Finding Employees for Your Roofing Business

There’s a reason that the old saying “good people are hard to find” has become a cliche. In today’s construction industry, it has never been truer. If you have a roofing business, you’ve undoubtedly had to deal with the shortage of qualified workers. Here are a few tips for finding employees for your roofing company.

The Basics

While it may no longer be effective to put up a “now hiring” sign in your window or on your truck, it can’t hurt. But in general, you’ll want to take a much more targeted approach.

When trying to attract employees for your roofing business, you will want to use a combination of inbound and outbound tactics. Make sure you include all of the necessary information about job openings on your website as well.

Here are some more detailed tips:

1. Think about joint ventures with similar companies that aren’t competitors - You can always team up with non-competing companies that might be similar to your business to share the costs of recruiting employees. You might want to hold a seminar at a local building supply store or have a career night event.
2. Look into co-op working opportunities and local apprenticeships - There are a number of community colleges and high schools that now include these things in their vocational training programs. The young people involved in these programs will want to learn a trade. It might be worth it to team up with these programs.
3. Discover where the best potential employees are hanging out - What type of leisure activities does your crew enjoy in their time off? You may want to hand out flyers for your business at local sporting events, for example.
4. Educate high school students about the potential that comes with learning a trade - While most students are being encouraged to pursue a degree at a university, more and more students are being encouraged to learn a trade. Unfortunately, many of them will be crippled with student debt after they graduate. A vocational degree might actually be the better option.
5. Contact organizations that employ veterans or promote women in roofing - There are plenty of local organizations that offer programs where individuals can get paid to learn a trade. Don’t overlook organizations like the National Women in Roofing Association or Be a Hero, Hire a Hero.
6. Approach supplier stores and ask for referrals - It may be a good idea to approach people who are frequent shoppers at supplier stores.
7. Find out what your fellow roofing companies are doing and learn from them - There are tons of stories of other roofers in other towns that have met the challenge to find, train, and keep their top-level employees. Find a few of these stories and use the other roofing businesses as examples.

After You’ve Found Some Good Candidates

When you think you have found some good candidates for your roofing business, you may also want to consider the qualities that roofing employees need to have like:

• A positive attitude
• Professionalism
• Flexibility
• Safety-consciousness
• Comfort with the latest technologies

Once you have found new employees, you’ll want to keep them by creating a sense of family in the business, asking for input, and creating a positive place to work. It may be a challenge to find new employees, but follow the tips above, and you will be on your way to having a reliable crew of people.