Workforce Development - A Good Investment?

Creating a More Democratic Work Environment

A bright fellow named Stephen Simon has set out to "democratize" the process of employer selection for interns and young architects.

As a young professional he looked at the marketplace for Architects and made a keen observation: "As interns and young architects we usually think of ourselves as sellers, hawking our skills to the best firm that will have us. What if we instead consider ourselves as buyers, investing our skills in the best firm we can find? We are the consumers of architectural employment. Unfortunately, we consumers have very little information about the enterprises that we're investing in"

He has set about to create a community where interns and young architects in the huge AEC marketplace can share their experiences and perspectives with others. 

He has correctly determined that there is a sizable "information gap" as relates to the ability to identify firm characteristics and workplace styles.  So he created a unique website called InsideArch.org to enable young design professionals to share information that will enable them and others to make smarter employment choices.

The site produces a "Firm Report" which provides a set of metrics which recap the survey data gathered by the young professionals who have been exposed to the firm. 

In addition to an overall firm score (on a scale from 1-25) for each firm, the InsideArch Firm Reports contain scores in 9 different sub categories called 'Key Metrics' (on a scale from 1-5).

• PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
• EMPLOYEE CALIBER
• WORK ENVIRONMENT
• OVERALL EXPERIENCE
• MANAGEMENT SKILL
• DESIGN QUALITY
• WORK HOURS
• COMPENSATION
• ATTITUDE TOWARD INTERNS

The majority of architecture firms are small firms. They don't receive a lot of press and may not have a website. Those few firms that do the 'coolest' and most publicized work are inundated with unsolicited resumes, regardless of the quality of the experience for the intern. Lesser-known firms place 'help wanted' ads that offer only cursory descriptions of the firm and its work and often don't even mention the firm's name.

Mr Simon's site enables interns and young architects to evaluate, in a subjective manner, the quality of the firm work experience. Things that are of interest to young A&E professionals include:

• How much will we learn?
• How much opportunity will we have?
• Which firm's work will most interest us?
• Where will our contribution be most respected?

WI th additional information Simon feels that these young professionals can make more intelligent decisions about which firm to invest their time and talent in.

It also seems to have a benefit for top employers.

By letting evaluations expose which Architecture firms are providing high-quality experiences to their employees, those firms would attract a larger pool of candidates, they could be more selective in their hiring, and ultimately produce better work.

(This however puts those firms that let their interns stagnate in a cube in the corner with piles of redlines on their desks would see their applicant pools dry up, the skill levels of their applicants decrease and they would either have to offer higher salaries to compensate or offer a more challenging work experience)

Simon's site seems to provide a community where conceivably everyone wins.  Wonder what the workplace would become if there were more sites of this caliber?

Despite the slowdown in Construction, the skill shortage problem persists - Here's why...

Do you ever wonder what's ever become of all of those skilled workers being cut in the Construction industry as a sector (such as residential), or a geographic area slows down due to the cooling economy?

I was reading an interesting article "Tale of two construction sectors — one still booms, the other doesn't" in the Seattle Times that was discussing the shifts that have, and still are occurring in Construction - and why, despite the seeming abundance of construction talent - that the shortage is still bad, and worsening in many areas.

It's an insightful article and will help clarify the true level of work skills transferability in the Construction industry. 

Watch this space, as I'll be publishing a article (still under development) about specific things that Construction Employers can do to close the skills gap.

Squeeze Play - changes being forced on the construction sector

Construction Informer has published a good article that bears further consideration.  The article "Construction Also Needs to Build Talent"  discusses the top issues that are going to force change on the construction sector in the near term. The executive summary to the report sees these challenges accelerating in parallel.

• Aging infrastructure is going to require trillions over the next 20 years to upgrade and replace;
• An aging workforce that is rapidly retiring coupled with weak attraction and retention of all age groups continues to fuel scarcity of experienced people;
• Accelerated schedules and buildings that are more complex than ever means new skills are constantly needed;
• Alternative financing and project delivery systems are requiring players to be broadly experienced in areas where they may not have needed to perform before;
• Global competition for resources and assets is shifting the balance of power to developing economies; and
• Low investment in training and education is hindered by clear ROI indicators and is affecting overall retention, attraction and productivity improvements.

While this document is largely a look at where Building Information Modeling is today it is interesting to note that four of the challenges have at their heart a requirement for more skilled and experienced people. The authors of the report summed this up very well:

"The most dangerous issues we face are those that have the potential to erode our core ability to perform. These include the lack of qualified engineers, experienced managers and skilled labor. As an industry, we must switch our fundamental approach to talent acquisition from buying talent to building talent"

Why the 90/90 Rule of Project Management Still Exists

Project managers are often their own worst enemies and say things to avoid conflict and make people happy that to lead disaster. Here are few of the classics, according to a colleague, Dick Billows, PMP.

1. I understand this is priority #1.Sure we can start immediately,plan as we go and finish it by October 1st.
2. Gee, everybody was happy with the project plan, they approved it in 3 minutes.
3. I've scheduled every detail. The plan weighs a ton!
4. No, you are wrong, that was never part of the scope! It's clearly a scope expansion.

We've all heard renditions of the above.  In fact that's why the "ancient 90-90 rule of project schedules" still applies today: The first 90 percent of the project takes 90 percent of the allotted time. The last 10 percent takes the other 90 percent of the time.

Of course, it doesn't need to be that way.  And from a business sense, shouldn't be that way.

Untrained project managers lack the necessary skills required to lead cross-departmental work efforts. They often don't know which of the project management techniques or tools to use or how to motivate people who are not directly accountable to the project manager.  Remember, one of the top skillsets of an effective project manager is "influence management"

Have you ever asked yourself the question: What problems do I  encounter which affected the success of my projects, (and how should project grading be adjusted to account for these mitigating factors)?

Project management is hard. It isn’t rocket science, although the formal discipline of project management as we know it today began as a tool necessary to make rocket science effective in the space program.

If you view project management from a purely technical perspective, it looks easy. There are only a few core ideas, each of which is conceptually quite simple and can be learned in a matter of hours. They include:

The idea of “project” as an activity with a beginning, a middle and an end. The idea of breaking up a large project into a set of smaller and independent tasks. The idea of defining the relationships among the tasks in terms of precedence, which tasks must be completed before others can be started and the description of theses relationships by means of critical path diagrams. The twin concepts of milestones and deliverables, allowing project managers to track and assess the progress of a project.

Still, a majority of all projects fail. Why? There are two basic reasons: untrained project managers and lack of historical data about costs and levels of effort.

As to what can be done, there is a lot.  And it extends beyond just knowing how to prepare a project schedule and budget.

Good PMs must like working with people, have good communication skills (70-90% of your time will be spent communicating), able to develop strong working relationships, able to influence others, sell the benefits of your project, motivate and lead others, enthusiastic & energetic, trustworthy, respectful, organized, must be able to deal with ambiguity, have the confidence to ask questions, and listen to what others are saying.

So "soft skills" are of critical importance.  You must also like organizational planning, vision, getting people focused in the same direction, and have excellent business skills.

It is extremely easy today to find quality accredited Project management training today, utilizing learner paced e-Learning methods.  I did a scan on the RedVector site and found 48 accredited courses on Project Management, averaging $25-30 per course credit hour.  Seems an affordable way to acquire or update the PM skills that are needed.

                                                                                               

CPM   Scheduling for Florida Contractors

CPM   Scheduling Part I

CPM   Scheduling Part II

Developing   & Managing a Project Budget

Financial   Management 1: Negotiating Contracts

Financial   Management 2 & 3: Pricing for Profits, Generating Cash and Getting Paid

Financial   Management 4: Accounting & Cash

Financial   Management 5: Strategic Planning & Budgeting

Financial   Management 6 & 7: Financial Controls, Monitoring & Project Budgeting

Financial   Management 8: Controlling Labor Costs

Financial   Management 9: Purchasing

From   Project Manager to Principal 1: Foundations of Management

From   Project Manager to Principal 2: Marketing Your Services

From   Project Manager to Principal 3: Negotiation Outcomes & Strategies

From   Project Manager to Principal 4 & 5: Manpower & Quality

From   Project Manager to Principal 6: Financial Management

Productive   Project Meeting Methodology for Architects and Engineers

Project   Decision Making with Case Studies

Project   Management Basics

Project   Management for Florida Contractors

Project   Management Trends

Project   Management: Professional Techniques

Project   Risk Management

Project   Team Management

CPM Scheduling

The   Art & Science of Delegation

The   Ultimate Project Manager, Chapter 01: The Changing PM Role

The   Ultimate Project Manager, Chapter 02: Managing the Proposal

The   Ultimate Project Manager, Chapter 03: The Agreement

The   Ultimate Project Manager, Chapter 04: The Project Management Plan

The   Ultimate Project Manager, Chapter 05: The Project Schedule

The   Ultimate Project Manager, Chapter 06: The Project Budget

The   Ultimate Project Manager, Chapter 07: Managing The Project Team

The   Ultimate Project Manager, Chapter 08: Managing The Client

The   Ultimate Project Manager, Chapter 09: The Project Start-Up

The   Ultimate Project Manager, Chapter 10: Managing Your Time

The   Ultimate Project Manager, Chapter 11: Managing Project Studies & Reports

The   Ultimate Project Manager, Chapter 12: Managing Design & Construction   Phases

The   Ultimate Project Manager, Chapter 13: Managing Quality

The   Ultimate Project Manager, Chapter 14: Managing Risk

The   Ultimate Project Manager, Chapter 15: Financial Management

The   Ultimate Project Manager, Chapter 16: Project Management Technology

The   Ultimate Project Manager, Chapter 17: Controlling Project Budgets &   Schedules

The   Ultimate Project Manager, Chapter 18: Project Close-Out

Winning   Proposals 1: Preliminary Steps & Planning Strategies

Winning   Proposals 2: Effective Design & Development

Winning   Proposals 3: Components of a Successful Proposal

Winning   Proposals 4 & 5: Final Considerations & Evaluations

If you are a Project Management Professional (PMP) or are seeking to get your PMP certification, or just increase your project management skills, you may want to look into these offerings.

So is there a alternative to the 90/90 legacy?  You bet?

Are Construction Jobs Going Down Under?

One of my favorite sources on trends about the skilled labor shortage, is "Perfect Labor Storm 2.0" authored by Ira Wolfe, who constantly helps fill in the gaps about HOW people are coping with the worsening skills shortage.

One of Ira's latest excellent contributions is "Will U.S. construction workers flee to Australia?" where he discusses how the Australian Housing Industry Association (HIA) has called for a special visa scheme to recruit 15,000 overseas construction workers to combat the local (Australian) skills crisis. Thousands of skilled building workers could be lured from the faltering US housing industry to help ease the crisis "down under"

I'd like all of my readers in the construction space to ponder this, and carefully so.  Ask yourself what you think the economic will be to the US, when many workers choose to "relocate" their future to the other side of the globe. 

Just check out one of many sites offering Construction Jobs in Australia and you'll notice two things:

1. many companies are actively seeking qualified and skilled people to join them, and
2. these are the same types of jobs that are being cut by the implosion of the residential housing construction market in the U.S.

American construction workers may be surprised at how well they'll be received by the Australian workforce marketplace, and the incentives they'll have to come down to work.  Kind of makes you wonder when the last time their former American employers told them how valued they were?

Put yourself in the place of the laid-off or soon-to-be-laid-off construction worker.
There are a number of questions you might want to ask yourself...

• Did you feel valued at your last job? 
  
  • Was it because you were unappreciated, or was it because your work contribution was just "ordinary"?
• Do you have the skills to compete in the highly competitive Australian workforce
  • you didn't think they were looking for unskilled general labor did you?
  • (by skills, I mean the skills to survive in the marketplace, not just the technical skills to get the job)

Looking for another job, especially in another country, can be a daunting, as well as an enlightening process for US construction workers.  By entering into a job search in the other parts of the world, they will become informed of other opportunities and perhaps for the first time for most U.S. construction workers, lets them know how competitive they are in the "global" job market.  (HINT: If your skills have become outdated or job specific, you might want to consider a few training programs in order to update your skills, or develop new ones.)

American construction workers who consider the new global opportunities that are appearing, may also find that they need skills to adapt in a different culture that they never before had to consider.

Time of great risk or great opportunity?  I guess it depends on how you want to look at it.

Nontraditional Teachers Lining Up

One of the great educational challenges we face today is the shortage of individuals want to teach and who can teach our youth what they will need to know to cut it in our rapidly changing world.

Why does this article resonate with me?

For one thing, the teachers "in the system" are in many cases struggling just to maintain their existing teaching load, and are themselves challenged by school district bureaucracies and policies.  Where are the "real world" perspectives to come from, amidst a rapidly changing jobs landscape.

For example, how many teachers and guidance counselors are introducing our youth to careers in construction, where the pay, benefits and job security are above average?  Do the current faculty see construction as much more than the "summer job" that they may have held before, where they were little more than job site general labor?  Does such an attitude dissuade them from encouraging youth to learn about jobs in this industry? 

Do our current cadre of teachers and guidance counselors have an awareness of the types of match, science, or communications skills that these youth will need to be able to enter the field at the "skilled worker" level?  Are these teaching professionals even aware that people without a degree with just a few years of experience with these skills are being actively sought after and snagging annual pay in the high five and low six figures? 

Yet because of youth making misinformed academic choices they often end up competing after graduation for "commodity" jobs that are often not fulfilling.  If they had chosen a path that enabled them to grasp basic math/algebra/geometry skills, they would likely find themselves in  a better bargaining position for jobs.

So it boils down to how to get people from the professions to step into the teaching profession to expose our youth to some of these possibilities.

Check out this story about a St. Paul schools program, designed to find candidates for hard-to-fill jobs by making teachers out of professionals coming from other fields.

read more | digg story

They Still Don't Get It...

A recent article I found on the Columbia News Service proves that the construction industry still doesn't get the idea that women NEED to be an increasing part of the skilled construction workforce.

A well written article, entitled "Hard-hatted women struggle to land construction jobs"  produced by Julia Marsh, chronicles the current-day struggles that women fact in this male-dominated industry.  Read on, I think you'll be amazed at what a long way the industry still needs to go - and how the worker shortage in construction will continue until enlightened leadership steps forward.

Carole Jordan’s first day at work was a frigid January morning in 2003. She rose early and arrived at the job site by 6:30 a.m. After eight hours of standing on concrete, carrying sheetrock up and down stairs, Jordan left the skeleton of the skyscraper she was helping to build, arrived home by 5 p.m. and collapsed in bed by 6.

"After the first two weeks I thought I was dying. Muscles I didn’t even know I had were aching," said Jordan, a native New Yorker who is in her late 40s.

A little more than three years later, the elements haven’t proved to be the hardest part of Jordan’s career as a construction worker.

"It’s a man’s world," she said. "You work hard, come to the job every day and you’re often not given a shot" at a promotion.

Jordan is among a small but budding number of women entering what is officially called nontraditional employment--a range of jobs that includes fishing and firefighting, the toughest of which to break into is the construction industry. About 900,000 women across the United States work in some form of construction, be it brick masonry or drywall installation, a rise of 18 percent over the last eight years, according to the National Association for Women in Construction.

Though the Equal Employment Opportunity Act was passed in the early 1970s, women account for only 9 percent of construction workers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which recently published a survey showing that 88 percent of those women had experienced sexual harassment on the job.

Jordan sat at a table with two other women, Olga Aguilar, 29, and Donna Kielbasa, 28, at the New York headquarters of a job-training nonprofit group called Nontraditional Employment for Women, known as NEW. The three came through NEW’s construction school, a six-week program in which they learned to read blueprints and handle skill saws. Seventy percent of graduates are placed in jobs averaging $53,000 a year in the construction, transportation and utilities industries.

The NEW model of supporting women in blue-collar trades is also used by sister organizations like Tradeswomen Inc. in California and the North Carolina group Charm and Hammer.

All three women had some history in construction. Aguilar’s father renovated homes. Jordan’s childhood mentor was a woodworker. Kielbasa built tree houses.

"I always liked to work with my hands and wear my jeans," Aguilar said, slapping her paint-speckled pants. "The better angle is that I make $16 an hour."

The lure for many women, said NEW's director, Anne Rascon, is a desire for economic independence. Rascon, who worked in a gold mine in California to pay for college, added, "Our experience has been that the women spend their 20s cycling through dead-end, low-wage jobs, and then a light goes on and they see us as an alternative."

Women entering the trades are ethnically diverse, typically about 31 years old and single heads of households, according to statistics from advocacy groups.

Participants of Hard Hatted Women, Cleveland’s version of NEW, which also began in the late 1970s, have an average income of $15,000 before entering the training program. The pay they receive in their first jobs is $11.50 an hour, which with overtime and union benefits comes to an annual salary of just under $30,000.

"It’s a different kind of lifestyle," Rascon said. "You have to like getting up early, working in the hot and cold weather."

Though the women have to be prepared for physical work, technology is such today that workers no longer have to rely solely on brute strength.

The women also often have to go it alone. Though the current job the NEW graduates are working on, a building for City University of New York, has a relatively high 7-to-45 ratio of women to men, in many cases there may be only one woman on a site.

"The women have it real rough," said Kevin Simmons, shop steward for the CUNY site. "I tip my hat to the ones that last."

Although the construction industry has experienced a labor shortage in recent years, one of the greatest challenges to bringing in women is simple recruitment.

"A lot of women don’t think about it," said Nancy Gentile, former chairwoman of the Committee of Women in the Trades, a division of the AFL-CIO. "They’re raised on Barbie dolls, not tools."

Though trade unions are mandated to train a certain percentage of women in construction, for Aguilar and Jordan the unions still have an old boys club feeling.

"Have you been in a union hall?" Aguilar asked. "It’s all white Irish men sitting in the directors' chairs."

Jordan switched out of a floor-covering apprenticeship, when, she said, she was twice overlooked by her construction teacher and then by a union director to fill job openings.

Kielbasa and Jordan said the harassment they had encountered included lurid sexual drawings at the site and come-ons by coworkers. Sometimes the discrimination is less overt or emerges as a lack of awareness about women’s needs in a male-dominated environment.

The three women said that at their most recent job, the one portable toilet for seven women was being used regularly by men. Also, without any running water to wash their hands, the women found it unsanitary to switch from fitting insulation to using the facilities during menstruation.

"Sometimes I feel like a stepchild [and] I don’t want to be too much of a problem," Aguilar said. "But are we a problem now that we need a place to wash our hands when we have a ‘woman’s issue?’"

But as Beth Young, director of Tradeswomen Inc., points out, it’s less of an anomaly to see a woman with a tool belt slung on her hip than it was 20 years ago when she worked as a crane operator.

"When I started I was told straight up, women don’t belong here," Young said. "[People thought] I either wanted to be a man or I wanted to get a man. I just wanted to get a paycheck like anyone else."

Ladies - The Design and Construction Industry Wants YOU!

AEC is becoming more diverse by the day.  This is evidenced by several publications dedicated to promoting women and minorities in the trades and engineering.  Here are two books “Cool Careers for Girls in Construction” and “Cool Careers for Girls in Engineering.”

If you're interested in seeing the life experiences of women in various AEC professions, you'll find these books informative and motivated.  Check them out!

Do We Have Time for Needed Engineering Education Reform?

Pat Galloway, a noted blogger and writer, and CEO of the Seattle-based Nielsen-Wurster Group  was appointed by President Bush to serve a six-year term as a director of the 24-member National Science Board, the National Science Foundation's governing body.

Recently she published "Is Engineering Education in Need of Reform?" a critical analysis of the current crisis in backfilling the shortage of engineering talent in the US.

The premise that Dr. Galloway presents is that in the past, the skills workers acquired would serve them well for decades. However, in the 21st century, an engineer’s success or a firm’s success will be measured against how well he or she can adapt to new conditions and technologies.  Thus to remain competitive in this global and knowledge-based economy and to ensure that the quality of life improves for everyone around the world, engineers must be educated differently.

It's a great article.  Let me know what you think?

A Progressive Program Showing That Construction Offers Many Opportunities

Doug Stites, wrote a recent article for the Lansing State Journal, illustrating that the construction industry offers an unprecedented number of  opportunities for self-employment, an appealing prospect for young people exploring careers.

Yes, the industry has faced economic struggles. But with the buzz surrounding "green building" and the increasing use of technology in the industry, there is still a demand for the best and brightest workers, according to the Capital Area Construction Council, an industry group focused on addressing workforce challenges.

That's why the council is joining with the National Association of Women in Construction and Lansing Community College to help local fourth-graders get a taste of construction.

On Feb. 9, the groups will present "Block Kids," a national building program competition that introduces children to the construction industry. The competition involves the construction of structures with interlocking blocks and things such as rocks, string and foil.

Block Kids and programs like it are engaging ways for parents to expose their kids to career options and let them explore - hands-on - what they might want to be when they grow up.

Children - many college students - don't understand the breadth of career opportunities available to them. This is one way to get them thinking, and for parents to start the dialogue about, careers and post-secondary education.

For more information on registering for the free Block Kids Building Program, contact Brindley Byrd, executive director of the Capital Area Construction Council, at 517-492-5575 or bbyrd@camw.net.

Engineers Week - Coming Soon

"America's First Engineer" – Words that have been used to describe our nation's founding father and first president. 

Held annually—and very appropriately around the time of George Washington's birthday—Engineers Week is dedicated to ensuring a diverse and well-educated future engineering workforce. 

Aiming to encourage interest in engineering and technology careers among young students and to promote pre-college literacy in math and science, EWeek is among the oldest of America's professional outreach efforts. What’s more, the alliance works hard to raise public understanding and appreciation of engineering contributions to society.

Started in 1951, EWeek has spread its coalition to 75 engineering, professional and technical societies and more than 50 corporations and government agencies. As a strong supporter, we encourage our members to take an active part in Engineers Week.

To learn more about future EWeek events or to see what's been happening in the past, go to: www.eweek.org

AEC Industry in Crisis--We Need an ACE in the Hole

Pat Galloway publishes one of the top blogs in the AEC space and being a PE, and CEO of a esteemed professional services firm, she understands very well, the issues associated with shortages in the current and upcoming workforce.  So when she recently published "Industry in Crisis--We Need an ACE in the Hole" discussing the myriad issues in the AEC market, I feel she really has hit the nail on the head.
(not to mention that she sees the market the same as I do....)

You'll want to read the full article, but she leads with a sobering and unfortunately all-too-true situation assessment:

"The construction industry is the second largest sector of our economy. However, many projects are on hold or have simply been canceled because there are not enough resources to build them. America’s infrastructure is not only crumbling, it is not keeping pace with our growth and the consequences are serious.

At the current rate of training, we may be able to produce an additional 20,000 trades people by 2009. However, we are experiencing a 260,000-person shortfall each year. If America’s economic growth is to continue, we will need over 1 million more architects, engineers and trades people by 2012."

There you have it.  Read the article to get the details and learn what our options are.

Construction Industry Needs 185,000 People Per Year Over Next Decade

The construction industry will need an average of 185,000 new workers annually for the next 10 years to meet the nearly equal growth and replacement needs, according to a labor supply outlook released in January 2007 by the Construction Labor Research Council (CLRC), a private research group in Washington, DC, that is underwritten by contractor associations. 

The CLRC found that industry growth will require an average annual increase in construction employment of about 90,000, or 1.6 percent, over the next 10 years, which is about half the actual employment growth rate in construction for 1992-2002.

The average annual increase in the overall workforce for the next 10 years will be 1.1 percent, according to CLRC, the slowest rate of growth since the 1960s.

An additional 95,000 workers annually will be needed to replace current industry workers who are expected to retire during the next 10 years.

Factors accelerating this trend in construction are

• the higher average age of workers in the industry and
• a decline in the portion of the labor force in their prime working years of age 25 to 44.

“This country is in a period in which the labor markets are most impacted by the growing number of workers in their final working years, rather than the stable number of potential new entrants.

The outflow from the age pipeline is the dominant characteristic, not the inflow. The potential will continue for tight competition for new labor force entrants, primarily due to demographic factors,” the research group said. CLRC stressed the importance of “communicating construction's opportunities to all potential qualified entrants” in the new environment created by this “societal shift.”

Because the working life of construction field labor is shorter than most occupations, CLRC said that demographic trends “are impacting whether this trend of relatively early retirements in construction will continue is less certain that in the past, the research group found.

Factors that may reverse it include

• the physical ability to work later in life,
• the financial need to work longer, and
• the increase in age for the receipt of full Social Security benefits.

The group also noted a shift in construction from defined benefit to defined contribution pension plans.

The greatest demand in the next 10 years by craft will be for

• electricians, with an average of 22,400 annual new entrants needed,
• carpenters (22,000 needed), and
• laborers (20,100 needed).

“An actual shortage of bodies is highly unlikely,” CLRC said of the future workforce. As has been typical in construction, there often is “a mismatch between skills available and skills required.”

Large Influx of Hispanic Workers

A key to meeting heavy demands for new workers in construction during the past 10 years has been a large influx of Hispanic workers, when employment of Hispanics more than doubled to nearly a quarter of all industry workers. With Hispanic employment projected to increase relatively rapidly, their impact in construction is likely to increase.

Immigration is an unknown that could significantly impact the future supply of labor, according to CLRC, finding that a relationship between the influx of Hispanics on construction job sites and immigration is very likely.

Labor demand in construction can be moderated by the use of more highly skilled workers and by increases in productivity. For the period 1992-2002, CLRC said that construction employment increased at a greater rate than output.

Forecast Based on Training Data Inconclusive

Training is a significant determining factor in the future availability of skilled workers in construction, the research group said. An estimated 225,000 persons are enrolled in federally registered, multi- year, apprentice programs but the quality of federal data on completions was found to be “questionable” by CLRC.

This and the lack of reliable national data on the number of persons in vocational programs makes "the adequacy of industry training efforts impossible to determine," the research group said.

Relatively good apprentice data from California “provides an interesting look at the characteristics of today's apprentices,” according to CLRC.

More than half of apprentices in the state are minorities and whites slightly outnumber Hispanics. The largest construction apprentice program in the state is 70 percent minority.

The CLRC based its survey on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Census Bureau.

Where do you think the workers are coming from?

China currently uses half of the world’s production of steel and concrete and will probably construct half of the world’s new buildings over the next decade.

What you might ask is fueling this awesome level of construction activity?  There are actually many factors at work?

• China's increased global visibility, including the WTO, APEC, Olympics, Expo 2010
• Continued GDP Growth – Currently running at 9% plus
• Construction spending growth – running at 8% annually
• An emerging middle class and growing consumer market
• A proactive and supportive Chinese government
• The reality that they have become the “Manufacturers” for The World
  • and that's Manufacturers with a capital M - Some Chinese factories can fit as many as 200,000 workers

What we're seeing is an unprecedented growth in Chinese construction, and construction by Chinese contractors in Asia and Africa, where the Chinese continue to invest heavily, often to secure access to oil and other natural resources China needs to fuel its economic expansion.

The engineers and contractors that we have come to expect to hire, increasingly are eyeing the "red hot" East as the "hot spot" for the AEC industry.  And that implies there will continue to be a diversion of foreign engineering and construction talent to the US that will continue to frustrate US firms trying to recruit talent. SO where will the talent come from that is needed for their business backlog and active projects? 

Webinar on the results of the FMI/CMAA eighth annual survey of owners

e-Builder, a provider of web-based capital project management software, will host a presentation led by Mr. Mark Bridgers and Marisé Mikulis, consultants with FMI Management Consultants who will discuss the results of FMI/CMAA's Eighth Annual Survey of Owners during a one-hour webcast on Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008 at 1:00 p.m. EST.

Details on the call can be found here

Females building trust: Women in construction prove selves

After she graduated from high school in 1978 and started driving a forklift for Corning Glassworks, she had a "horrendous" time getting her career in construction off the ground, or even getting respect, period.   Ryals is no longer underestimated, thanks to her years of quality work. And she believes that women in general are now much more welcome in what traditionally has been a male-dominated field.

read more | digg story

Where to Find Women Building Bridges

Responding to the London 2012 Olympics and the push to get women into Construction, members of the WorcNet Women’s network, based in Skipton, hosted a “Women Into Construction” seminar at the Craven College Construction Launch event on Monday 5 June.

The seminar included presentations from two women ambassadors from the Construction Industry Training Board. Vicky Belton works as a Civil Engineer and Helen Dickinson as a Quantity Surveyor, they each presented on their journey and experiences as women in the construction industry. Attique Barlas told the audience of a scheme to introduce minority groups and women into construction, offering a four week placement and a guaranteed interview which could lead to a job and further training. Mary Kelly gave a very inspiring talk on the work of the Walter Segal Trust which supports people who are interested in self build opportunities, and Keith and Jane Barber from SHE Build UK told of their business which employs and trains women construction workers for their property management and development company in Bradford.

Members of the North Northumberland and Cumbrian Women’s Networks who travelled down to the Launch event are taking back information to their own networks and local colleges in a bid to establish a similar project in their own areas.

Following the formal launch event, some of the WorcNet members who are currently undertaking a 10 week starter course in construction, hosted an evening dinner at the Rendezvous Hotel for the speakers and the guests from other networks, where they talked about their experiences on the course and their hopes for the future.

WorcNet Co-ordinator Debi Hawkins said “We are really pleased that 11 of our members have taken part in this first Women In Construction course and we are working with the College to progress women into more specialized courses later on in the year. We hope to be running another Women In Construction course from September. We will be having a Women In Construction taster day in September which will include presentations, workshops and hands on activities.”

For more information on WorcNet, the courses or the taster day please contact Debi, Kath or Karen on 01756 692788 or worcnet@craven-college.ac.uk

Civil engineering fails to attract women

The challenges faced by US engineering firms to attract women is being mirrored in other countries as well...
A scheme to attract younger women into long-term careers in civil engineering has drawn a blank, industry representatives said today.  The initiative to recruit 85 school dropouts 16 years and over into firms in the North-East of England, over and above the normal recruitment intake, has attracted a number of new entrants, none of whom are female

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Men at Work - Gimme a Break !?!

Call it my warped sense of irony...

I was driving down the road today and saw the DOT standard "MEN AT WORK" sign, and noted that there were 3 ladies on the work crew.  I wonder how often the average passerby even considers that these are not just MEN at work?

It should not be a surprise that increasingly, smart women are looking to the construction industry as careers.  The pay and benefits in the construction industry are the best in business and industry. Pay is based on knowledge, skills and experience. Additional coursework and degrees from higher educational institutions paves the way to promotions within the industry. And there are more jobs than employees available to fill the many positions in construction. Whether your ambition is to work in an office or in the field, furthering your education is a vital step in getting ahead and staying ahead.

Many women enter the field of construction because their husbands, fathers, brothers or uncles work in construction and they encourage their wives, daughters, sisters and nieces to come into the field with them. Other women start out working in a construction office processing paperwork and then advance into the field and up the career ladder. Still others like the idea of working outdoors, using their hands to build houses, commercial buildings, bridges and highways, supervising projects and providing a good income for their families.

Women can be found working in construction offices or on-site as architects, CAD technicians, interior designers, estimators, project managers and project superintendents. Some women work on surveying crews; others work as building inspectors and plans examiners for municipalities. The possibilities are unlimited.

There are several ways to learn the construction business.

1. On-the-job training and apprenticeship programs have been the traditional route to construction jobs.
2. College programs and courses in construction management, business, drafting, estimating, surveying, civil engineering, and mathematics prepare women for both office and field positions. Some women continue their educations at the university level. Networking with management and leadership groups helps in moving up the ladder.  Many colleges offer certificates and associate degrees in Architectural Drafting, Computer Aided Drafting, Building Safety and Construction Technology, Civil Engineering Technology, Surveying Technology, Construction Management and Welding. (before you laugh at welding - bear in mind that a journeyman welder with O/T can make $120-130k/yr)
3. Want to check out construction from the comfort of your living room?  There are hundreds of "continuing education grade" courses on construction available online.  For example, RedVector has a large library of "fundamentals-level" online courses that will help anyone interested become familiar with the concepts and language of construction.
4. Another resource is the Arizona State University, Del E. Webb School of Construction that offers a bachelor of science degree in Construction. Starting wages average $50,000 per year.

Looking for change and a career with a long-term future?  Check out these resources...

Laborers Are Unskilled, Right?

A common misconception is that the "common laborer" you encounter falls into the "unskilled labor" category.  In discussions I have with others, I sometimes hear things like "well they're just laborers, anybody could do their job.  Wow!  DO these people need to get up-to-date!

Sure, there are plenty of "general labor" jobs where anyone who can fog a mirror could be pressed into service, but there are in every industry "laborers" that don't fit into the category of "tradesmen", but who have a vital role, and need to have a set of skills to do their job.

For example, in the Construction Industry, here are some of the categories of "LABORER" that the U.S. Department of Labor includes as skilled labor (and have specific "prevailing wages" defined under the Davis-Bacon Act)

• potmen
• power tool operator
• small machine operator
• concrete labor including concrete preparation
• signalmen
• laser beam operator
• waterproofer
• open caisson
• test pit
• underpinning
• pier hole and ditches
• laggers and all work associated with lagging
• strippers
• operator of hand derricks
• vibrator operators
• pipe layers
• tile layers (tile laid on road construction projects ONLY)
• operators of jackhammer
• paving breakers
• spaders or any machine that does the same general type of work
• scaffold builders
• operators of towmasters
• scootcretes
• buggymobiles and other machines of similar character
• operators of tampers and rammers and other machines that do the same general type of work, whether powered by air, electric or gasoline
• builders of trestle scaffolds over one tier high
• sand blaster
• power and chain saw operators used in clearing
• installers of well points
• wagon drill operators
• acetylene burners and
• licensed powdermen.

After looking at this list, it should be clear that these laborers need to have specific skills, right?  Ask yourself, in the "War for Talent", what are you doing to recruit people with these skills, test for these skills, or development of these skills?

Its All About the Talent

FMI Corp's,  Ron Magnus, who heads their Talent Development division dropped me an email recently, alerting me to a new Construction Industry report on Talent Development that FMI has just published.

By 2008, it's an accepted fact that a wealth of skills and experience will disappear from the job market as the first members of the Baby Boom generation reach average retirement age. Talent development will become a critical strategic objective and differentiator for any competitive organization.

Magnus reaffirms that in order to remain successful in the knowledge-based, global economy building and construction firms must continually invest in their human capital. 

1. This is a great report, well worth your time, in a easy to read format. Click here Download USTReport2007.pdf for a copy. 

 

Stopping the Evaporation of Graduate Women Engineers

There's a wealth of information and resources that are available to facilitate young women that are seeking to enter the engineering discipline.

The following is a partial list of sources you may wish to investigate:


    Women in Engineering Programs and Advocates Network (WEPAN):

The mission of WEPAN is to be a “catalyst, advocate, and leading resource for institutional and national change that will result in the full participation of women in engineering”.

Society of Women Engineers (SWE): 

The mission of SWE is to “stimulate women to achieve full potential in careers as engineers and leaders, expand the image of the engineering profession as a positive force in improving the quality of life, and demonstrate the value of diversity.”

Yearly women in engineering literature reviews available

Assessing Women and Men in Engineering

Excellent annotated bibliographies, literature overviews

American Society for Engineering Education

Publishes Journal of Engineering Education, Prism Magazine, Engineering Colleges Profiles and Statistics, ASEE conference proceedings

Frontiers in Education conference proceedings

MentorNet: national electronic mentoring program

I've personally interacted with most of these organizations and can vouch for their passion and understanding of how to get more graduate engineers out of the "engineer pipeline"

Check them out!

Reflecting on the Construction Workforce Career Path

It's no secret that construction jobs offer good pay, stability, and a long-term future.  These are jobs that cannot be easily outsourced.  Yet surprisingly, often these jobs are going unfilled, due to a lack of people considering, or preparing for construction employment.

As a response to this industry-wide phenomenon, the Associated General Contractors (AGC) have created a great site (the Construction Workforce Career Path) that lays out various construction industry career options and what candidates need to do to prepare themselves for these jobs.

To help individuals prepare for construction employment, online education firm RedVector offers over 900 online subjects specific to the design and construction industry - both soft skills, as well as technical subjects.  Good sources of information for those wishing to enter this rewarding field.

Careers With a Guaranteed Future

Looking for an area with incredible need and that will fuel ongoing demand for skilled engineers and construction personnel?  Think infrastructure...

As the Katrina New Orleans levee failure and the recent Minnesota bridge collapse pointed out, infrastructure in the United States is clearly in need of an overhaul. In fact, the American Society of Civil Engineers, does a report card every two years.  Check out the most recent one (from 2005):

America’s infrastructure report card for 2005
By the American Society of Civil Engineers National grades

• Aviation, D+
• Bridges, C
• Dams, D
• Drinking water, D-
• Energy (national power grid), D
• Hazardous waste, D
• Navigable waterways, D-
• Public parks/recreation, C-
• Rail, C-
• Roads, D
• Schools, D
• Security, I
• Solid waste, C+
• Transit, D+
• Wastewater, D-

Giving an overall GPA to America’s Infrastructure: D

These areas are "essential basic infrastructure" to our society, and it cannot be ignored. 

Education firms like RedVector.com who have extensive libraries of accredited online education provide the leaders in this area with the latest educational offerings in building and improving America's infrastructure.  If you're in this business, or intend to be, it should be mandatory training for you.

Another resource the American Society of Civil Engineers has provided to educate people on the important issues of infrastructure is their "Critical Infrastructure Blog"

All Americans are dependent upon sound infrastructure - so this is REQUIRED reading

Let me know what you think.

If you're looking for work, these folks are hiring...

In case you haven't been keeping up with current events in the global workforce, the hottest job market in construction in the world right now is not in China, but in Dubai in the United Arab Emeriates.

At this time, Dubai is said to currently have 15-25% of all the world's cranes.  And what are these cranes building you might ask?  Well, here are a few of the projects on the boards:

The Dubai Waterfront.  When completed it will become the largest waterfront development in the world.

The Palm Islands in Dubai. New Dutch dredging technology was used to create these massive man made islands.  They are the largest artificial islands in the world and can be seen from space.  Three of these Palms will be made with the last one being the largest of them all. 

Upon completion, the resort will have 2,000 villas, 40 luxury hotels, shopping centers, movie theaters, and many other facilities. It is expected to support a population of approximately 500,000 people.  It is advertised as being visible from the moon.

The World Islands.  300 artificially created islands in the shape of the world.  Each island will have an estimated cost of $25-30 million.

The Burj al-Arab hotel in Dubai. The worlds tallest hotel.  Considered the only '7 star' hotel and the most luxurious hotel in the world.  It stands on an artificial island in the sea.

Hydropolis, the world's first underwater hotel.  Entirely built in Germany and then assembled in Dubai, it is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2006.

The Burj Dubai.  Construction began in 2005 and is expected to be complete by 2008.  At an estimated height of over 800 meters, it will easily the be world's tallest building when finished.  It will be almost 40% taller than the the current tallest building, the Taipei 101.  Fifty stories (around 190 meters) of the Burj Dubai have already been completed.

The Al Burj.  This will be the centerpiece of the Dubai Waterfront.  Upon completion it will rival The Burj Dubai for the title of tallest building in the world.  The exact height of the building is being kept strictly confidential for reasons of competition.  Since the Al Burj and Burj Dubai are both striving to become the world's tallest building, it is rumored that the Al Burj will be built a little higher since the Burj Dubai will be completed first. 

The Burj al Alam, or The World Tower.  Upon completion it will rank as the world's highest hotel.  It is expected to be finished by 2009. At 480 meters it will only be 28 meters shorter than the Taipei 101.

Dubailand.  Currently, the largest amusement park collection in the world is  Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, which is also the largest single-site employer in the United states with 58,000 employees.  Dubailand will be twice the size of Walt Disney World.  Dubailand will be built on 3 billion square feet (107 miles^2) at an estimated $20 billion price tag.  The site will include a purported 45 mega projects and 200 hundred other smaller projects. 

Dubai Sports City.  A huge collection of sports arenas located in Dubailand.

Currently, the Walt Disney World Resort is the #1 tourist destination in the world.  Once fully completed, Dubailand will easily take over that title since it is expected to attract 200,000 visitors daily.

Ocean Heights and The Princess Tower , two huge luxury condominium and apartment towers to be built on the Dubai Marina.  At over 100 stories tall, The Princess Tower will become the largest residential building in the world after construction is done.   

The