REBUILDING THROUGH EDUCATION AND RECRUITMENT OF KEY PEOPLE

Taking place every fall, AWCI's Industry Executives' Conference and Committee Meetings keep company owners and executives focused on trends impacting their business through informative speakers, networking and committee meetings.

A major problem across the country now is that many talented people left our industry during and after the 2008 recession. And while that difficulty didn’t impact our members in New York City so much as in other locales, it has caused setbacks here. The downturn caused many contractors to react by letting go a significant portion of their talent pool. As a result, some of the best talent chose to leave the industry leaving us with severe gaps in key positions.

These shortages are not just for skilled craft workers but extend across all levels, including field supervisors, superintendents, project managers, estimators, middle managers and senior executives at varying degrees.

The recession has been behind us for several years, and as business has returned, many are feeling the loss of these key players who are essential to ongoing success. Many of our members have worked through this dilemma but some are still struggling.

A major offering at the AWCI program is the Education segment, which includes Recruitment, Retention and Risk Management, and Talent Development Trends in the Construction Industry. These are two issues that are important whether your business slowed or not. You need talented people.

Other segments to be presented include EIFIS, Social Media, and various crafts.

As always, networking with your peers is a major opportunity of the Conference. The discussions that are generated offer insights as to who else is experiencing your problems and how they go about solving them.

The AWCI's Industry Executives' Conference and Committee Meetings will be held this year in Memphis, Tennessee on September 20-23. Be sure to make your reservations soon. And by the way, your association is one of the principal sponsors.

I hope to see you there.

-John DeLollis