In today’s market, construction leaders in every sector are working to secure their companies’ futures by building strong backlogs and making strategic hires to carry them forward. But many companies limit their recruiting efforts solely to their HR and internal recruitment teams. This is a missed opportunity, especially when it comes to filling key roles in the skilled trades.

Skilled trades are a critical segment of the construction workforce—a workforce that faces an uphill battle when it comes to recruitment as a result of common misconceptions and limited branding. To build an exceptional skilled trades team, construction companies need to train every employee, from the receptionist to the CEO, to understand the value of the skilled trades and contribute to their recruitment efforts. Here are a few simple steps that can help.

Educate Employees at Every Level

For employees to positively represent a company’s skilled trades team in the market, they must first understand the benefits of working in the skilled trades and the importance of those jobs to the company’s overall success. Company leaders should include information about the skilled trades in company literature for all new hires, so that they begin learning about how those roles function in the company during the onboarding process.

At company meetings and events, managers should make sure to highlight their trade craft workers’ achievements and important contributions to the success of recent projects. The more that companies can emphasize the excellent starting pay, growth opportunities and job security of skilled trades jobs, the more they can combat the stigma surrounding these roles and prove that employees can be very happy and highly successful in the skilled trades.

Put Top Tradesmen in Charge

The best people to lead the charge for new skilled trades workers are the employees who work in those positions already. Skilled tradespeople are passionate about what they do, and they understand the skills required, as well as the challenges and benefits of their jobs. This combination of education and pride make a company’s leading skilled trade craft workers the ideal ambassadors for those roles.

First and foremost, managers should make sure that they are providing a workplace that their trade workers will be proud to represent. Communicate frequently with field teams about their job satisfaction, and find out if there are any ways that the company can provide additional support. Company leaders should make sure they have trades workers represented at industry conferences and networking events, and involve them in all local recruitment efforts. Listen to their input on what kinds of traits new hires should have, and enlist their help in creating internship programs or partnerships with local trades programs.

Get All Hands on Deck

Once a company’s employees fully understand the merits of skilled trades jobs and the trades workers themselves are participating in recruiting efforts, it’s time to get everybody else trained in and excited about growing the team. Make sure everyone understands the key qualities they should be looking for in new hires, including the technical requirements for skilled trades workers and the soft skills and cultural-fit qualities that would help a new hire be successful in the company. Then create a company-wide initiative to encourage everyone’s participation. Managers might institute a $500 finder’s fee to anyone who introduces a successful hire to the company, or supplement an employee’s compensation with bonuses related to recruiting events attended.

The most important thing for a company to do to improve its skilled trade recruitment is to make sure its current trade workers and all of its employees understand how valuable the skilled trades are to the overall success of the company. From compensation and acknowledgement at company events to representation at local and national networking and recruitment events, a company must find ways to change the big-picture perception of the trades and demonstrate their commitment to building a strong team of well-trained, job-secure and fulfilled skilled trade workers.