Bridging the gap between technology and business...

LAS VEGAS — The housing industry still has a "help wanted" sign out. But so far there's no sign of the more than 200,000 workers homebuilders are ready to hire.

The chronic labor shortage is raising costs, adding to building time and biting into profits, industry experts at this week's International Builders' Show said.

"There is no silver bullet to this issue," said Robert Dietz, chief economist for the National Association of Home Builders, which sponsors the annual conference. "It's going to take a long time to fix."

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For the last two years, higher material costs and a shortage of construction labor were the top two worries of U.S. builders.

The construction industry still hasn't recovered from the economic downturn of a decade ago.

"You had a lot of people leave the industry during the Great Recession, and they haven't come back," Dietz said.

The slowdown in immigration is also a factor, he said.

"We are short more than 200,000 construction workers in the U.S., and getting younger workers is going to be a real challenge," Dietz said.

As the recruitment function automates, the place of the cover letter is up in the air.

Platforms are screening resumes and applications for keywords; AI-powered interview bots are asking initial questions and tech is quickly ranking applications and funneling them into inboxes. In today's time-critical recruitment process, the argument could be made that a cover letter slows screening time, forcing recruiters to read though yet another document as they search for the right applicant. But, written correctly, they may also offer a quick synopsis of the candidate's qualifications and experience, as well as some insight into their personality and goals.

Are cover letters over? Or are they changing like so many other aspects of recruiting are these days?

 
The state of cover letters

According to Vicki Salemi, career expert for Monster, the cover letter isn't dead yet; "Hiring managers will still ask for them. Not all, but many," she told HR Dive in an email.

But for Ally Van Deuren, university relations lead at Korn Ferry, they're too time consuming. "I personally rarely look at cover letters," she said in an email. "The average recruiter spends an average of [seven] seconds per resume, so honing a resume is more important!"

Many companies no longer require cover letters, Paul Lesser, head of talent acquisition at Fidelity Investments, told HR Dive, but added: "We are redefining how we attract top talent with diverse skills and perspectives, and a cover letter can help a prospective employee showcase unique thoughts or experiences that may set them apart from other applicants." In many cases, he said in an email, cover letters are not necessary; for most of Fidelity's roles, the company doesn't require them.

Save time or delve deep?

Most companies are surprisingly poor at planning ahead." So says Mathias Linnemann, co-founder of Worksome (worksome.co.uk). "That's just a product of how business works today. With everything being more project-based and dynamic, it's harder for companies to foresee the workforce they'll need nine months from now."

Admittedly, there's an element of "well, he would say that" because that's the problem Worksome has set out to solve. As a platform that marries contracts with freelance experts, it helps plug companies' skills gaps by allowing them to post short-term contracts, like a project to implement new technology, that qualified experts can bid on.

"I'm definitely a fan of upskilling your full-time workforce," added Linnemann, before airing the scenario of when IT projects run over budget and behind schedule. "Then you need someone to step in, but if you take them from your existing workforce you have an empty chair elsewhere. It makes sense to pull in someone from outside who is super-qualified at solving your problem and has a razor-sharp focus because they don't want to start a career with you or get promoted."

Sam Wallace of executive recruitment specialist Carmichael Fisher (cfsearch.com) sees bringing in talent from outside an organisation as a way to "reduce as much risk as possible" when you're planning an implementation. "The risk you have when you try to reskill with external people rather than internally is that you lose some of the core identity of the organisation, which is such an important part of a company's culture. Expertise needs to be brought in to give you deep subject matter leaders [for the] transition but, in order to sustain the [company] culture you also retrain your existing people."

Linnemann's views broadly align with this approach. "There will always be a core in-house team that's super motivated and in it for the long run," he said. "They know the culture, the building, the whole company, and they can get quite frustrated if they're being bounced around to put out fires and not able to focus on the work they love. It's not uncommon to see a programmer being asked to do UX design or an IT project manager asked to manage people. That's the natural way of thinking: we have these employees and we need to use them for whatever needs to be solved instead of thinking that we could hire a good people manager who is specialised in leading back-end engineers who would come in for six months."

It’s getting worse,” said Amanda, an internal recruiter for a large software company. “We can have long conversations with people. We can have great interviews. We can even reach employment agreements with some, and then, they just disappear into thin air. There’s no warning. And, we never hear from them again. They’re ghosts.”

While most of us are familiar with the term “ghosting” in personal life—when someone just stops responding to texts and phone calls or leaves a gathering without saying goodbye. Apparently, now employers are also witnessing a terrifying increase in “Ghosting” by potential hires.

Recruiters at Robert Half, a global staffing firm, report a 10 to 20% increase in ghosting by new recruits in the past couple years. And, while many leaders are blaming a strong economy and low unemployment for the new trend of disappearing, others, like Amanda, are saying, “It’s just plain rude.”

Is the new “ghosting” trend a contagious symptom that is bleeding over from new social habits based on technology—texting, social media networking, and online dating apps—where it seems to be the norm to digitally move forward without any explanation? Is it now just a cultural exception? Or, is there something else at play?

We all live in world of constant change. And, while our culture may be changing rapidly—even to a place where we can actually appreciate the fact that a new recruit chose not to waste any more of our time as a hiring manager—as leaders, there might be more to ghosting than we want to admit. Yes, it could be a combination of culture, mixed with a competitive marketplace for talent, mixed with something you’re doing wrong.

Labour and skills shortages have become one of the top three strategic challenges facing occupiers, according to CBRE’s EMEA Occupier Survey 2019, which focuses on Optimising Human Skills.

Real estate’s drive for talent – including attracting, developing and retaining new recruits – comes ahead of cost reduction as a strategic challenge, and only behind economic uncertainty and disruption by technology.

“It is about focussing on the experience of your employees, as well as adapting to structural changes taking place in the industry”

Not only is it about focussing on the experience of employees, but also about adapting to structural changes taking place in the industry – the real estate sector included.

Real estate companies becoming tech companies
One of the key structural changes taking place in real estate is the growth of tech. Aakash Ravti, Co-Founder & Chief Growth Officer of Spaceti, the winner of the MIPIM 2019 Startup Competition, predicts: “More and more real estate companies are going to become tech companies that happen to be in the real estate industry.”

According to the PwC report Talent Trends 2019, “organisations desperately need tech-savvy leaders and employees … [people]who can harness innovative thinking, form the right strategies and apply the systems and tools that best fit the needs of the business.”

As structures change, so do skills. For example, only about half of people currently working at CBRE are chartered surveyors.

The construction industry is booming, but sadly the quality of those jobs has eroded. Just 12.8 percent of workers building America’s buildings, homes, and highways are members of unions. Those with union representation average $26.56 per hour, 49 percent higher than those without it. For those without union protections, abuses ranging from wage theft to harassment to unsafe working conditions are on the rise. Immigrant workers are particularly vulnerable.

The construction sector offers prospects for raising wealth within communities of color, women-led households, veterans and returning citizens. The construction workforce has become more diverse thanks in large part to apprenticeship programs, run jointly by unions and contractors, which have recruited women and workers of color and invested billions in training a new generation of construction workers. Yet there is more work to be done. Women hold just 3.4 percent of construction jobs, racial minorities are underrepresented in higher paying occupations, and Latinx workers are overrepresented in terms of construction fatalities.

The Role Investors Can Play

Jobs with Justice Education Fund is advancing an initiative to encourage pension funds and foundation endowments use their real estate investments to create a more inclusive and equitable economy. We encourage them to adopt policies for their real estate and infrastructure investments that ensure construction workers receive living wages, secure health and retirement benefits, safe working conditions and adequate training AND that create real opportunities for those historically excluded from these good jobs.

Our federal workforce is in a moment of crisis. Nearly half of all federal workers are on the brink of retirement, and there is insufficient interest from younger generations and other skilled workers in taking their spots. A recent report lays bare the demographic realities:

• There are nearly four times as many employees age 65 and older as under age 25

• While 23.9 percent of the overall U.S. workforce is under age 30, that is true of only 6.2 percent of federal workers

There is a perfect storm of issues here, but it boils down to this: younger generations are more interested in private sector jobs.

The reasons are both ideological (they see federal workplace culture as bureaucratic, with work that is less interesting and rewarding), and practical (the public sector hiring process is long and unpredictable, and pay is lower). Compounding this, there is a global digital skills gap, making it difficult for even top companies to fill open IT and digital roles; this leaves even fewer – and less desirable – candidates to step into the ever-growing headcount on the federal side.

This issue is not new, and work is being done on all fronts to address it. Congress, for example, has passed laws to speed up hiring and most agencies have developed targeted recruitment strategies for recent graduates. But the scale of this challenge means we must tackle it in a new way: to change the minds of young workers, the federal government must change its approach.

Luckily, organizations across the public sector are in the midst of digital transformations, rebuilding and modernizing the way they function and how they deliver services through the adoption of cloud, big data, AI and other technologies. These digital tools must form the cornerstone of reframing how agencies recruit younger talent. To bring on a new digital workforce, a government must first become digital.

Anyone starting a new job is bound to make some mistakes along the way.

But in real estate, some mistakes can be costly - like losing your real estate license.

Owner of Specialist Property Recruitment, Sharon Bennie shares some of the biggest blunders real estate agents can make in their careers, so you can avoid making them too.

1. Not choosing the best agency

Anxious to get their careers off the ground, many newbie agents often make the mistake of not choosing the best agency to work with.

"From a recruitment perspective, I feel the biggest mistake would be choosing a less than 'best in market' agency to commence your career with," Bennie told WILLIAMS MEDIA.

"You learn so much in your first role, ranging from negotiation and dialogues, through to ethics, legislation, standards, that will hold you in good stead for the rest of your career, even if you choose to move on later."

Make sure you begin your career with a reputable and well respected agency.

Whichever agency you choose, good marketing resources, admin support and training facilities are essential.

2. Losing your license

When you're a real estate agent, there are two licenses you can't afford to lose - your real estate license, and your drivers license.

"It would be a career destroying mistake," Bennie said.

Fortunately, you would have to have done something really terrible to lose either license - so it's definitely not an easy mistake to make.

Permitting you follow industry practice and don't mis-quote or misappropriate funds, your license should be safe.

3. Failing to network

We've all heard "it's not what you know, it's who you know" and this certainly rings true for the real estate industry.

Relationships are everything in real estate, so you can't afford not networking.

Picture this scenario: After investing a lot of time and energy, you’ve finally found an ideal candidate for the job. You schedule an interview, but at the agreed-upon time, your candidate is a no-show. And they don’t respond to your subsequent calls and emails.

You’ve just been “ghosted” — and it’s happening all too often to recruiters like you.

A relatively new phenomenon with roots in online dating, ghosting is now happening to employers everywhere. Many report candidates suddenly going silent or skipping out on interviews; other times, new hires don’t even show up on their first day. Yet few employers have developed tactics to stop ghosting.

What’s more, this practice isn’t likely to disappear anytime soon: Most job seekers who ghost don’t experience any repercussions. Some even say ghosting is justifiable, having often ended up in their own job search black hole.

To learn more about ghosting and how to stop it, Indeed surveyed 4,000 job seekers and nearly 900 employers across multiple industries in July 2019. The survey asked general questions about ghosting, then followed up with respondents who have experienced it from either side. Based on this data, here are four “ghostbusting” strategies to help recruiters reduce the risk of disappearing candidates.

1. Communicate clearly, early and often.
Ghosting is alarmingly widespread: A whopping 83% of employers in Indeed’s survey have been ghosted by job seekers. Among them, 64% say candidates suddenly stopped communicating and almost 60% report candidates who accepted a verbal offer and then vanished. And 65% of employers who’ve experienced ghosting say a candidate didn’t materialize on the first day of work.

In the dating world, you often hear, “Why are all the good ones taken?” It seems like a lot of dating analogies can be applied to recruiting, as well. And it makes sense because finding the right guy or gal for a relationship is equally as difficult as finding the right candidate for the role you’re hiring for.

passive

When it comes to recruiting, though, the “taken” ones are often referred to as “passive candidates.” Passive candidates are workers who are already employed by one company and may not necessarily be looking for a new job, but they have the right skills you’re looking for or are the perfect fit for your company.

How can you recruit candidates who aren’t actually looking for a new job? Eric LaBadie, VP of Global Sales at Mya Systems, joins us in the Q&A below to discuss how talent acquisition (TA) professionals can successfully recruit passive candidates.

HR Daily Advisor: Where can recruiters/TA professionals find passive candidates?

LaBadie: Recent record-breaking employment rates are making organizations increasingly reliant on outbound recruitment models. Hiring teams spend countless hours sifting and sorting through databases to identify possible prospects. They use e-mail, phone, and LinkedIn InMail to try and solicit those passive candidates, resulting in industry-average response rates of 1%–2%.

However, the reality is that most companies are inexplicably looking elsewhere, even though they have a large candidate pool readily available within their tracking systems and existing databases. Some have tried using basic chatbot solutions with simple yes/no and multiple-choice response systems that feel impersonal, can be mistaken as spam, and fail to build trust with candidates.

Some recruiting chatbots have amassed millions of data points to train conversational artificial intelligence (AI) in the context of passive sourcing and talent pool management. The result is a system that can communicate seamlessly with candidates in open-ended, natural, and dynamic conversation, delivering dramatically improved engagement rates and candidate experiences.

These types of platforms can work with a company’s applicant tracking system, LinkedIn, and other sourcing platforms to connect with the perfect passive candidates for the specific role.

Certain areas of IT, data and technology in the UK have been hiring prolifically despite the ever-looming uncertainty of Britain’s departure from the European Union.

Although some areas remain quiet due to the influences of Brexit and a distinct lack of clarity surrounding it, others have thrived – in particular, any technology hiring across automation, cyber and data, that is linked to risk and cost-saving. These global cost-saving initiatives have, somewhat ironically, driven up the salaries of professionals within certain specialisms including roles of test automation engineer, DevOps engineer, data analytics and cyber engineer.

The flow of permanent vacancies has been strong, particularly in data, Java, cyber, DevOps and test automation, ultimately leading to an increase in vacancies over the third quarter of 2019 when compared to the second quarter of the year. Part of this comes from the fact that investment banks have been driving to convert contract roles to permanent, and have an overall preference for hiring employees on a permanent basis.

Cyber security has seen a rise to prominence due to a change in mindset and awareness of people with regards to technology and cyber risks, from those within the business to shareholders and board level. Given the fact the sophistication and skills of attackers will only continue to develop, more importance has been placed on protecting organisations against these risks. The more complex our technological ecosystem (with IoT, machine learning, chat-bots, data lakes, blockchain to name but a few), the more challenging it becomes to address both systemic and new risks.

In stark contrast, contract hiring for IT jobs has been fairly quiet across the DevOps/cloud space into financial services, once again with firms placing a much bigger emphasis on permanent hiring. The upcoming changes to IR35 has definitely played a role in this, as companies have started to introduce a two-year rule for contractors and are attempting to convert them to permanent positions where possible.