy lifting of finding, vetting, and delivering candidates to you so you can:

• Grow your business
• Meet your deadlines
• Increase production
• Reduce risk

Submit an online form today to schedule your obligation-free consultation. We’re ready to help you find the skilled workers you need.