Now’s the Time to Hire Quality People

By Ted Garrison

An industry slowdown could be the perfect time to add new quality employees to a construction firm’s staff.

I recently conducted a webinar on attracting and retaining workers for the future. However, during my pre-event promotion of the webinar’s topic, I often heard comments like, “With the business slowdown, we need programs on getting more business, not on how to hire workers.”

While certainly contractors may find a marketing program helpful at this time, I’d suggest that now is a great time to seek out and hire quality employees. In fact, it might actually be the best time.

During a construction boom, there always seems to be insufficient time to properly evaluate employee prospects. This often results in companies selecting the best of what appears to be the best available at first blush.

Unfortunately, this is never a good idea, because rushing the hiring process can be costly. The reality is that companies will often spend more time later training or developing an unprepared employee than was saved in the hiring process. In a worse-case scenario, where the firm is forced to let the employee go, U. S. government studies estimate that it can cost from 1.5 to 3 times a person’s salary to replace them. The moral of the story is that companies should avoid hiring people when under pressure to hire someone quickly.

A better approach is to seek quality people before they’re needed. This gives the company an opportunity to take the appropriate time to evaluate the prospects. To improve its efforts, a company shouldn’t merely rely on the instincts of some managers with hiring authority, but instead have a process that tests the applicants. A few key components of such as process include:

• Make sure the candidate understands the job
• Consider three to five people for the job
• Study candidates’ performance records to make sure their strengths match up with the requirements of the job
• Talk to the candidates’ colleagues – not just their superiors
• Explain to the candidate what will be expected of him or her

Going through these steps will not provide a 100% guarantee that a firm will always hire the right candidate, but it will help improve the company’s success rate significantly.

Another reason to look for quality talent during a slowdown is the simple fact that at this time there is often more available talent. This doesn’t necessarily mean that everyone is on the street looking for a job, but it can present opportunities to attract high performers that are unhappy at their current employer due to a variety of reasons – promotions have been frozen, bonuses eliminated, or they have been forced to take on a job they don’t like.

During boom times the competition for the limited available talent will be intense. Therefore it makes sense to search for the talent during less competitive times.

Further, during a slowdown companies can review the current staff and see if there are any marginal performers. During boom times companies are often forced to keep marginal performers because when labor is scarce, a marginal performer is still better than no one at all. A slowdown, however, offers companies an opportunity to upgrade its operation team.

I don’t believe in Jack Welsh’s philosophy that a company should automatically get rid of its bottom 10% of employees every year, but I believe that a company should eliminate all non-performers or marginal performers whenever the opportunity is available. This is true whether that figure is 5% or 25%.

Again, the advantages of doing this type of staff review during a slowdown include the ability to spend more time going through the evaluation process, and there are more people available as possible replacements. Also, during a slowdown, companies are often able to bring the new person on board before terminating the other person.

The real reward is that when the industry picks up, companies that do this will have positioned themselves to maximize their ability to seize available opportunities as a result of an upgraded team. This can have a significant impact on a company’s bottom line. So what are you waiting for?

Ted Garrison is the host of the radio program, www.NewConstructionStrategies.com.He can be reached at Ted@TedGarrison.com.