flexiblefullpage
billboard
interstitial1
catfish1
Currently Reading

AEC leaders say the 'talent wars' are heating up: BD+C exclusive survey

Industry Research

AEC leaders say the 'talent wars' are heating up: BD+C exclusive survey

A new survey from Building Design+Construction shows that U.S. architecture, engineering, and construction firms are being stymied by the shortage of experienced design and construction professionals and project managers.


By Robert Cassidy, Executive Editor | December 8, 2015
AEC leaders say the 'talent wars' are heating up: BD+C survey

Pixabay

U.S. architecture, engineering, and construction firms are being stymied by the shortage of experienced design and construction professionals and project managers, according to an exclusive Building Design+Construction survey of 133 C-suite executives and human resources directors at AEC firms.

“Finding good qualified people with experience in running projects is a challenge” is how one respondent summarized the AEC field’s shortage of so-called “seller-doers.”

Download a PDF of the survey findings (registration required)

Another industry executive worried about the AEC sector’s changing demographics, said: “There are not many young people entering the profession, and there is an extreme lack of talented people in the 10+ years’ level of experience,” said this respondent. “We have no problem hiring college graduates, but keeping them after five years is difficult, and then we start over with a new hire.”

KEY FINDINGS FROM THE SURVEY

  • Four out of five respondents (81.7%) said they anticipate their firms will add at least 5% to their professional staffs over the next two years.
  • “AEC professionals with 6–10 years’ experience” was cited by 24.2% of respondents as the staff category that is more than usually difficult to recruit or hire, followed by “AEC professionals with more than 10 years’ experience” (17.1%).
  • Project managers were deemed the third most unusually difficult position to fill, at 16.3%.
  • Bringing up the rear: “AEC professionals with 3–5 years’ experience,” at 13.3%.

 

The majority of respondents said the hiring process for key professionals is taking longer than ever (54.6%). Less than one in five respondents (18.5%) 
said their firms have not had serious problems hiring qualified professionals.

 

  • “Specialty staff (IT, BIM/VDC, Revit, CAD, etc.)” were determined to be unusually difficult to recruit by 10.0% of respondents.
  • Nearly six of 10 respondents (58.1%) said it has taken their firms four months or more to place their most difficult positions to fill.
  • More than six in ten respondents (61.1%) said “flexible work hours” was offered as an incentive to attract qualified AEC professionals.
  • Nearly seven in ten respondents (69.4%) stated that they used “word of mouth” (not specifically defined) as a recruiting tool. Nearly a quarter of respondents (23.2%) cited “word of mouth” as their firms’ most effective recruitment tool.
  • The majority of respondents (54.6%) agreed with the statement, “It’s taking us longer than ever to fill positions for qualified AEC professionals.”
  • More than four in five respondents (81.5%) reported one problem or other in their firms’ efforts to recruit and hire the right professionals.

Perhaps most startling of all was the finding that one in six respondents (16.7%) said their firms had delayed or turned down projects because they could not hire qualified AEC professionals to run them.

Respondents offered possible remedies for the talent shortfall. “Competition for talent is high,” said one respondent. “Focus by the entire team, including talent recruitment professionals, hiring managers, and company leadership, is key to success.”

“Firms need to realize that to attract and retain talent you cannot keep operating your company the same way they have been for the last few decades,” said another respondent. “You need to offer more vacation time, flexible hours, good insurance, a good salary. The firms that do this well do not seem to have issues with attraction and retention. Also, we have to be cognizant that these peak times will soon enough swing downward: they always do.”

Download a PDF of the survey findings (registration required).

Related Stories

MFPRO+ Research | Oct 15, 2024

Multifamily rents drop in September 2024

The average multifamily rent fell by $3 in September to $1,750, while year-over-year growth was unchanged at 0.9 percent.

Contractors | Oct 1, 2024

Conflict resolution is a critical skill for contractors

Contractors interact with other companies seventeen times a day on average, and nearly half of those interactions (eight) involve conflicts, according to a report by Dodge Construction Network and Dusty Robotics. The study suggests that specialty trade contractors, in particular, rarely experience good resolution from conflicts. 

Contractors | Oct 1, 2024

Demographic, societal trends bode poorly for future construction workforce

U.S. employers will soon face “the largest labor shortage the country has ever seen,” according to a report from Lightcast, a labor market data and analysis firm. The problem will be especially acute in fields like plumbing, HVAC, and auto maintenance. 

Laboratories | Sep 27, 2024

Traditional lab design doesn't address neurodiverse needs, study finds

A study conducted by ARC, HOK, and the University of the West of Scotland, has revealed that half (48.1%) of all survey respondents who work in laboratory settings identify as neurodivergent.

AEC Tech | Sep 25, 2024

Construction industry report shows increased use of robotics on jobsites

Nearly two-thirds of contractors surveyed, who cited use of robotics on jobsites, are either using monitoring and/or service/labor robotics.

The Changing Built Environment | Sep 23, 2024

Half-century real estate data shows top cities for multifamily housing, self-storage, and more

Research platform StorageCafe has conducted an analysis of U.S. real estate activity from 1980 to 2023, focusing on six major sectors: single-family, multifamily, industrial, office, retail, and self-storage.

Student Housing | Sep 17, 2024

Student housing market stays strong in summer 2024

As the summer season winds down, student housing performance remains strong. Preleasing for Yardi 200 schools rose to 89.2% in July 2024, falling just slightly behind the same period last year.

Adaptive Reuse | Sep 12, 2024

White paper on office-to-residential conversions released by IAPMO

IAPMO has published a new white paper titled “Adaptive Reuse: Converting Offices to Multi-Residential Family,” a comprehensive analysis of addressing housing shortages through the conversion of office spaces into residential units.

MFPRO+ Research | Sep 11, 2024

Multifamily rents fall for first time in 6 months

Ending its six-month streak of growth, the average advertised multifamily rent fell by $1 in August 2024 to $1,741.

Construction Costs | Sep 2, 2024

Construction material decreases level out, but some increases are expected to continue for the balance Q3 2024

The Q3 2024 Quarterly Construction Insights Report from Gordian examines the numerous variables that influence material pricing, including geography, global events and commodity volatility. Gordian and subject matter experts examine fluctuations in costs, their likely causes, and offer predictions about where pricing is likely to go from here. Here is a sampling of the report’s contents.

boombox1
boombox2
native1

More In Category


Contractors

Conflict resolution is a critical skill for contractors

Contractors interact with other companies seventeen times a day on average, and nearly half of those interactions (eight) involve conflicts, according to a report by Dodge Construction Network and Dusty Robotics. The study suggests that specialty trade contractors, in particular, rarely experience good resolution from conflicts. 



halfpage1

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021