Last week, we helped job seekers prepare for the upcoming career fair season. We hope both students and industry hopefuls benefited from this information. After all, they are our future.
But building the next generation of the construction industry requires action by the current workforce first and foremost. If you are an active member of the industry, this week’s post is for you.
Career fair season is an ideal time for construction firms to seek out talent. If you are a business leader, you’ll find that promoting your organization’s opportunities in this setting allows you to connect with more people at once. If you plan on attending a career fair, keep the following tips in mind:
Before the career fair: send the right message
Don’t let your attendance be a surprise: advertise that you will be there, ready to hire. Not only will you want to get the word out to the public, you will also want to take time to gather informative materials and prepare your people to effectively share about your company with attendees before the big day.
At the career fair: engage with everyone
Keep in mind what it’s like to be a jobseeker in these situations. Strive to be less intimidating and more inviting. And have fun with it! Create a construction trivia game or contest to get people talking about you and your company.
After the career fair: stay connected
Follow up with everyone you meet. It might seem tedious at the time, but in order to hire the best, you have to treat potential employees the best.
Career fairs are a great way for job seekers to learn about an organization and its opportunities, but you don’t have to wait around until someone else hosts a career fair. You can take initiative and plan your very own construction career day. How?
- Create a construction career day crew: Your ”team” may include multiple contractors from the surrounding area, local schools or your company alone.
- Connect with your local community: No matter the size of your construction career day, reach out to local like-minded organizations to act as sponsors, vendors or volunteers.
- Determine who you want to target: From veterans to minorities, high school students to women, find specific audiences you want to connect with. No matter who is involved, we encourage you to make your construction career day as interactive as the industry.
Informative events such as this might be a lot of work upfront, but we promise it will be worth it. Build Your Future reports that 61% of those polled viewed construction careers more favorably after attending a career day, with 80% expressing interest in learning more about careers in construction.
You are an important part of taking our industry into the future by finding, hiring and training the next construction generation. If you are ready to host a career day, we are here to help you promote it. Contact us here.
