How to use the right recruiting tactics for different talent pools

This article appeared in our newsletter The Construction Labor Weekly.

Join thousands of construction professionals that are improving their recruiting in just 5 minutes a week with just your email here.

This week we want to talk about a simple error that many companies make in their recruiting.

We’re going to show you about how by understanding the four (4) levels of construction talent pools, companies can increase their likelihood of filling jobs on time, every time.

Unfortunately, lots of people get stuck in the rut of a preferred recruiting strategy - and miss ways to work smarter in the process.

Most recruiters are inclined to use one tried and true method.

Could be phone calls.

Could be texts.

Could be messaging on social media.

The problem is that these tactics don’t always align with the talent level you’re recruiting.

And when talent level changes, so too should your recruiting tactics.

The good news is that there’s an easy process to understanding which level you’re recruiting from and how to adapt accordingly.

 

Let’s dive in.

 

Understand the four (4) Talent Levels in the construction industry

The construction labor market has four (4) levels of talent populations that companies are recruiting from.

The lower the level the higher the likelihood of filling a job. Level 1 Talent is the highest likelihood of matching. Level 4 Talent is the lowest but has the largest population.

• Level 1 Talent are current employees. These people are currently on your payroll.

• Level 2 Talent are previous employees. Hopefully you’ve collected their contact info and can get in touch with them easily.

• Level 3 Talent are referred or recommended employees. You don’t have experience with these employees but depending on the person making the referral these can be high quality employees.

• Level 4 Talent is everybody else. This is the largest network available to any company.

 

Use the appropriate recruiting tactics for each level

These Talent Levels should not be recruited in the same way.

So many people get this wrong because they’re stuck in their ways.

Levels 1, and 2 are about direct outreach to your closest network. This means direct messages, text messages and phone calls.

You know these people and they know you.

Direct outreach is easiest when you’ve set up solid contact lists and have contact info for your current and former employees.

Levels 3 and 4 are reached via broad outreach and require an extra layer of vetting. Direct outreach can still work in these levels but it’s not the most efficient method.

Level 4 is also the largest network and is full of possibilities. Growth in your company’s labor pool will come from levels 3 and 4.

 

How to win in the Level 4 Talent pool by accessing pre-built networks

Level 4 is by far the largest network to recruit from.

It’s a massive group of people.

About 7,500,000 people work in construction.

How many of those have you employed? Now multiply that number by 4X to include referrals.

This number is the total size of your Levels 1, 2 and 3. Subtract this from 7.5 million.

The rest of the people are in Level 4 for you.

It’s also the hardest because the network is fragmented.

The good news is that can be done easily by using pre-built networks of Level 4 Talent.

Here’s what you need to do.

• Join Facebook Groups. There are dozens or hundreds of groups to choose from. Spend time searching the relevant groups. Joint the groups. Learn their rules, spend time seeing how they operate. Research which posts get good attention. You can reach dozens of thousands of people this way.
• Grow your own social media accounts. Put together your social media plan to grow your own network and help increase the size of your reach. You can reach tens of thousands of people this way.
• Create your contact list outreach process. This is typically a text message or email that system that lets you blast a message to your list. This is a fast way to find out who’s interested from Levels 1 and 2 but more importantly to solicit recommendations for Level 3 Talent.
• Establish employer accounts with online recruiting sites. Research the available options, as there are several. Learn what products each site has and what the pricing is for each. For example, the RoadDog Jobs network is 207,000 people and counting. This is an easy way to get your message seen by a large group of people