Hire Skilled Construction Workers

What really separates a skilled construction worker from a semi-skilled hire or general laborer? Does wielding a hammer make you a carpenter? No, no more than installing a toilet seat makes you a plumber. Power Labor appreciates the difference.

The Power Labor Difference

How do you define a typical worker who is from the skilled trades in the construction industry? “When people ask me, ‘What do you do?’ I say I’m in the staffing business, but with some key differences,” says Rob Reese, chief operating officer at Labor Source, the parent organization of Power Labor. “One difference is our preference not to “sell” our tradespeople to clients. This isn’t a temp firm. We want those tradespeople to work with us and for us indefinitely.

They may change assignments and may work for different clients, but we don’t sell them. The other big difference is our workers are special. You can’t point to a random group of people in a crowd and pick them out the way you could with typical general labor hires because they have specific construction industry skills.”

Power Labor treats all its construction industry tradespeople like full-time employees. “They have access to the same benefits that I or the CEO do,” says Rob. “We offer a 401k plan with date-of-hire enrollment and dollar-for-dollar matching with no vesting period. They get time off with five paid holidays a year. We invest in them to attract better people and hopefully retain them. The goal is to have our clients want to partner with us.”

Defining Skilled Labor

“Other staffing companies might say, ‘Yes, we have skilled labor,’” Rob says. “They could be referring to machine operators because that is a skill, but that’s not our sweet spot. We’re not looking for machine operators; we’re looking for skilled construction workers. There are a lot of other skills, like being a landscape architect, but that’s not what we do either.”

Rob becomes even more specific. “When I think of skilled labor, I’m not thinking about machine operators or people who can drive forklifts. I’m talking about people who have been formally trained through an apprenticeship training program. We’re looking for specific skill sets: For example, in construction, a welder, an electrician, a plumber, or a heavy equipment operator; that’s who we’re looking for.”

But hard skills are only part of the equation, says Rob. “We vet not only on hard skills but also on soft skills – is someone dependable, will they show every day, can we check their references?”

Reducing Overhead and Hassle

Rob continues, “Everybody initially calls us for the same reason: They need somebody for one position, and they use us the first time because they have to. At that point, they’re typically not interested in partnering with us. Ideally, we can demonstrate the value of working with us instead of trying to hire workers alone when you may not have a benefits plan or a retirement plan.

“Our clients don’t have to worry about the overhead, administration, and implementation of all those employee-specific programs, Rob says. “Whether our clients seek a partnership or just need to satisfy a part-time need, we can help them.” He notes that many clients find that by the time they get around to talking to Power Labor, they have already wasted a lot of time and effort looking for workers. “It can cost a lot of money,” says Rob.

Seeking Direct Experience

Power Labor seeks construction industry workers with experience.

We’re looking for people who have some amount of direct field experience in a specific trade. Then we dig into that experience: how long they have done it, what kinds of projects have they been on, and examples of what they’ve done. We’re looking for tradespeople with all levels of experience. We’re also looking for people with at least some exposure to the industry and are interested in becoming a tradesperson. Overall, we focus on industrial and commercial construction, which have different standards and ways of doing things than residential construction.”

Power Labor wants to partner with its clients. “We don’t want to be a commodity provider, we don’t want to be labor traders, we want to be one of a client’s trusted providers.”

To learn more about Power Labor’s unique position in staffing construction industry skilled tradespeople, call (512) 201-4018 or contact us.