How is Hiring Construction Talent Like Bass Fishing?

Has your offer-acceptance rate dropped in the last 1-2 years?

Have you been “ghosted” recently? (A candidate sets or comes to an interview and then never returns your calls.) Yesterday I picked up my son Benjamin from High School. He’d been texting me that morning, letting me know it was an early release day from school and he wanted to get right home and prepare for his favorite thing in life— bass fishing.

Ben is serious about catching fish and the care he puts into preparation shows it. He cleans out his John boat, charges the battery, fills the tank, and pre-rigs 5-6 rods with his favorite lures: a rattle trap, square bill, deep diving crank bait, lipless crank bait, top walking bait, and--last but not least—a rubber frog. See, Ben doesn’t just love to fish, he lives to fish. He eats, breathes, and--I am convinced--he dreams of fishing. When it’s about fishing, he’s fully attuned. His head and his heart are totally in the game.

And guess what? The kid catches fish! If you want to increase your offer-acceptance rate, like Ben, you’ve got to carefully prepare the day before an interview. As we all know too well, today’s competition for talent is fierce-- talent scarcity in construction is widespread. Contractors are turning away work and losing profits, market share, and—more concerning—a healthy project back-log.

Why do your candidates accept your competitors’ offers and not yours? Is it about the money? Or is it about something that doesn’t cost you a dime: interview preparation.

Based on how you prepare for interviews, your candidate will leave feeling one of two ways:
A. valued, treated with dignity, and like the most important person you met that day, or, B. under-valued, like a means to an end.

Let’s talk about ways to make sure your candidate is in the first category. We’ve all heard the definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result—so give this a try:

Prep The Day Before

1. FOR A GREAT FIRST IMPRESSION OF YOUR COMPANY, PREPARE THE DAY BEFORE:

The first interview is your only chance to make a good first impression, and it begins when your candidate walks through the front door of your company. Go to the person— your receptionist, your assistant— whoever will be the first person to greet your candidate, and ask them to:

• Expect the candidate’s arrival by a certain time.
• Enthusiastically greet the candidate by name saying, “Welcome Mr. Jones, (Hiring Authority) is expecting you. May I get you some coffee or water?”
• Hand the candidate a company overview folder with a history of the company, sample projects, and bios of your leaders.

Be On Time. Hold Your Calls.

2. BE ON TIME. HOLD YOUR CALLS.

Be on time to meet the candidate. When you go to greet them, ask your assistant or receptionist to hold your calls; turn your cell phone off.

Establish Rapport

3. ESTABLISH RAPPORT

Once you’re sitting down together, take 5-10 minutes to get to know each other—talk about anything but the position:

• sports teams (a recent game)
• where-I’m-from-where-you’re-from
• something about what you did over the weekend
• a funny story about one of your kids or relatives
• bass fishing!

The goal of Phase 1 of the interview is to establish rapport—to leave the meeting with the feeling that the candidate likes you and trusts you. Trust is the foundation of a successful interview and, ultimately, a successful hire.
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We’ve talked about Interviewing Phase 1 and how preparation leads to a successful interview. In the next article, we will be discussing Phase 2: the body of the interview.

Now…let’s go fishin’!