Where to Look and What to Look for When Hiring a Roofer
Roofing business owners have been forced to work harder than ever to find skilled employees due to the ongoing labor shortage in the U.S. Referrals from employees and even family and friends are one of the best ways to find high-quality, skilled talent. However, it could be time to think outside the box and get creative in your recruiting approach.
If one of your biggest frustrations is sourcing workers, here are a few places to look and what to look for when hiring a roofer.
High Schools and Trade Schools
One approach to improve hiring is looking at whom you want to recruit. Do you have a specific age or gender in mind when you picture a new hire? Sometimes, business owners need to expand to nontraditional sources of roofing talent.
For recruiting young talent with the potential for growth, look to your local high schools. As the Mike Rowe Works Foundation tells us, there are many trade jobs available that don't require a four-year college degree, but young people don't always get the exposure they deserve to the trades. Develop relationships with your local high school and vocational schools to talk about roofing at a career day, graduation job fair or sports event.
Bringing More Women to the Rooftop
Only 0.5% of U.S. roofers are women, but several organizations are working to increase that number. Not sure what to look for when hiring a roofer who happens to be a woman? Hint: It's the same list of skills, work ethic and willingness to learn that you demand from any other employee.
National Women in Roofing (NWIR) offers a recruitment toolkit and a job listing service for sponsors to post their open positions. This organization also connects roofing companies, employees and women leaders to education and mentorship opportunities. NWIR hosts webinars and events across the country.
Crafting a Better Want Ad
Online is a key place to search for new hires, but don't just look at Monster and Indeed. You'll have better luck with industry-focused online job searches, which makes it easy to target specific job skills you may need. iHireConstruction, Roofers Coffee Shop and the National Roofing Contractors Association's (NRCA) Job Bank are great sites to start with. These services can help you craft a job ad that will attract the type of talent you are looking for, and offer options for managing applications and searching posted résumés.
You can also consider developing relationships with local shelters, housing programs or an organization that helps find jobs for people transitioning out of incarceration. A state or county social services office can connect you with groups in your community.
Veterans
An amazing talent pool lies with our veterans re-entering the workforce. Nearly 4 million veterans have served since September 2001, many of whom are no longer active duty and are looking for work. The Be a Hero, Hire a Hero program lets employers post jobs, manage candidate résumés and maintain a company profile on an online forum for job-seeking veterans. Two other sites to look at include Veterans.gov (the U.S. Department of Labor) and the CareerOneStop Veteran and Military Transition Center.
To find the roofing talent you need, search in places you haven't yet considered. Job postings with organizations like NWIR and NRCA can go a long way toward supplementing the recruitment methods you've used in the past.