AGC of America Publishes ‘After-Action’ Report with HR & Workforce Doables

Re-Published With Permission From Construction News and Review

By Kerry Smith Buck

The Associated General Contractors of America has published a comprehensive, actionable report outlining the latest human resources and workforce strategies available to construction industry professionals.

The report is a byproduct of the AGC’s annual HR & Workforce Conference. The annual conference took place in mid-October, but the work didn’t end. Since then, AGC representatives and member companies have been compiling the best, most actionable ideas into this report. The AGC’s goal – through its annual workforce conference and other initiatives – is to connect AGC members from chapters throughout the country, allowing a healthy number of chapters and individuals to share best practices and innovative solutions within the realm of workforce.

Here is a summary of the 2025 report’s findings:

Recruiting Strategies: Building successful pre-apprenticeship programs by partnering with local Workforce Investment Boards is easy and can provide grant funding for training and equipment without financially burdening local chapters. The AGC Maine chapter is addressing construction workforce shortages with an innovative new, publicly funded, pre-apprenticeship program known as the Maine Construction Academy. The Academy is a 20-day program for youth (ages 16 to 20) and adults that offers a 50/50 mix of classroom and hands-on training. During the program, participants earn their OSHA 10, learn basic first aid and CPR skills, study financial literacy and are exposed to essential employment soft skills. Participants learn from the NCCER (National Center for Construction Education and Research) core curriculum.

The pre-apprenticeship program is funded via a series of grants the chapter secured from its local Workforce Investment Board. Those grant funds pay for the training program and personal protective equipment for each program participant. The grant money also pays for barrier assessments for the participants – which identify additional support each student will need to be successful in the construction industry. To date, approximately 90 percent of program participants have been hired by member firms or accepted into a registered apprenticeship program.

Finding Ways to Market the Trades to a New and Younger Workforce: You don’t have to hire an influencer for your firm. You already have them on staff. Brian Town at Michigan Creative has been working with the AGC of Michigan and member firms to find new and more attractive ways to recruit members of Generation Z into the construction trades. His approach relies heavily on an understanding that Gen Z isn’t watching TV, looking at Facebook, viewing billboards or listening to podcasts. Instead, he is creating short, authentic videos – often filmed by tradespeople – and posting them as YouTube Shorts,  Instagram and Facebook Reels, Tik Tok, Digital Radio and streamed sports broadcasts. Town emphasizes that a contractor’s best marketing talent already works for the firm – its young craft professionals. Creating content that features these younger workers showing how interesting their careers are is key to reaching and inspiring younger workers to pursue careers in construction. He also urges contractors to make their recruitment and hiring process fast, transparent and interactive.

Recruiting and Training a Nontraditional Workforce: Partnering with public agencies to identify the skills necessary to enter the industry can help attract nontraditional workers. During a facilitated discussion at the HR & Workforce Conference, participants shared their various approaches to recruiting non-traditional workers, including women, criminal-justice-involved individuals, refugees, the disabled and members of the LGBTQ community. Participants shared many suggestions for reaching these nontraditional workers. These include building strong connections with public agencies like the Dept. of Veterans Affairs, corrections offices and local economic development agencies. Contractors are identifying barriers to employment – such as a lack of digital skills or job readiness – and taking steps to address those shortages. The participants recommended finding workers that can communicate and relate with nontraditional workers and partnering with groups like SkillBridge and Helmets to Hardhats to strengthen their pipeline into nontraditional work communities.

Activate Your Employer Brand to Support Recruiting: Support recruiting efforts by enhancing your company’s brand. Rachel Kennedy with Southern Lighthouse shared how she is working with construction firms across the country to support their recruiting efforts by enhancing their brand. Her main message to attendees at the conference is that their employer brand isn’t just a marketing tool; it is a story that attracts talent. Everything a firm does shapes that brand. Every firm, as a result, has the power to position its company as an employer of choice.

Developing a Talent Pipeline: Targeting middle-school-aged kids is critical. This presentation focused on how members of the AGC of Greater Milwaukee chapter have teamed up with Waukesha County Technical College, Waukesha County Business Alliance and Building Trades to get kids interested in careers in construction. The group is providing students with an experience they will not, or cannot, get in a classroom. The presenters stressed the need to reach kids well before their junior or senior years in high school by creating opportunities for middle school students. The presenters noted the success many firms have had by providing hands-on experiences and providing tours of their facilities and project sites. In addition to partnering with local education institutions and the business alliance, firms are also creating innovative partnerships with groups like the Girl Scouts to create programs designed to attract more young women into the construction industry.

Recruiting High School Students: Programs for high school-aged students must be more detailed, oriented with real life work experiences. The second facilitated discussion session focused on ways the industry can do a better job recruiting high school students into careers in construction. Attendees shared recruiting success by hosting two-day career events targeted at students in local career and technical education programs. During those sessions, students are exposed to construction equipment and get to learn about the various career pathways available to them. Firms are also establishing referral programs where employees recommend certain workers, and the company pays the tuition for the training those prospects need. Having younger workers get involved in recruitment, from events to a social media presence, also yielded positive results. Some firms are getting involved in construction-focused academies within schools where they are helping teach the skills needed for various trade positions. Others are teaming up with their trade partners to host week-long programs to show off the various trades, ending with students signing on to their preferred trade. Contractors talked about the value of paying for tools for high school construction programs and interested students. They stressed the need to produce information about the various career pathways available within their firm and to show what employees need to do to progress. Some are creating project tour videos and sharing them on popular social media channels or featuring “day-in-the-life” videos of one-year, five-year and 10-year employees.

Turning Hiring Mandates into Opportunities: Rigid public owner hiring goals can be overcome with proper coordination and communication. Officials with the city and county of Denver and Hensel Phelps shared details of how they were able to turn a local apprenticeship hiring mandate into an opportunity to successfully recruit local residents into high-paying construction career positions. During a convention center expansion project, Hensel Phelps was required to hire city residents and employ a set percentage of apprentices. The firm accepted the challenge of the goals and used it to craft strategies to recruit from within urban populations. Among the tactics Hensel Phelps used were working with its trade partners to get them ready to hire and train residents with limited construction or work skills. The firm hosted multiple career fairs, at different times of the day, during the lifetime of the project. It advertised on multiple platforms and built relationships with local educators and community service groups. Hensel Phelps also assigned dedicated personnel to track the status of these new hires and to work with them when issues came up that might prevent them from being successful at work. The firm closely monitored the data on local resident participation and apprenticeship hires and shared its performance widely, so everyone was aware of how much had been accomplished.