Attracting & Hiring the Best Team for your Contracting Company

Attracting and retaining top-tier team members is crucial to your business's success. Whether you’re a painter, remodeler, concrete lifter, roofing or chimney sweep company, your workforce's quality directly impacts your reputation, client satisfaction, and bottom line.

Here’s some suggestions on how you can implement a recruitment and hiring process that attracts the best service contractors in the industry.

Start By Defining Your Ideal Candidate

Before you start the recruitment process, it’s essential to have a clear picture of your ideal candidate. Consider the following attributes:

• Skills and Experience: What specific skills and experience are necessary for the job? Define technical qualifications, certifications, and years of experience.
• Soft Skills: Look for traits like communication, problem-solving abilities, and customer service skills.
• Company Cultural Fit: Your company culture plays a significant role in employee satisfaction. Identify the values and behaviors that align with your company’s mission and vision.

By clearly defining what you’re looking for, you can tailor your recruitment efforts to attract candidates who meet these criteria.

Optimize Your Job Listings

This is your marketing strategy for your job listing. It is often the first impression potential candidates will have of your company. Ensure your job postings are:

• Clear and Concise: Provide a detailed job description, including responsibilities, required qualifications, and benefits.
• Make it Engaging: Use a tone that reflects your company culture. Highlight what makes your company a great place to work. Basically you are marketing your company and shining a light on its best assets.
• Inclusive: Use inclusive language to attract a diverse range of candidates welcoming everyone to your company.

Post your listings on various platforms, including your company website, industry-specific job boards, and social media channels.

Leverage Technology: Utilizing technology can streamline your recruitment process and help you find top-tier talent more efficiently. 

• Consider the following tools: For our bigger contractors who hire 25 + candidates a year I would recommend an Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS): An ATS can help you manage and filter applications, ensuring you don’t overlook qualified candidates.
• Video Interviews: Conduct initial interviews via video to save time and expand your geographic reach. Many people are willing to relocate if necessary.
• Social Media: Use platforms like LinkedIn, FB and Instagram to connect with potential candidates and showcase your company culture.  You should always be doing before and after pictures of all your jobs on these various platforms.  That alone can help with building your brand on SM.

Build a Strong Employer Brand

Your employer brand is how potential employees perceive your company as a workplace. A strong employer brand can significantly impact your ability to attract top-tier talent. 

• Employee Testimonials: Something many owners of companies rarely think about using.  It is the same as marketing your company for new customers.  Share stories and testimonials from your current employees about their positive experiences.
• Professional Development: Highlight opportunities for growth and advancement within your company.
• Company Culture: Showcase your company culture through social media, your website, and during the interview process. I never gave this much value until just a few years ago, and what a difference this makes.  New hires want to know what you care about and what is important to you and the company.

A positive and well-communicated employer brand can make your company more attractive to top candidates.  Think about having new hires banging down your door for employment. That is the goal here.

Develop a Robust Interview Process

Your interview process should be designed to assess both technical skills and cultural fit. I also have found over the years that several short interviews can tell you a huge story about the individual.  So take your time and do not rush. Having to fire is also time consuming and costly.

• Structured Interviews: Use a consistent set of questions for all candidates to ensure fairness and make it easier to compare responses.
• Skills Assessments: Include practical tests or scenarios to evaluate candidates' technical abilities.  We have one long time team leader at Estimate Rocket who takes great pride in finding a really cool “word logic” problem to solve in the interviews he gives.  It is not a make or break question but it is fun to see how people think quickly on their feet.
• Behavioral Interviews: Ask questions that reveal how candidates have handled situations in the past, giving insight into their soft skills and cultural fit.

Offer Competitive Compensation and Benefits

To attract top-tier service contractors, offer a compensation package that reflects the value they bring to your company.  I cannot say how important this piece is. I would rather have a smaller team and offer them the best compensation package for themselves and family. Taking care of your team is a top priority.  You take care of your team and they will have your back and take care of the customers.

• Competitive Salaries: Research industry standards to ensure your salaries are competitive.
• Benefits: Offer comprehensive benefits, including health insurance, retirement plans, dental, eye and paid time off (PTO).
• Incentives: Provide performance-based bonuses, continuing education opportunities, and career advancement programs.
  
  

Implementing an effective recruitment and hiring process is essential for attracting and keeping top-tier service contractors. By defining your ideal candidate, optimizing job listings, leveraging technology, building a strong employer brand, developing a robust interview process, offering competitive compensation, and fostering a positive work environment, you can attract and retain the best talent in the industry. Investing time and resources into your recruitment process will pay off in the long run, ensuring your business remains competitive and successful.