FIVE COMMON HIRING CHALLENGES IN TODAY’S WORKSPACE

For any Client, the hiring procedure is undoubtedly important when it comes to fulfilling the best candidate for an open job position. Each team member of the Company has a significant role to play in the company’s success. It is crucial that each open position is fulfilled by the best possible candidate. To assist with this, having the best hiring techniques in place is critical if you want to attract the best talent. One must not simply concentrate on compensation when trying to attract new talent.

There are many other factors to consider when recruiting someone: character, culture, experience, career ambitions, employee attitude, and so on.

Throughout the process of recruitment, the VCA Talent Manager will have their hands full trying to find the best candidate for each of their Clients’ needs. Some of the most difficult challenges faced consist of; attracting candidates, qualifying candidates, interviewing candidates with a Client, selecting a final candidate, and ultimately assisting with the onboarding process. All of these items will be covered by the VCA Talent Manager and his team of assistants.

We have identified five hiring challenges a company will need to overcome in order to find a great virtual construction assistant:

Let’s review each of these hiring challenges more in-depth.

HIRING CHALLENGE #1: ADJUSTING AND ADAPTING TO THE VIRTUAL WORKSPACE

With the pandemic in its second year, many company operations have continued to run smoothly while their employees work at home. Big companies immediately saw how this resulted in a bottom dollar savings to their company. In some cases, it was determined to be more cost-effective to have the workers work from home and put the overhead savings into other areas of the company. As a result, all industries, in general, will see a continued rise in remote workers as this trend continues to grow.

That’s not such awful news for companies. Because there are fewer employees in the workplace, office overhead for items such as computer workspaces, electricity, internet, bathroom maintenance, etc. can now contribute to additional cost savings for a company.

HIRING CHALLENGE #2: FINDING THE PERFECT VIRTUAL CONSTRUCTION ASSISTANT CANDIDATE

If you’ve ever tried to choose the appropriate applicant among a field of unqualified candidates, you realize how limited your options are. You’ll pick the best individual you can find in the given situation, not necessarily the greatest candidate for the position.

However, it’s not always about the number of applicants; in many cases, the ideal method is to hire the right individual from a smaller pool of prequalified candidates.

This is exactly the service that Virtual Construction Assistants provides. We qualify and prescreen each candidate early on in our process before they even get a chance to meet a potential Client. This ensures that each candidate we endorse meets the qualifications of the open position. Virtual Construction Assistants would ensure that a Client would only meet with prequalified candidates.

During the interview with the candidate, it is good practice to be clear about the job duties and expectations of the open position. The facilitator should ask relevant questions that may be answered with a yes or no response. The facilitator can also ask questions that challenge the candidate’s knowledge of their trade. A candidate should be able to clearly articulate the job duties which they have performed in the past for other clients.

Hiring a Construction Virtual Assistant can be a time-consuming and difficult task since it requires a company to review each applicant and filter them for qualifications before endorsing the candidate to meet with management. This is one of the services that Virtual Construction Assistants perform.

We essentially become the human resources department of your organization and help prescreen the best applicants before you even meet with them. We save you tremendous time by our ability to filter out bad applicants and present to you candidates who would make an impact on your organization.

HIRING CHALLENGE #3: TIME MANAGEMENT

In terms of annual hours worked, the United States is ranked highest among developed countries. The average American employee works 1800 hours per year, which is more than 400 hours greater than the standard practice hours in other nations, such as Europe.

Is this because Americans have a hard time managing their workload, or because they are simply pushed to accomplish much more than workers in other developed countries? To be honest, it’s most likely the latter.

To be more specific, the Construction Industry is one of the industries that put in a large number of daily work hours. With projects having a variety of challenges, it’s not uncommon for personnel, such as Project Managers, Construction Managers, Site Supervisors, Engineers, Architects, and others, to feel burnout. Putting together a support team beneath key team members can greatly maximize performance output. If you can take away mindless repetitive tasks and delegate them to the support team, the key team member can now concentrate on other critical areas of the company.

HIRING CHALLENGE #4: AVOIDING OVERWHELMING WORKLOADS

Americans’ time management issues are most likely caused by their excessive workloads. How can you possibly squeeze everything you need to do into an eight-hour workday when you have so much to do? How are you ever going to get that bid proposal submitted on time when you are dealing with a worksite material issue? Are you going to meet with new Clients today or do payroll to pay your workers?

For a typical Construction Management, Design, Build, or Architecture firm, a typical eight-hour workday does not always apply. Most of the time, workers from these industries extend their daily hours and work a greater number of times to finish the project. Finding candidates that can find the right work, life, balance is one proactive way companies can attempt to avoid this.

Another way is through mentoring the younger workers within the company. Conducting meetings and having open discussions on workload, time management skills, and organizational tips and tricks, are some of the ways companies can actively try to prevent problems like burnout and fatigue.

HIRING CHALLENGES #5: OPEN COMMUNICATION

According to studies, only 14% of companies can confidently declare that their employees are aware of the company’s objectives, strategy, mission, and vision. How can companies overcome these communication problems? What are some other areas that Management should be communicating better with their staff and workers?

The first step is to perform a Company 360 Audit and identify what is a threat and what is an opportunity by following these steps:

1st Step: Making sure you hire the right people for your company and engaging new employees, even from the first week; helping them set and achieve goals; keeping people motivated; and connecting people within your company to one another, the company's overall values and mission are just a few of the first steps.
2nd Step: Engaging in a healthy workplace environment among colleagues – this refers to the actions that Clients can take to increase the Virtual Assistant’s trust and strengthen the company's relationships with all remote employees. Managers should think about "rewarding" their employees - thanking them for their efforts, letting them know that they are valued, making them feel valued; promoting their careers; identifying what people are good at, and giving people projects related to these things they are good at.
3rd Step: Building a strong culture and allowing it to evolve as a result of your employees should be a top priority for your company; Organizations should promote open communications; design and share ideas that people can give feedback on and rally around; and Clients and CEOs should lead by example, interacting with employees all the way down the ranks.

Companies will undoubtedly start hiring once the economy improves. In 2022, recruiters will have their hands full. The majority of the problems they will face come from the pandemic and its aftermath. We’re getting close to the end, but the consequences could have a long-term impact on the workplace.

Recruiters will have to find new ways to stay productive, interact with potential applicants, and engage with top talent. They’ll also have to focus on finding people that are a great fit for this new work environment – for most instances, finding the perfect Virtual Assistants.

Perhaps 2022 will be the year that companies and Clients begin to adopt a system that supports a more global, remote, and fluid workspace.