Construction Jobs

Hiring Trends in Construction

The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor announced today that nonfarm payroll employment rose by 110,000, and upwardly revised the July and August numbers significantly (revised to 93,000 and 89,000 respectively). Especially striking is the switch in August from losing 4,000 jobs to adding 89,000. The unemployment rate rose by 0.1 to 4.7%. (read the BLS report here)
Still, despite this overall increase, “construction employment continued to decline” by about 14,000 jobs. Over 1/3 of all job losses in September were related to housing. This information, taken together, adds validity to my last two posts. While the overall economy and labor markets are improving, hopefully leading to an increase in construction labor in the coming months, it is currently a “hiring market” in the construction industry. Companies can afford to be selective.

Recovery in the Commercial Paper Market

Another factor that should help housing woes, and in turn construction jobs, is the state of the commercial paper market. On August 15th, MarketWatch ran an article titled Subprime woes infect commercial paper market. The commercial paper market is called the “working capital lifeblood for the corporate sector.” Many mortgage companies, including the giant Countrywide Financial, rely on this “source of funding”. The article warned that “disruptions in this market may be hitting mortgage-related companies the hardest”.
Fortunately, ”the beleaguered market for short-term corporate commercial credit finally got a bit of good news by registering its first volume increase since the August liquidity crisis, according to Federal Reserve data” (NY Times). The total outstanding commercial paper increased by $4.5 billion. Furthermore, a chief fixed-income strategist says, “These data, combined with persistent declines in commercial paper rates, are clear evidence of stabilization in the commercial paper market.” With commercial paper improving, and long-term corporate bonds healthy, the signs point to “corporate credit markets…returning to normal.”
Hopefully, these improvements will not take too long to start trickling down. Perhaps we will see a residential construction turnaround soon.

Only time will tell.

• Becoming Competitive in a Tight Construction Job Market

If you read yesterday’s post, then you know that current labor conditions are allowing hiring managers to be quite selective. In such a job market, job seekers need to go the extra mile to get a great position. But what are the best ways to set yourself apart from the pack?
In interviewing and speaking with hiring managers and HR people, it has become clear that two areas stand above the rest: education and performance.

• Guide for Career Advancement

Education is a great place to start. Your base education (high school/undergraduate/graduate degree) can be augmented with any number of continuing education or skills programs, as well as higher degrees. A simple search will reveal tons of schools offering both online and hands-on programs. You can learn how to use a specific piece of equipment or a computer program in less than a month or get your MBA in Construction Management over a couple of years. And again, you can find programs that will fit into your schedule, no matter what it is. Most online courses can be taken at your leisure: whether you have time at 2 pm or 2 am. Continuing education not only looks good on your resume but makes you a more valuable asset to the company. So, not only will you be competitive for more jobs, but you are also likely to encounter greater job security as well as higher pay. The downside to continuing education is its costs: courses, no matter where or how they are taken, cost money.

• The Power of Performance

Performance can be a more difficult area to focus on than education simply because education is easier to secure. If you want to take a course, you simply sign up online and take it. Performance is not so easy. I am constantly surprised by how many people sell themselves short and therefore have a hard time communicating how they have over-performed. Often we will assume that a certain accomplishment or accolade is not “good” or “important enough” to show that we are good performers, or we will overlook numbers and improvements that seem “normal” or “expected” to us, not realizing that they are truly impressive. As with proofreading a resume, pinning down concrete examples of exceptional performance can be easier with a friend or colleague to bounce ideas off of. Often, this outside perspective can help separate the noteworthy achievements from the ones that should remain unmentioned.
This topic goes hand in hand with one I covered a few weeks ago: Passive Job Seeking.

Tight Labor Market Shows a Benevolent Side to Hiring Managers

Construction employment has been declining in recent months. The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ The Employment Situation: August 2007 reports that nonfarm payroll employment fell by 4,000 in August. Furthermore, “employment in manufacturing, construction, and local government education declined”. Construction employment lost roughly 22,000 jobs, and “since its peak in September 2006, construction employment has fallen by 96,000.”

Selective Hiring Shapes the Workforce

This situation reminds me of an article I read in BusinessWeek about the 2001 middle and upper manager crisis. Starting in July 2000, “the number of managers and professionals on the unemployment rolls…jumped” by “24.7%”. Then, like now, unemployment was at a “rock-bottom 4.5%”, and actual unemployment for those professionals was still less than half that: 2.2%.
What was the result? Some companies used a “revolving-door strategy – shedding weaker performers while simultaneously welcoming promising new talent – to upgrade the quality of their workforce”. Everyone could afford to use “selective hiring”. Madelaine Pfau, a managing partner of a professional services practice interviewed in the article, made an astute observation: “I think during the last bubble, people were hiring anything that could move…I think the standards are higher for the people they are bringing in.”
With the current labor market, construction and homebuilding companies can afford to ‘upgrade’ their staff. If companies act quickly and wisely, they may beat the “gold rush for talent that will attend the first signs of a strong recovery”. The best candidates always go first, and those who wait may find themselves wishing they had not.