5 Tips For A Successful AEC Hiring Process

ATTENTION CONSTRUCTION, ARCHITECTURE & ENGINEERING

COMPANIES STRUGGLING TO HIRE & RETAIN TOP TALENT: 5 game changing tips to attract top 15% employees in the AEC industry & retain them!

#5 MIGHT SHOCK YOU! GOING ABOUT HIRING WRONG CAN COST YOU MULTIPLE 5 TO 6 FIGURES EASY!!

CONSISTENTLY HIRE TOP TALENT WITHOUT RELYING ON JOB BOARDS

5 game changing tips to hire top 15% talent who won’t quit or get let go (#5 might shock you)

Implement these proven strategies to immediately start hiring top talent in the AEC industries

READY TO LEARN HOW TO BUILD YOUR TEAM INTO THE

UNSTOPPABLE FORCE YOU KNOW THEY CAN BECOME? CONTINUE READING ON AND YOU DISCOVER: Why all stakeholders MUST be on the same page (and what they need to be on the same page about) before ever speaking with a candidate Why the job boards aren’t working like they used to and what to do instead with your valuable recruitment budget How “exploratory” interviews and radical transparency can improve all metrics of your recruitment funnel when it comes to recruiting true top 15% candidates How to create a winning recruitment process by executing faster than your competitors How to keep your employees happy and why this is important now more than ever

BLTC

In this candidate-driven market, companies make recruiting top talent much more difficult for themselves by having a long drawn out hiring process.

When decision makers are not on the same page, this often leads to delays in the hiring process and can lead to passing up on the right candidate.

All stakeholders should agree on: -

What problem(s) you want to solve with this hire What type or experience / personality you desire What success looks like 1 to 2 years into this role What the salary range & benefits package is What the growth path looks like What the interview process looks like What your employee value proposition is The offer letter template should be ready to go

HOT TIP #1

WHY ALL STAKEHOLDERS MUST BE ALIGNED

The first and maybe most important part of the entire recruiting process is ensuring the people involved in the hiring process are on the same page about the ideal candidate profile and goals for this hire before ever engaging candidates directly for a new role. This is a must and your cornerstone to hiring top talent. It will help you take rapid, calculated action when you meet the right candidate who you don’t want to lose.

AEC industry job boards are seeing a decline in performance lately due to the sheer competition in the market and the increase in advertising costs.

This means more companies are competing for the same pool of talent on sites like Indeed, LinkedIn Jobs and ZipRecruiter.

Most leaders spend 20% of their time recruiting, and 80% of time making up for recruiting mistakes. In order to attract top talent, leaders on your team should be proactively networking with top performers in your industry and building relationships with them on sites like LinkedIn and attending networking events. Winners hang around winners, so this networking often leads to an increase in high-quality referrals and opens up brand new avenues of exposure for your brand.

RECRUIT PROVEN TALENT WITHOUT JOB BOARDS

Often times, the candidates looking on job boards are unemployed or in a predetermined transition period. Top-performing candidates are almost always employed. So in addition to investing in job board ads, companies are overpaying for talent who isn’t the best fit for the job, simply because they don’t know how to recruit top candidates unless the job boards present a needle in a haystack or their network has a timely referral.

HOT TIP #2

Many companies are used to an “interrogation style” interview as their first step in the process.

The problem is, this often turns off top performers because they are already employed and successful - they don’t need your job but they would be open to the right career move if it presented itself.

Top candidates are interviewing you as much as you're interviewing them, which makes it very important to get to know about their career goals, convey your employee value proposition tailored to the candidates goals (if possible), & show (and tell) them your core values. Think of it like dating... You wouldn't want to wait until month 6 to find out there is no compatibility long term.

To sum Tip #3 up, having an exploratory career conversation as the first step in the interview process will set you up to improve all metrics of your recruitment funnel over the long haul including retention, as long as your company can align it’s offering with the candidate’s short and long-term goals. *Key recruitment metrics include: time to fill, quality of candidate attracted, number of candidates spoken with, number of referrals, retention of talent.

DITCH ‘THE INTERVIEW’ HAVE CAREER CONVERSATIONS INSTEAD

The conversation has to change…

HOT TIP #3

“Elon Musk made an offer to buy Twitter for $40B+ in just a few days, yet companies take over a month to hire a candidate. It’s time to speed up the hiring process if hiring top talent is a priority.” ~ Random funny recruiter meme Small to medium sized AEC companies are out-competing larger firms by making their hiring process a competitive advantage. By implementing the tips in this guide, you can achieve the same successful outcome regardless of the size of your company!

HOT TIP #4

MAKE YOUR HIRING PROCESS A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

Companies miss out on hiring top talent every day due to having a long, drawn out hiring process. Even when you recruit passive talent, just like in sales, time kills all deals. It should not take more than 1 to 2 weeks to properly interview a candidate and make them an offer. By defining your hiring process and establishing your goals before ever speaking with a candidate, this will help you hire top talent much faster. To do this most effectively, you CAN NOT skip Tip #1 of aligning all the stakeholders.

Happy Employees = Retention. Shocking right!?

You must be thinking... “Of course I need to keep my employees happy”. Well, it’s easier said than done.

1.

2.

3.

“Career Development – No opportunity to grow in a preferred job and career.” So offer them a clear growth path up front and stick to the career path that you offered them if they earn it!

“Work-Life Balance – Better work-life balance, which includes more favorable schedules, shorter commute times and scheduling flexibility.” So learn about your employee’s goals, and help them achieve these goals (if possible).

“Manager Behavior – Unprofessional or unsupportive managers.” So treat your people well and build a team of leaders who inspire your team to do great work and enjoy their work.

A top employee is worth their weight in gold! Remember to treat them that way!

MAKE IT A PRIORITY TO KEEP THE TEAM HAPPY

Per ForConstructionPros.com, the top 3 reasons construction employees leave their job are:

HOT TIP #5