The construction industry is booming thanks to a blazing hot economy that has roared back to life as the coronavirus pandemic has dissipated. Jobs remain open in the construction industry even after several quarters of hiring. The question is why construction industry jobs are not being filled as quickly as those in other industries. The answer might lie in bad branding.
Jobs Remain Open in the Construction Industry: a Branding Challenge?
It is no secret that schools encourage students to pursue other paths aside from construction, providing youngsters with even more reason to pursue white collar jobs oreven blue-collar work outside of the construction sector.Construction News reports less than 10% of teens are willing to sign up for construction work. Construction has a poor reputation among teens for several reasons. For one, most teens envision sweaty, grumpy and dirtied men working long hours when they ponder a career in the construction industry.
The truth that recruiters, construction industry veterans and even those who worked construction part-time in summers know is that working construction is fulfilling as it has a meaningful purpose that benefits oneself as well as the collective interest of society. Recruiters are quick to testify that their placements in the construction industry often prove mutually beneficial to the employees as well as construction industry employers.
If school guidance counselors, administrators, teachers and others shifted the focus to steering graduating students to construction industry jobs that provide significant societal utility as opposed to steering them to college, the construction industry worker shortage would balance out to more of an equilibrium that benefits all parties.
Lucrative Opportunities Abound in the Construction Sector
Rewind a couple decades into the past and construction workers were widely considered to have low social status, partially because they earn less than office workers and use their bodies more than their minds. Construction workers are problem-solvers yet fewer people are wiling to embrace these hands-on roles as technology rapidly evolves.
The law of supply and demand is kicking in, hiking construction industry employee financial compensation as more jobs open and comparably fewerapplications are submitted. All sorts of positions are open throughout the entirety of the construction industry:
- Project manager roles
- Estimator positions
- Planners
- Contract managers
- Foremen
- Site laborers
Jobs remain open in the construction industry today and will likely continue to remain open in the months and potentially even the years ahead. Local construction industry recruiters are quick to testify that wages and salaries are likely to continue to increase accordingly until more industry roles are filled. The key takeaway from this content is that this moment in time might be the best in human history to enter the construction field.