Recruiting the Next Generation
April 29, 2022
Understanding the different generations and what they want from a job or career is critical to hiring the right people and growing your company. Lose the "that's not how I was brought up" attitude.
It’s no secret that the construction industry — and the specialized trades such as HVACR — has had a labor shortage challenge for the last couple of decades. The rate of baby-boomer retirements far outpaces the addition of new workers, partially due to the perception of these “blue-collar” occupations.
The industry must attract 650,000 workers in addition to the “normal pace of hiring in 2022 to meet the demand for labor,” notes a February 2022 report from the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) (https://bit.ly/37vy4Rr).
“ABC’s 2022 workforce shortage analysis sends a message loud and clear: The construction industry desperately needs qualified, skilled craft professionals to build America,” notes Michael Bellaman, ABC president and CEO. “The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed in November and stimulus from COVID-19 relief will pump billions in new spending into our nation’s most critical infrastructure. Qualified craft professionals are essential to efficiently modernize projects across the country.”
Attracting younger people to the construction trades has been an uphill battle for the industry as it tries to compete with more “professional” occupations requiring a four-year college degree. Many parents and school counselors still regard college as the only way to a successful career — but construction professionals know differently.
The ABC report notes that ”based on historical Census Bureau Job-to-Job flow data, an estimated 1.2 million construction workers will leave their jobs to work in other industries in 2022. It is expected that this will be offset by an...
