RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

 

Source: (Dhabuwala & Pitroda, 2020)

The construction industry is one of the key measures by which the economy of a nation is estimated. This is because the construction industry is an important division of national financial development like other industries such as agriculture, manufacturing and services. Hence, for the success of any country, construction is critical and ought to be supported by all stakeholders (Dosumu et al., 2021). (Ofori, 2015)also states that construction industry is an important sector of the economy and plays a major role in the national social and economic development.

(DePauw , 2017) states that when construction job sites aren’t properly staffed, construction companies may find themselves missing project deadlines, skipping proper safety procedures and losing overworked employees.  Recruitment and selection, as a human resource management function, is one of the activities that impact most critically on the performance of an organization in terms of achieving its ultimate goal (Darkoh & Mavis, 2014) . Construction industry create more than 95% of employment with 98% of the enterprises hiring few than 5 workers, 0.7% hiring 5 to 9 workers and 0.3% hiring 10 to 49 workers (Kanu , 2015). Therefore recruitment and selection is an important factor and a complex process.

(DePauw , 2017) also states that recruitment and selection in construction industry involves skilled workers and unskilled workers and its vital to have proper procedures in the recruitment and selection because having the right candidate for the right job affects the performance outcome greatly.According to (Dosumu et al., 2021) the strategies that are averagely present in construction industry include the description and justification of the method used for recruitment and selection such as personality test and interest tests for applicants, evaluation of training and experiencing through the use of checklist, personal profile and biographical data checking, improvement of interview skills by the HR personnel and maintain a good relationship with eh employees who have worked previously in the organization.

Even construction industry use the same modes of recruitment and selection processes where recruitment involves internal and external recruitment. (Adu-Darkoh, 2014)states that internal recruitment involves promotion, transfers, job posting an job bidding whereas external recruitment includes advertisement, E-recruitment, employee referrals, labor offices, employment agencies, education and training establishment. The advantages in internal recruitment in construction industry is that there is low labor turnover and higher performance while consuming less time recruiting.

(Adu-Darkoh, 2014 states that selection process involves screening , section tests, reference background check, interview, physical examinations and job offer.(McDowell, 2022) brings out more views towards recruitment and selection process in the construction industry. This article states that the Hiring planning in the construction business should include evaluating needs, foreseeing any gaps in skills or your current headcount, and making adjustments to meet the goals of your business. The recruitment and selection strategy here includes establishing a candidate persona where the organization needs to define what the ideal candidate needs to have.

The organization needs to outline all job description where the organization provides the breakdown of the job scope of the candidate where the organization needs to define the exact skills which are looked for. The organization needs to mention whether the position is permanent or temporary. Construction industry can create a recruiting dashboard which can be implemented to provide your construction company with an immediate pool of potential candidates. This can be especially beneficial for companies with a sudden demand for labor and need to hire for a position quickly. The organization can develop a employee referral program and launch an internship program and offer lucrative slares and benefits.

REFERENCES

Adu-Darkoh, M. (2014) EMPLOYEE RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION PRACTICES IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY IN ASHANTI REGION [Preprint]. Available at: https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/57042915/recruitment_project-with-cover-page-v2.pdf?Expires=1669467908&Signature=eNLCrWxL9ycOuvZCqmiejnUsPfNN7ZFWw4ULsXGrg9r4qfTAUC5zag4JY3wLB1u3azM-LvJVSoYh2ufryv8Vejo8dze2ww71XA5EeJdFCCDf6Yb-wyBkvvjFV3MgaJWX-Y3GUK0hV0EMLRiAKOasqt8svDmVi6xeDcVZKraUcfYfMlCjgzHOm~ogqaVpTrYzqqn9ZuXwIHpC67MzOdVG-1f~tO3pT1grvKZeiNUkM9PIQNGZm67Wl8tjExBhxatC6YZDzZV~uYFlGZ2ryM2Q2I2B-FP7vrOP4LWRrGZydqbduc0bK~gnd6yBul9xMs1M2SUVwMhwLN0qlCWF~acYiw__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA (Accessed: 2014).

Darkoh, A. and Mavis (2014) Employee recruitment and selection practices in the construction industry in Ashanti Region [Preprint]. Available at: https://oatd.org/oatd/record?record=oai%5C%3Ahttp%5C%3A%5C%2F%5C%2Fir.knust.edu.gh%5C%3A123456789%5C%2F7651 (Accessed: 2015).

DePauw , R. (2017) Recruiting Challenges in the Construction Industry [Preprint].

Dhabuwala, P.A. and Pitroda, J.R. (2020) RECRUITMENT, SELECTION AND TRAINING OF HUMAN RESOURCE IN CONSTRUCTION: A REVIEW, 15.

Dosumu, O.S. et al. (2021) “Recruitment and selection practices of construction employers in Rwanda,” Rwanda Journal of Engineering, Science, Technology and Environment, 4(1). Available at: https://doi.org/10.4314/rjeste.v4i1.8.

Kanu , A.M. (2015) How Do Recruitment and Selection Practices Impact Small and Medium Enterprises Performance in the Construction Industry in Sierra Leone? , 6(5). Available at: https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/234646923.pdf (Accessed: 2015).

McDowell, E. (2022) Top Recruitment Strategies for Construction Companies in 2022 [Preprint]. Available at: https://www.austintec.com/recruitment-strategies-construction-companies-2022/ (Accessed: 2022).

Ofori, G. (2015) Nature of the Construction Industry, Its Needs and Its Development: A Review of Four Decades of Research, 20(2), pp. 115–135.