Articles
Ways to Improve Your Work-Life Balance
The construction industry has traditionally been fraught with poor quality of life issues, stemming primarily but not exclusively from long hours (per day and per week) compared to other sectors of society, and the resultant stress this can cause. When it’s the busy season, a deadline is looming on the horizon, or an emergency arises,…
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Surviving the Recession as a Civil Contractor
Paving a path through the Covid-19 recession Since the beginning of the new century, each major downturn in the U.S. economy has been caused by unique and mostly unexpected circumstances. The current recession, which began in February of 2020, was triggered by business restrictions and widespread public quarantines to slow the spread of the Covid-19…
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The Silver Lining of COVID-19 For Construction
The Silver Lining of COVID-19 in the Construction Industry The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many sectors of economy to adopt new ways of doing business, including the construction industry. Across the world, job sites have shut down, projects have been delayed or canceled, supply chains have been interrupted, workers have been laid off, and the…
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The One That Got Away: Onboarding Strategies to Curb Counteroffers
If you’ve ever been fishing or even know someone who has, you’ve probably heard the story about “the one that got away.” It goes something like this: You are out fishing and all of a sudden, a fish takes the bait. You jerk back on your rod to set the hook and the tip of…
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Mentorships for the Win!
The Baby Boomer generation (those born between approximately 1946 and 1964) are retiring at a rate of 10,000 people per day. Within the next several years, they will have almost completely exited the work force. All types of business, including construction companies, are likely to find themselves facing an ever-growing list of projects to complete…
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Tips on Finding a Mentor
You’ve landed a job in your chosen field – Construction – but you’re overwhelmed by the expectations and responsibilities that lie before you. Can you meet them? Do you have what it takes? If this is your situation, you may want to consider finding a mentor. Regardless of whether you’ve been through an internship and/or…
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Gambling on Candidate Relocations: How to Win the Hand
Searching for the right candidate is an exhaustive effort, sifting through applications and searching far and wide for the perfect fit. The last thing you want to do on top of all that is to expend the time, effort and money to help a candidate relocate, only to watch them walk away after several weeks…
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Does Higher Unemployment Increase Access to Great Candidates?
The recent novel coronavirus pandemic has taken a toll on many industries, in particular those that could not realistically accommodate telecommuting, such as construction. According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and analyzed by USAFacts, between the start of the year and April the unemployment rate tripled (up to 16.6%), with almost…
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Best Practices in Onboarding and Retention
Onboarding is sometimes known as organizational socialization, and simply put, it refers to the process or plan whereby new employees are welcomed into a company and introduced to those things which make the company unique – its expectations for employees, knowledge base, expertise, and culture. An effective onboarding plan doesn’t begin or stop with a…
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The War for Talent: Compelling Reasons to Make a Compelling Offer
By: Taylor Maurer The “war for talent” (coined by McKinsey & Co in 1997), a labor market phenomenon that really took hold shortly after the year 2000, resulted from a low unemployment rate combined with a rising national GDP. In the construction industry this took the form of a massive shortage of talent, from laborers…
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