What if your construction company could build its very own dream team?
You know, a team of trustworthy employees who always show up on time, strive to be the better at their job, and go that extra mile when it comes to satisfying customers.
You may have read the title of this post and are now thinking: “Hang on a minute, Kevin – what’s wrong with my current recruitment process?”
The answer is: probably nothing. Well, aside from the fact that recruitment agencies charge a lot, and doing everything in-house can be incredibly time-consuming.
But what if I told you there was a better way to ensure you were recruiting only the best, AND build a back-up database of recruits interested in working with you when YOU need them?
In fact, what if you didn’t even have to advertise for jobs anymore – what if they came to you instead?
I’ve actually seen this method in action, and from my experience in inbound marketing, know that it’s actually one of the most efficient ways to find new recruits.
Even better? I’m going to share it with you today.
How inbound marketing can help you recruit
There’s a chance you may have heard of inbound marketing and know it’s particularly useful for attracting the right kind of customers to your business – so why not the right kind of employees, too? Let me explain.
By writing helpful, practical content that will appeal to exactly the kind of people you want to recruit (the kind who want to be better at their job and are looking for work), they’ll start to notice you. Maybe they’ll even express an interest in working for your company.
Here are just some examples of the type of content that your ideal employees might be typing into Google search:
- ‘How to Lay the Best Foundation in the Least Amount of Time’
- ‘How to Impress a Construction Company When Going for a Job’
- ‘How to Be a Great Team Player in Construction’
- ’10 Things That Make a Construction Company a Great Place to Work’
- ‘How to Get a Promotion in a Construction Company’
As a call-to-action (or promotion) at the end of every post, you could offer valuable educational resources such as a checklist when going for a construction job, or ways to become better at any number of common construction tasks.
You could just simply ask ‘Interested in working for us?’ and link to a relevant landing page where they can fill out a quick form to qualify them as a good candidate for your database. You could even keep track of how many pages they visit, and ask them to fill in a survey to help you understand if they are a good fit for your business.
You can even split it up into different sections, such as joiners, brickies, roofers and plasterers. All ready for you to reach out when you need someone so you don’t have to waste any time with ads or recruitment agencies.
Get ideas from your current staff
Still not sure what to write about? A good way of getting ideas is to ask your existing staff members about things they’ve learned while working for you.
Call a meeting, sit everyone down in front of a whiteboard, and in just an hour you could have a wealth of excellent content ideas to help YOU recruit the right people in future.
Ask them:
- What makes your construction company the best to work for?
- Which techniques have they learned to become better at their job?
- Is there anything that they want to improve on in future?
- How long have they been working for you and how did they get promoted? (if applicable)
- What questions do they still have about the construction industry?
Better still get them to write a blog post about what it is like to work for you.
If you can listen to what your current employees are saying, and use their own experiences and questions to come up with useful, valuable content, you’ll be well on your way to attracting the right employees in future.
Need employees right now? Inbound marketing can still take a bit of time, so what else can you do to ensure you’re recruiting the people that are the best fit for your business?
Spin your ads around
Think of a traditional ad. It might typically say something along the lines of:
‘WANTED: Experienced bricklayer, minimum of 2-3 years experience. Must have references. Full-time position, with a competitive salary.’
Instead, why not say: ‘Do you know any experienced bricklayers in need of a challenge?’
Instantly, you’re opening up your ad to a much wider audience. Not everyone reading will be a bricklayer, but they might know someone who fits the bill.
What else do you get from the traditional ad above? It’s all about what the construction company wants, without giving the prospective employee much of an idea of why they’d want to apply.
Instead, how about something like:
‘EXPERIENCED BRICKLAYERS: If you or someone you know would like to work full-time for a construction company that values loyalty and hard work, with a competitive salary and added opportunity for bonuses upon completion, get in touch today. Send in your CV and two references to: builderbob@thisisaconstructionjob.com’
Now, THAT’S an ad someone might want to apply for – plus, you still get across all the information you’re going to need from them.
Conclusion
If you want to recruit the best employees for your construction company (and who doesn’t?) then you may want to rethink your current recruitment process. Recruitment agencies can be costly, but going through the processes in-house is incredibly time-consuming. But what if THEY came to YOU?
Inbound marketing is not only good for attracting potential customers, it’s also a great way of finding new employees. It allows you to gradually build up a database of brickies, joiners, roofers and plasterers that you can turn to when you need them.
In order to come up with the best content, talk to your existing staff members. What do they like about their jobs? What have they learned since they started working for you? What tips would they give others? What makes your construction company the best to work for?
If you need employees right now, try spinning your ads around. Open them out by asking if anyone knows of experienced bricklayers or joiners looking for work. And empathise why they might want to work for you, rather than focusing on what you need from them. Those details are still important, but it works both ways.