Last Updated on December 5, 2022 by Admin
Generation X, or the ‘boomers,’ are retiring at an alarming rate, and the next generation, Gen Z, will fill this workforce hole. The newest generation of workers is Generation Z; they were born in 1997 to 2012. As workers, these individuals are entirely different from Millennials, and recruiting them is also different.
Use Technology To Reach Them
Does your company have a website? Most companies in the United States and Australia have websites that make it easy for consumers to view what services they can expect from your company.
Having a business website is also essential when you’re trying to recruit members of Generation Z. It’s their nature to do their research on your company before thinking of signing a contract with you. It also allows them to presume that you’re “in with the times.”
If they notice that your company is stagnant and isn’t up with the current times, they may see this as off-putting and that your company doesn’t have any sense of development. As mentioned above, it’s essential for members of this generation.
Offer Quality and Innovation
There are numerous construction businesses in the United States in 2022, with over 3,754,293 businesses. In Asian countries like China, there were an estimated 2.26 million construction enterprises by the end of 2021. On the other hand, Australia estimated a total of 9,170 Commercial and Industrial Building Construction businesses in 2022, generating nearly 360 billion in revenue.
As you can see, with top countries in the construction industry, most of these businesses have managed to stay in the industry due to their high-quality work, as observed by their patrons and clients. Showcase how your business prioritizes quality instead of quantity. Reassure them that you’re giving your customers their money’s worth.
Another important element is innovation. In Australia, they generated 360 billion in revenue for multitudes of construction-related services like maintenance, installation, interior, and landscape design, insurance, and even pressure cleaning for different surfaces (limestone, asphalt, and cement). Many would think that this industry does not need advertisements to attract manpower. But it isn’t true!
The young generations, including Gen Z, are always on the lookout for ways to earn money or make money out of everything, and construction-oriented careers are no exception. Billions don’t just come with physical labor. It also stems from innovative solutions.
Take your cue from the Pressure Cleaning Guys from Perth and other cleaning services around Australia, who successfully brought their services online. Cleaning the floor might sound too traditional, so why bother putting up a website and online strategy for it? The job may be manual labor, but the potential profit is significant. Thus, many service providers adapted digital marketing to bring their products and services online, as well as recruit potential job-seekers.
Word of mouth is still a good strategy, but if you want to outlast your competitors and funnel more customers (and manpower), your business needs to have online visibility. The Gen Z population flock online, so what better way to attract them to your business than go online too?
Highlight Career Development
The most important thing for Gen Z is their career in development. They tend to gravitate to jobs, internships, apprenticeships. or any other career opportunities where they can grow and develop their craft. A survey by Robert Half found that 95% of Gen Z respondents chose career advancement as their primary factor when choosing an employer.
If you want to attract Gen Z talent to your construction firm successfully, you should highlight how they can advance throughout their career in the industry. Outline the career trajectories possible in the industry, such as moving from an entry-level apprentice, to a job, to a journeyman, foreman, general foreman, to the superintendent, to hopefully opening a business of your own, a CEO.
When attracting these job seekers, emphasize ongoing training opportunities, leadership skills programs, professional development, mentorship programs, apprenticeships, and many more to help employees move up their career ladder.
Paid Apprenticeships and Mentorships
You can better attract this generation by giving paid apprenticeships and mentorships to young talent. Most Gen Z is aware of their competition, and getting paid to learn new things is favorable. It’s an excellent opportunity for success, and you can use this to your favor by giving this opportunity to talented individuals.
With the vision of success and your encouragement on the table, they would feel more confident and secure about their future and join the construction industry. 66% of the Generation Z population value stable jobs over those that they particularly enjoy. They tend to value opportunity, money, and a sense of accomplishment.
So, if you showcase the benefits of a paid apprenticeship over an unpaid corporate internship, they would see your offer as a more viable alternative. Once you’ve trained them, been a great mentor, and shown them the ropes, there’s a good possibility that now that they’ve been exposed to what your company is all about, they can stay and work under you.
Finally, about 58% of Gen Z members have goals to open their businesses one day. You can showcase this to students and mention that there are great opportunities to do so when making trades of construction work.
Final Thoughts
As more and more Generation Z members enter the workforce every year, construction firms would need to remodel and adapt to the recruiting strategies needed to attract the next generation of workers, that’s full of potential. Connect with this generation early on to educate them on the excellent opportunities they can achieve in the construction industry.
Promote the things mentioned above to get firm ways to draw them to the industry, hire them under your wing and combat the labor shortage.
