Competition among construction firms to win a dwindling number of contracts is as fierce as ever. Consequently, top tendering and sales talent is in short supply. However, for other roles in the sector it’s an employers’ market. While some talent shortages remain, in-house recruiters are increasingly looking inward to lay the talent foundations for the sector’s future.

“Nobody is recruiting with any consistency,” says Randstad CPE strategic account director, Andy Jones. “Most of the contractors in this market have pared their staff right back to the bone. They are bidding like mad and if they win an extra project, they recruit like mad but then they will go quiet again.”

This intense competition to win contracts is due to a lack of investment in major projects around the country, says Adam Spelman, director at Scantec Personnel. While London has benefited from new projects being given the green light, supermarket refurbishments rather than new builds are accounting for new work in areas outside the capital, he adds.

All of which has resulted in an intensified war for talent to recruit top tendering professionals, says Emma Watts, director at Contract Scotland. “There is much a bigger tender pool companies are up against direct competitors and other firms that are trying to get into their sector. We have seen companies put more effort into business development, recruiting bid writers and proposals managers as well. These people obviously go through the tender and bid writing process, and help make a pitch for work more presentable.”

And some traditional talent shortages of yesteryear no longer apply, says Dave Bartlett, training manager at support services and construction firm Interserve. “There was a national shortage of skilled people, such as quantity surveyors. As a company we had to go outside the UK and recruit quantity surveyors from African nations to fill the gap. The cost of recruitment was going up because we had to pay agencies a higher price to headhunt.

“A lot of people went into quantity surveying two or three years ago. They are coming out of university now, but to be honest we now have a glut. We are probably receiving about 200 applications for each post and most of those would be graduate quantity surveyors.”

Bartlett adds that Interserve is also developing its own talent from within. “We now develop a lot of our own people and bring them through. Apart from our own programmes, we use day-release programmes from colleges and apprenticeships. That kept us going over the years when it was harder to recruit.”

Barratt Homes has taken a similar approach, according to employer brand & resourcing manager, Christina Thom.

“Surveying roles have always been a challenge for us when recruiting. We have introduced a technical and commercial programme as part of our academy training programme, which gives structured learning and continuous, individually tailored development. By doing this we aim to attract, develop and retain ambitious candidates.”

But construction could be facing a resourcing ticking time bomb when the sector does recover, says Watts. “Firms have not been taking on graduates for the last two to three years, so we are already seeing a shortage, with firms asking for graduates with two or three years’ experience. The focus is on younger people and students that are at university to support apprenticeships.”

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Judy Lowe, deputy chairman, CITB-ConstructionSkills

“The next couple of years will be tough for the industry. But there are signs of longer-term confidence returning to the market. Major infrastructure investment has been announced, particularly in rail and water, and the Green Deal is a huge opportunity with around 14m homes in need of refurbishment. In short, businesses must still make a full investment in a wide variety of skills to meet projected demand.”

Dave Bartlett, training manager, Interserve

“We have an e-recruitment website and we push a lot of our applicants through that. We make the system work for us. That was introduced to this company 12-18 months ago. It really has taken off. You have to use the medium people now expect. That is where our main recruitment comes from.”

Richard Toy, operations director, SkyBlue

“Companies are becoming far more commercially aware and reducing their supply chains drastically. There is a real need for recruitment companies to up their game, as a lot of agencies work on local hiring manager relationships, but as more managed service/RPO contracts move in to the sector, supply chains are taking control.”