Finding skilled workers in this labor squeeze

Across the board industry reports show difficulty in finding workers. The labor markets for these blue collar professions are tightening and while Job opportunities are open and available we are all struggling to find the talent needed to fill them. Construction firms report that they can't find enough skilled workers and that they believe this trend is likely to continue.

As older skilled workers retire, younger people are discouraged from entering trade professions and pursued degrees instead, which can reduce blue collar availability in the near future.

In blue collar recruitment, there are many challenges – so how do you find and evaluate candidates?

Here are six tips for recruiting blue collar employees in a tight market:

Increase Your Outreach

Mixing up your candidate attraction methods can be a good way to find blue collar workers. Some methods you might try:

1. Niche communities

Niche communities help responsive employers by targeting specific audience members. If you’re not getting candidates from mainstream job boards, also try out niche communities.

Fish where the fish are. Begin a dialogue with your ideal workforce where they are already getting together.  BoomNation fosters both discovery of jobs but also is the home of an active skilled worker community. That community is more than a job post and gets you in front of the workers you want.

2. Referrals

Employee referrals are one of the most effective hiring methods. Referred employees tend to stay longer at your company and be better culture fits. Employees who know other competent people suited to the open roles can refer them to you.

To start your referral program, identify what rewards you’ll give for successful referrals and how you’ll reach out to your employees. 

3. Hiring Veterans

If only there were a group of skilled, trained and reliable candidates who are often unemployed or looking for a new career. Well, they are; military veterans are often trained in supply chain management, construction work, truck driving, and all sorts of other fields. They could easily transfer their skills to other careers outside of the military. As such, you can consider hiring a veteran to join your company in order to recruit.

Show how new labor can create a career in blue collar

In order to promote jobs in blue collar professions, we need to show that there are financial and personal benefits for doing so.

4. Revamp Your Apprenticeship Programs

The good news is that there are millennials who are starting to realize the benefits of trades. Companies hiring tradespeople will benefit from encouraging more high school graduates to explore these careers.

This starts by promoting apprenticeships and training programs at local schools and colleges. This initiative can be geared toward students, but also others struggling in their field, like unemployed workers or employees from different backgrounds. Create a training and upskilling strategy to fill the most needed positions.

5. Promote the benefits of skilled jobs

If you're looking for an environment where employment comes with benefits, blue collar is the perfect option. It isn't glamorous like jobs in medicine, law, or STEM-focused functions, but it's a great occupation for someone who is looking for a job that they can get into and start building valuable skills right away.

Physical legacy is one of the main reasons people want to work construction. You are contributing to something  that lasts for many years to come. With progress on projects, humans can see the fruits of their labor and know they helped make it happen.

Don't overlook the tangible benefits like the ability to work outdoors, to work on a project with purpose and the be able to work with your hands and get direct job satisfaction Create a unique promotion program or partner with other companies to enhance your efforts. You can also consider offering employees rewards and incentives for working for your company, such as free lunches from lunch trucks or gym subscriptions.

Remove the barriers

Long hiring processes are prevalent in every industry, and many job seekers abandon applications or reject offers because of this. Difficulty in finding talent is already a problem for certain industries, so streamlining the application process for blue-collar workers is more important than ever.

6. Make it easy to apply

Other candidates applying for blue-collar jobs have resumes that are just not up to par, making the decision really difficult when selecting who to advance. Asking direct questions to what skills and experience is needed allows you to cut through grading resumes and more about if they have the ability to do the job.

Tools like BoomNation help allow workers to easily update their profile so that it has the relevant needs without having to go through the headache of updating another resume. The majority of blue collar jobs don’t require a college or university degree. Thus, traditional tests may not be appropriate for some candidates that are slipping through the process, especially since these people are often older.

At the end of the day you need to ask the question of what truly identifies a great worker. If they won't be creating resumes all day then their answer to "What is your favorite hardhat" might mean more than seeing how they organized their word doc.

7. Be Mobile

A recent Glassdoor survey indicates that, blue collar job seekers are more likely to use their phones to look for jobs than other workers. If you don’t optimize your jobs or application forms for mobile, then you could lose qualified applicants.

According to Glassdoor, websites that aren’t mobile friendly can lose 11.6% of job applicants.

What you need to do in a labor shortage:

Be sure to test your process on multiple mobile devices and try to complete the application process yourself. See if there are any issues with the process (e.g. aesthetic, functional) and make sure your forms aren’t too complex or take too long because this will likely affect how many people abandon the sign up process - especially on mobile where it may be more difficult with a smaller screen.

If hiring employees is too hard for you, then reach out to us to see how you can get your postings in front of candidates on our mobile application. We understand the challenges of engaging with the right worker in the trades and want to help.