The construction industry has long struggled to attract new workers to the field, an issue that has only been exacerbated by the pandemic. 

That challenge has led those in the industry to get creative with recruitment efforts, says Sarah Cottam, director of member services for the Inland Pacific chapter of Associated Builders & Contractors Inc.

Prior to the pandemic, the association worked to build awareness in students by attending career fairs held at local elementary, middle, and high schools, to ensure that students had the opportunity to learn about careers in the trades, Cottam says.

Since COVID-19 hit, schools either have moved classes online or have adopted a hybrid system of in-person learning a few days a week and the rest online, which has effectively halted the association’s ability to go into a classroom.

“If the future is virtual recruiting, then my association along with contractors, we’re going to do whatever it takes,” she says.

ABC Inland Pacific Chapter represents more than 285 members in Eastern Washington and Idaho, she says.

Skilled workers left the construction industry en masse when the Great Recession hit in 2008, with over 600,000 leaving the industry and not returning, reports Forbes business magazine.

As of August, there were 264,000 vacant construction jobs in the U.S., down from 353,000 in August 2019, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

Shawn Adam, president of Spokane-based Sturm Heating Inc., says, “There are very few companies in the trades that haven’t faced challenges finding qualified and experienced workers.”

When the economy was booming prior to the pandemic, it only compounded the challenges due to a very shallow labor pool, he says.

Adam adds, “We’ve gone to a more aggressive approach of having positions posted on hiring websites (for) a greater amount of time,” which he contends has produced a better hiring pool. That also lets candidates know the company is always on the hunt for new talent.

A study released in February by the Associated General Contractors of America Inc., in partnership with Autodesk Inc., found 80% of surveyed construction companies can’t find the workers they need.

Further, it found that 73% of construction companies believe it will continue to be hard, or get harder, to find hourly craft workers over the next year.

The survey attributes the labor shortage to fallout from the last recession, when skilled workers left the industry to join new industries or left the workforce entirely when they couldn’t find construction work. Additionally, baby boomers are retiring in record numbers, leaving all industries, while millennials entering the workforce appear to have little interest in construction trades.

Cottam contends the disinterest stems from the stigma around jobs in the construction industry, which is typically portrayed as a “dirty, nasty industry” that requires people to work outside year-round.

The goal is to break that misconception through video campaigns that tell the stories of those who have been successful in the industry, she says.

“Not everybody is geared to go to college,” she adds, noting that people can be just as successful joining an apprenticeship and building a career in the trades.

Adams adds, “During the past 10 years, the trades have experienced labor shortages never seen in the past. Much of this has occurred due to the poor job of us promoting opportunities that exist within the trades over the last 30 years.

The collaborations between trade associations and individual companies to address this need has helped spur action at the governmental levels and has boosted trade company participation in educating younger generations about the field through job fairs, he says.”

“Trade companies are realizing they need to think outside the box in terms of workforce development,” which includes developing career paths that provide training and licensing, Adams contends.

Of the association’s members, Cottam says 90% have said they expect to be hiring in 2021.

In an informal survey of 28 Spokane-area contractors conducted for this article, the Journal found half were advertising open positions on their respective websites as of Oct. 26. A handful of those that didn’t have open listings on their websites advertised open positions on job search engines, such as Indeed and ZipRecruiter. Others offered open forums and contact information for potential applicants to request information on open positions.

Open positions range from project managers and engineers to carpenters, iron workers, and technicians.

Other contractors, such as Spokane Valley-based Divcon Inc., have continued to work with local temp agencies to fill their ranks.

Jeremy Kinney, project manager with Divcon, says the construction company hasn’t felt the need to shift online, and largely recruits new hires through word-of-mouth and through temporary employment agencies.

The company continually looks for new hires that will fit its culture, he says. Additionally, workers brought in through the temp agencies typically are hired as full-time employees following a three- to six-month trial period, says Kinney.

“Their interview is out in the field working with the rest of the family,” he says.

While the hiring process at the company hasn’t changed due to the pandemic, its training process has seen some adjustments, Kinney says.

“Training is like continuing education,” he says. New hires are placed with an experienced employee in the field to gain hands-on knowledge of Divcon’s processes.

For the company’s lift training, which includes operating scissor, aerial, and boom lifts, a full-time safety manager has been hired to perform in-house instruction, says Kinney. The position also manages the COVID-19 safety practices.

Divcon used to send employees to heavy equipment rental yards that offered equipment training, he says, but a number of those companies shut down their courses or moved them online when the pandemic hit.

“We don’t really feel that online training is as effective for our field guys as it is in person,” says Kinney. “We tend to shy away from that.”

Hiring a safety manager to handle such training was a natural response, he contends, adding that the company had been exploring the option for a couple of years.

Cottam contends journey-level skilled workers — which include carpenters, laborers, and electricians — are the most difficult positions to fill. In order to be a certified journey-level skilled worker, the person must first work for three to five years in the craft. Additionally, a large share of current journey-leveled workers are retiring, she says.

“There’s not the pipeline to replace these people,” Cottam says.

Adam agrees, adding that lead installers, which manage a crew during installation and oversee the installation process, in residential and commercial construction are the trickiest positions for the company to find qualified employees to fill, as they require several hundred hours of training under licensed journeymen.

“Due to the lack of journeymen in the specialized trades, licensing becomes a huge challenge in getting apprentices their hours,” he contends.

Cottam says she expects recruitment of adults to the construction industry to look different post-COVID.

Construction companies will need to ensure they have a strong virtual platform along with competitive wages, Cottam contends. They also will need to focus on marketing their company culture, she adds.

Education through ABC also has shifted, Cottam says. Due to the hands-on nature of the industry, it’s impossible to shift fully to online training, but the classes that can be taught through virtual means, such as safety courses, have been shifted online, she says. Caps have been placed on the number of people able to be in a single classroom in person, she adds.

Cottam says attendance at classes typically not required by the state to operate have seen significant drops in attendance, with some needing to be postponed because only one or two people signed up for the course.

Construction companies are still signing up for the basics, like safety training, she says. Some of the drop in attendance for non-mandatory courses is attributable to members simply being too busy to attend as they catch up on projects that were halted during the governor’s stay-home mandate in March that shuttered all nonessential work, which included commercial construction, she says.