FROM THE EDITOR
FROM THE EDITOR SKILLS GAP WILL REQUIRE INNOVATIVE RECRUITING APPROACHES IN NEXT DECADE
B
ack a few years ago, when I was growing up around company shops and logging camps, it was easy to pick out the person in charge. It was almost always a slightly more than middle-aged man driving the newest pickup on site. They’d be greasy up to their elbows, mud to the knees, and they knew everything about each task in that operation. Owners, foremen, supervisors – whatever their title, they were vital in sharing their knowledge on down the line. Today, we’re seeing less of these people on the job site as the older generation moves into well-deserved retirement. As they have moved off, though, the industry is losing a major source of knowledge and wisdom. At the same time, the trades have suffered a slowdown in the number of new workers making their way in. Construction is one of the areas challenged the most by the labour shortage that is creeping through the Canadian economy. In its 2021–2030 Construction & Maintenance Looking Forward workforce outlook, BuildForce Canada projects that 259,100 workers in the construction sector will retire over the next decade, while drawing 228,100 new entrants to the industry. That leaves a significant gap to be filled, and those openings will need to be filled from a pool of qualified younger workers. And that pool, BuildForce projects, won’t be growing as much as might be needed, with fewer young people entering construction. All of this combines to give the construction sector a challenge: how to attract good, skilled employees, and how to close the gap in available workers. BuildForce suggests that underrepresented groups like women and Indigenous people are important parts of the process, and encourages the industry to expand its recruiting and training efforts to bring more employees from those areas. In the end, though, contractors are going to find themselves looking for employees from a tightening pool of younger candidates. Reaching those prospects may mean changing up the recruitment process. Ken White Construction, who we profile in this issue, has found those young, skilled applicants by going where they live – social media. Taylor White, the third generation of Whites at the Carp, Ontario-based equipment contractor, has built a following for the company on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and elsewhere.
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heavyequipmentguide.ca | JANUARY 2022
Contractors are going to find themselves looking for employees from a tightening pool of younger candidates. Reaching those prospects may mean changing up the recruitment process. His photos and videos are targeted squarely at that younger audience, avid consumers of social media who check their social profiles before they check their email or phone messages. The message is simple: Ken White Construction has a good team, does good work, and is welcoming to talented new employees. That message is working well, Taylor says, with skilled equipment operators connecting regularly about job opportunities. Many of them are already in the industry, working with larger companies, but the workplace culture they see on social media is catching their attention. That’s just one approach, but it’s a strong one in today’s market. Construction companies will need to leverage social media and technology, along with other innovative recruiting approaches, to find the young people who can fill the skills gap in the coming years.
Lee Toop Editor ltoop@baumpub.com heavyequipmentguide.ca
