Job Screening Can Wrongly Eliminate Potential Tradesworkers

As the construction industry continues to trudge through a historic and long-standing labor shortage, contractors are trying to find qualified job candidates every way they can.

But relying on traditional methods, especially when it comes to technology for identifying potential employees, can fall flat.

In a traditional recruiting process, employees market themselves through their past experience or studies to try and fill positions.

“That works for coming out of a university into the workforce, but that recruitment pipeline completely breaks down and falls apart when you apply it to the skilled landscape of craft professionals,” said Quincy Nadel, co-founder and COO at SkillHero, a recruiting platform for the industry.

That’s especially true for jobs that don’t require a specialized degree. 

“Technology has been purpose-built to support college-to-workforce and not direct-to-workforce from a high school or trade school,” she added.

Newer recruitment screening processes from platforms like Skillit and SkillHero can help contractors find ideal job candidates by mining more data and information to find more potential job candidates, especially those with non-traditional background experiences.

Platforms that use artificial intelligence have “the ability to consume more data and information than any human possibly could,” Nadel said, and can identify candidates who have either direct or related skills for a position, especially those who may not see themselves as a candidate for the job on their own.

“You can look at an individual who has a certain skill set that might not traditionally or typically apply for an open position at that employer,” she said. “Maybe they’re one degree off and through upskilling, then they would be a perfect fit.” 

To read the rest of this story from our sister publication, Construction Dive, click here.