The Construction Industry is Looking for New Recruits | Construction ...

Bridging the Gap in the Construction Industry
by Tal Potishman

With green blankets covering the buildings and cranes slicing by way of skylines serving as a constant reminder of Britain?s building boom, it can be challenging to imagine that the commercial building industry is affected by the economic crisis. The reality that the industry is not cutting back ? while other industries are ? appears to indicate the explosion of new construction works have not come to an end. The issue, it appears, is a lack of workers to fill the demands of construction firms.

The dearth of skilled construction workers becomes most apparent when searching at last year?s figures. 13,000 building projects were initiated in 2007 alone, and in order to support these projects, some 18,600 labourers were required. The deficiency in skills is as a result widespread, expanding from the trade to the non-trade. Within trades, the highest annual requirements come from the wood and the electrical trades, but demands are also high for brick-layers and construction specialists. In the non-trades, construction managers, enterprise processing managers, architects, office-based IT recruits, and technical and professional staff are among those on high demand.

This worrying dearth is primarily due to 3 reasons: 1) As a result of the building boom; 2) the dwindling numbers of East Europeans in the trade; 3) the misperceptions of recruiters about what construction work entails.

The very first reason, which has already been discussed above, is really self-explanatory ? the a lot more construction projects are launched, the far more recruits are required to do the jobs.

As many of the highly-skilled workers in the British trade were usually of Polish origin, the impact of the construction boom in Poland is keeping a lot of Poles at property, which is a massive loss for British construction businesses.

The third reason that the UK is experiencing a worker shortage is due to recruiters? misconceptions of what construction work actually entails.? Quite a few job hunters perceive builders as difficult-hats limited to a construction web site, even though in reality, a lot of construction jobs are usually managerial or office-based.

Quite a few actions have been taken to compensate for the lack of recruits in the trade. One approach adopted by businesses is to break the predominantly white and male-dominated construction trend by attempting to recruit ladies and individuals from a variety of ethnic groups as well.? The National Association of Ladies in Construction is an example of a organization that widens the recruiting net, in order to target groups with a larger range of skills and work ethics. This also creates a far more diverse work place, and makes it possible for for fresh ideas to be introduced into the industry.

Programs such as Inspire Scholarships and the Sustainable Employment Legacy Forum try to improve the number of graduates entering the industry by providing student funds, training courses, and apprenticeships for folks in the poorest boroughs of London. They also organise initiatives for youngsters to visit construction sites to generate early interest in the business.

An alternative way to gather recruits is to change the way in which the industry is viewed. By making the public aware of the fact that construction work is not just about challenging hats and light-reflecting mesh jackets, more people may well take into account construction as a career.

Source: http://www.bobwhiteconservation.org/the-construction-industry-is-looking-for-new-recruits.htm

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