The November 10, 2021, monthly Plumbing-Heating-Cooling-Contractors Association (PHCC) Roundtable took up the question of how to find new recruits for plumbing and HVAC companies.
Three Essential Takeaways from this gathering of more than a dozen contractors across California:
- Social Media is a monster recruiting strategy. Contractors said it’s effective to spread the word through engagement on posts and to showcase a plumbing company to potential hires. Other go-to strategies mentioned are using professional recruiters, local job fairs, targeting veterans and high schoolers, and paying referral fees to existing employees. The roundtable was comfortable with $3,500 signing bonuses.
- Company Culture is far more important than money. Contractors said being known for treating employees well — good communication, continuous learning directly from leadership, and building a sense of belonging — are absolutely essential to attracting new recruits. This book on building winning culture was recommended as a must-read: Turn the Ship Around.
- Finding applicants is much easier than making good hires. Typically only one out of 10 applicants is qualified and then proves out once hired. Plumbers pointed to several strategies to solve this challenge.
If you need a Social Media recruiting strategy executed for your plumbing business, The Light Digital can help! Reach out any time. Does your plumbing/HVAC company have a brand on Social Media known to recruits who have never met you? Are you running targeted ad campaigns to those recruits? Not convinced? See here for who’s using Social Media in 2021. It’s not just granny.
The Roundtable series is a collaboration between the California PHCC, The Light Digital, MarginPoint, and OneDegreeCareers for plumbing-heating-cooling contractors to learn, teach, and network with their peers to solve problems in common.
Fast Fun Fact! Since COVID began, 18,374 Plumbing/HVAC companies with 20 or more employees received 9.7 billion dollars of PPP money covering 707,184 jobs. (Source: SBA)
Guest post from The Light Digital
