How can marketing help with your labour shortage?

Let’s create a scenario:

I own a construction company and I am struggling with an ageing/unskilled workforce, and I don’t seem to be attracting the youthful, enthusiastic, and high skilled employees.

Let’s go a long way to solving the scenario:

Your labour force is the front line of your business, your key asset because it is what makes your business tick. You may have the latest machinery and tender on the best projects but if you don’t have the skills to complete the job to your contractors liking, then your business will fail!

Maintaining and attracting the right people to your company can be a challenge at the best of times, but it can particularly be a struggle if your construction business if painting the picture of outdatedness and old-fashioned. This is where marketing comes in…

Your website is the first port of call for your business. It is the frontman for your show, it’s the captain of your team, and for that reason, it must represent your business how you want to be portrayed to potential employees. A poor website immediately paints a picture into the head of a potential employee – this company is slow paced, outdated, lacking innovation and so on– it is not where they want to utilise my skills that they have worked so hard to learn. In contrast, your website is modern, dynamic, interactive, and updated frequently, it presents your business in a light that will attract the best young talent because they want to work there, they like what they see and it goes a long way to solving your labour shortage problems.

Similarly, social media is key for ensuring you appeal to your potential labour force. You must be seen to be uploading engaging content and consistently. For the construction industry engaging content frequently occurs in the form of project posting – uploading images of projects you are working on or team-building events, whereby your business is seen to care for its employees. A social media presence allows you to access some of the largest data pools the world has to offer. With over half the world’s population on social media, someone with the skillset your business requires is out there somewhere, it’s just about you finding and attracting it.

Obviously, an effective website and social media is not the answer to all your problems regarding the labour shortages, but when it comes to you advertising a job role on a recruitment website or whatever platform your business uses, a potential employee will do the same thing that a potential client will do, make a judgement about your business based on what is easily accessible to them, and that is your website and your social media. If they don’t like what they see, they won’t apply for a job. The construction industry is renowned for a lack of digital presence, why wait for change? Let your business be at the forefront of construction digitisation and allow your business to attempt to attract the best construction has to offer.