Skilled workers are in demand as shortages of trained and experienced workers continue and recruiting efforts are often unsuccessful. Unfortunately, one of the biggest roadblocks the construction industry faces when recruiting is negative perceptions: “Construction is a dirty job; it isn’t ‘elite;’ and it offers little opportunity for advancement.”

In order to change this perception, the NCCER (National Center for Construction Education and Research) found that it’s not enough to shift the opinions of students and young people, but attention needs to be put on the parents. The survey reveals 70% of parents would be unlikely to advise their child to choose a career in construction.

The construction industry, and society in general, can take steps to change this. Disruptive messaging targeted to parents, teachers, and counselors must be included in workforce development and marketing efforts. “Build Your Outreach,” a report from NCCER, offers analysis and guidance to enable the construction industry to effectively communicate with students’ influencers.

The industry knows the problem. In fact, the AGC (Associated General Contractors of America) reports 80% of construction firms are facing difficulty hiring hourly craft professionals, and historic marketing and recruitment efforts are no longer effective. NCCER offers some tips on how to surmount these issues including different messages that are needed to influence students versus parents when it comes to changing perceptions about construction careers. In addition, playful and emotional messages in social media and digital advertising increase engagement faster, spending money on Google Ads, programmatic marketing and social media advertising is essential, and using specific keywords in content is critical in connecting with parents looking for careers for their children.

According to the NCCER, once a student accepts the challenge, there are ways to evaluate the program and its results. The Workforce Development Committee of the CURT (Construction Users Roundtable) and NCCER have created the CWDA (Contractors’ Workforce Development Assessment). The CWDA is designed to make workforce development a key criterion in both the prequalification and the final selection of contractors, just as contractor safety, quality, and schedule are key selection criteria.

The CWDA was developed with these goals in mind: minimizing subjectivity to the extent possible, weighting questions by their importance and impact on workforce development, considering and accommodating the impact of different types of contractors (i.e., self-performing contractor, construction manager, and subcontractors), ensuring that the tool is labor-posture-neutral, and using third parties to collect and audit information to achieve consistency.

Members of Associated Builders and Contractors, the Associated General Contractors of America, NCCER, organized labor, and CURT vetted draft questions, and a list of terms and definitions. Then, through a web-based survey, participants reviewed each CWDA question, definition, and term.

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