The Latest Recruiting and Compensation Trends in the A/E/C Industry
David Burstein, P.E.
Director and Senior Consultant | PSMJ Resources, Inc. ▼
The Latest Recruiting and Compensation Trends in the A/E/C Industry
David Burstein, P.E.
Director and Senior Consultant | PSMJ Resources, Inc. ▼
From new technology platforms to the perks smart firms are using to bait the hook, Dave will kick off RecruitMAX 2019 with an engaging and energizing big-picture examination of the state of A/E/C recruiting in a hot market. We'll also reveal the results of PSMJ's 2019 Recruiting Practices Survey of A/E/C leaders, with advice on how to implement the most effective techniques.
Client Oriented Recruiting: Getting the Fit Right When Revenue is at Risk
Jay McRae, P.E., M.B.A.
President | McRae Group LLC ▼
When challenged to quickly replace a project manager on a large project or long term program for a key client, sourcing and recruiting a candidate that both your client will accept and that fits your culture can be a real problem. The downside risk, you lose the revenue stream because the client terminates the contract for convenience. Former CH2MHILL Vice President and current Jacobs consultant Jay McRae shares methods and processes he pioneered to successfully transform recruiting challenges into onboarding and integration solutions, using two high stakes, real life examples.
You learn:
The Biggest Compensation Mistakes Everyone is Making
David Burstein, P.E.
Director and Senior Consultant | PSMJ Resources, Inc. ▼
Does your firm struggle to recruit top talent and hold onto its most valuable employees? It wouldn't be alone. A recent ManpowerGroup Talent Shortage Survey found that 4 in 10 employers have difficulty filling openings and keeping them filled, and we know it's even harder in today's A/E/C, where key contributors wearing multiple hats get poached away. When employees leave it can wreak havoc with your clients, projects and staff, so reducing turnover has a directly positive bottom line impact. But what's the secret? What can we learn from successful firms that have figured out the salary and incentive mix and are successfully recruiting and retaining?
In this session, we'll cover:
Recruit the Best Employees By Fostering a Culture of Continual Improvement
Mariah Meyer and Joan Redhair
BRR Architecture ▼
Design firms are feeling pressure from both recent graduates and seasoned laterals for higher salary and compensation packages, and that carves into profit projections. What if there was a better way? Mariah Meyer, Executive Vice President, and Joan Redhair, VP of Human Resources at BRR Architects, an 11-office, 250+ employee firm, show you how to thrive in an environment where demand for qualified architects and engineers greatly exceeds supply. You’ll get step-by-step guidance on making a culture of continual improvement and professional development an alternative recruitment and retention tactic. By focusing on these initiatives, BRR has created satisfied employee ambassadors who support the firm’s recruitment initiatives and further amplify the brand. Since creating this sense of purpose and a culture of continual improvement, BRR has enjoyed several years of growth, and differentiated itself from other firms.
In this session, you:
Using Harrison Assessments to Screen Out Duds
David Burstein, P.E.
Director and Senior Consultant | PSMJ Resources, Inc.
Reid Tolley
Managing Director | Harrison Assessments ▼
Finding new employees is easy; finding high quality new employees is hard. And it’s getting harder every day. So how can you separate the stars from the duds? Luckily, you can now take a data-driven approach to assessing candidates and making confident decisions. In this session, loaded with recent case-studies, learn how to use new Job Success Formulas (JCFs), developed by the experts at Harrison Assessments just for our industry, to:
Shrewd and successful hires, the kind that deliver sensational ROI multiples, are a combination of art and science. Get up to speed with this proven and objective decision making resource and take some of the “gut-feeling” out of final-stage recruiting.
A/E/C Diversity and Inclusion Recruiting Panel Discussion
Moderated by Jenifer Navard
Principal/Director of Finance | Eskew+Dumez+Ripple ▼
Moving past the "why" and deep into the "how" of successfully increasing A/E/C race and gender diversity, this panel discussion will ask frank questions and provide workable solutions. Featuring thought leaders and firm principals who are doing more than pay lip service to encouraging and nurturing diverse architects and engineers at all stages of the career arc.
You learn:
How to Build a REAL Candidate Pipeline with Phone Interviews and Informational Interviews
Lindsay Pearsall
Director of HR | Aspect Consulting ▼
Firms talk a lot about great candidates being scarce. The truth is, they often rush to assemble a list of names only when an immediate need arises, and that only makes things more difficult than they need to be. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you had a pipeline of qualified candidates to tap when needed, and fill openings in two weeks or less? Building a candidate pipeline is a lot like networking: you need to construct, maintain, and nurture channels over time. In this session, you learn how to start. With a few simple steps, such as storing and qualifying data from your current interview process, you'll create a rich vein to mine for years.
You learn:
Anticipatory Hiring: Your Key to Building a Future-Ready Workforce
Kristi Weierbach
Director, Workforce Advisory | Stambaugh Ness ▼
As your firm prepares for the future and anticipates talent needs, both a change in mindset and a step or two outside of your comfort zone will be required. Those traditional recruiting strategies? They’ve become stale and ineffective in their ability attract the best and brightest. Using anticipatory thinking to search for the talent that aligns with your goals and complements existing organizational capabilities will give you an advantage in the marketplace. Turning your firm into a talent destination is now a fundamental survival technique.
You learn:
Experience thought-provoking discussions with the brightest minds in recruiting about topics that matter to you! When you are ready to join a different discussion, simply get up and join the next one!
More than a Paycheck: How Niche Firms are Winning the Talent Battles with Industry Giants
Jorge Rico
Global Talent Acquisition Consultant & Talent Scout | AECOM ▼
Think you can’t compete for A/E/C talent when going up against the deepest pockets on the national and international stage? Think again. Many of today’s most desirable designers and engineers are more interested in work/life balance and personal growth opportunities than money. And that cracks the door open for firm principals and HR leaders hunting for contributors at every point on the path, from recent grads showing great potential to professionals with 7-15 years of experience and progressive responsibility. In his eye-opening keynote, AECOM talent scout Jorge Rico shares his fascinating insights on what’s working in non-monetary recruiting tactics and cultural alignment strategy. He explains:
Today’s Top Legal Risks in Sourcing, Recruiting, and Hiring: How to Avoid Liability Stemming from Online Recruiting, ATS Algorithms and Protocols, and Other EEO-Related Traps
Billy Hammel
Attorney | LeClairRyan ▼
Social media gives A/E/C principals and HR managers access to thousands of possible candidates, but that means screening and culling the less desirable. And that opens you up to massive legal risks under federal employment laws, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, Americans with Disabilities Act, and others. While many states ban employers from snooping on social, how far do those laws really go to limit how you find and use information? How do you avoid direct or unconscious bias in recruitment, interviewing, and hiring, which can spark discrimination claims? Could your job postings unwittingly exclude protected classes of workers, and your applicant tracking system (ATS) spark major legal woes if the data it collects isn’t relevant? We kick off day 2 with employment law attorney Billy Hammel providing actionable insights into how your current recruiting, sourcing and hiring practices meet or miss the legal mark.
You learn how to:
Recruiting Your Best to Stay: How to Make Leadership Development a Core Retention Practice
Jonathan Wilson
Aviation Services Manager | KPG ▼
Research says that by 2020 (next year!) half of your workforce will be Millennial. By 2025, Millennials will represent 75% of your workforce. This rapidly shifting demographic means your firm’s leaders MUST address the key question: Are we taking advantage of this unprecedented generational transition, or are we alienating our next generation superstars by not developing their leadership skills? If your firm is like a number of others, research warns that it’s likely the latter. Alienation, in all of its forms, is insidious. The problem is that in this job market, your Millennial superstars won’t tolerate alienation for long. You spent too much time and money to find and onboard these producers to let them just walk. You need a way to keep them. In this session, leadership expert and engineering firm manager Jonathan Wilson will share three research-backed leadership strategies you can implement tomorrow to start keeping your best next generation talent engaged and in-house. In this session you learn:
Hands-On New Recruit Experience Design Workshop
James Howard
Principal | ClientSavvy ▼
In a tight labor market you have to work differently to win the best talent. We all know how frustrated we feel when we finally find someone good, and lose them to a competitor. Join this session to design a recruiting process that will attract the best talent and position your firm to be first in line to win (even if your salary offer isn’t the highest). By the end of the session, you’ll leave with a completed workbook and a plan to save you thousands in lost candidates and inflated salaries. You will:
Employees – Your Primary Customer
Tom Hendrick
CEO | Wallace Engineering ▼
Recruiting and hiring talent has to be part of your growth plan, but here’s the reality: there’s a war on for that talent. So how should you identify the right candidates? Where can you find them? Once you make the hire, how do you keep them? Every organization needs to have a hiring/onboarding plan and a process. Tom Hendrick, CEO of Wallace Engineering, shares thoughts and lessons learned from 17 years of doing the hiring at his 140-strong, 5-office firm, as well as why he believes employees are your primary customers, how to make improvements to your firm's culture and why it's critical that the CEO gets involved.
You'll learn:
Winning with Impact: How to Standout in both the Marketplace and the Recruiting Space
Peter Atherton, P.E.
President and Founder | ActionsProveLLC ▼
Why doesn’t your A/E/C firm stand out from the crowd when it comes to attracting top talent? For many firms, it’s because leaders haven’t invested in cultivating a culture of employee engagement that champions the advancement of the firm’s goals while making a positive social impact. And that’s not going to make you an employer of choice in a tight labor market. Beating the competition for the talent you need means more than great projects, perks, pay, and stability. True engagement, the kind that the best A/E/C contributors look for in their next job, centers on systems and supervisors that help employees make a strategic and effective social impact, enhancing both their own and their employer’s brands. A firm’s social impact strategy also addresses a cross-generational desire for more meaningful work and connections both inside and outside of the office. Despite convincing data that well-designed social impact programs have a high return on investment, barriers still exist for many leaders and organizations. Understanding work-life seasons and ongoing demographic and societal shifts are key to eliminating these internal barriers and making your firm highly attractive to the candidates you need to hire, the talent you need to retain, and the clients you want to serve. We’ll look at both the data and ways to overcome those barriers this session. You’ll learn:
Find The Hidden Gems: How to Attract the 85% of Top Talent NOT Conducting an Active Job Search
Barbara Bruno
Good as Gold Training ▼
While the challenge to attract, hire and retain top A/E/C talent will continue to escalate, traditional recruiting will still only target the 15% of the candidate pool who are in an active job search. The other 85% represents your BEST opportunity to fill open positions with superior contributors. These individuals are working, have a track record of success but would consider a job change for an opportunity they would consider their next career move. During this interactive session you learn inside secrets used by professional recruiters to attract this passive talent.
You learn the email, LinkedIn InMail, voicemail, and text messaging that inspires candidates to respond, how to boost your brand and online presence, conversation openers that succeed (hint: NEVER start by presenting a specific job), and more: