There are signs that the foundations of a recovery are being laid in the construction industry.

However, according to those in the sector, that recovery could be some way off due to a glut of candidates, uncertainty surrounding project funding and a lack of confidence across the sector.

“The demand on permanent recruitment has dropped anything between 50 and 70% depending on sector,” Mark Bull, managing director at Randstad Construction, Property & Engineering UK, told Recruiter. “On the freelance/temporary side, it is a lesser reduction, probably around 25% but nevertheless significant,” he added.

Paul Moogan, director at multi-sector recruiter Morson who has a construction division, told Recruiter that there are no shortage of projects in inception awaiting the go-ahead. “If the government decides it is going to make more funds available, if it is going to speed them through, then that would be a real injection, especially for those firms whose business is split between commercial and domestic property. Small scale domestic is where it is really being felt.”

According to Colin Woodward, director at Contract Scotland, the sector is experiencing a candidate glut, particularly in the production disciplines, and site personnel and forward agents have been badly affected due to the lack of site activity.

“There is an abundance of these people available,” he said. “These people are contacting clients directly, therefore in their mind they [clients] don’t need to go to an agency when they need to recruit.”

Woodward explained that freelance construction workers, in particular, are suffering. “Companies are using freelance guys for a couple of weeks’ holiday cover in the workload and then finish with them. Whereas two years ago, candidates were being kept on longer because of the skills shortage. That is how the freelance market used to work 15 years ago.”

But where companies are recruiting, commercial skills and quantity surveyors and engineers remain in demand, according to Paul Turner,director at Turner Lovell. “Engineers get calls first because they are the ones that set out the building or look at the design for what they are going to construct. Before we were not getting many vacancies; now we are getting vacancies called in,” he explained.

Construction firms are also trying to attract candidates with good contract acquisition skills, according to Bull.

“At the moment, candidates with good business winning skills are in demand - not necessarily just business development but senior people with contacts are of interest.”

Construction workers with the ability to seek out new revenue streams are also in demand, said Bull. “If a contractor is looking to do more workin retail, they might seek a business development guy or a project development or marketing person with good experience of delivering in the retail sector. Clients are looking for people that can add something new or a difficult skillset - something that is not easily obtainable.”

And Bull’s assessment of the future is of a sector that will be battening down the hatches before it can build in the long term. “Next year is going to be very tough. The order books aren’t full enough. I don’t think there is enough confidence that the projects will happen in the timescale they would like it to happen. I think it will be 2011 before we see really significant increases.”

A view supported by Hugo Sellert, head of economic research at Monster Worldwide, who told Recruiter: “The construction industry has been
hit hard by the slump in housing market. Sharp cutbacks in investments on property have resulted in significantly fewer construction jobs, and the trend is continuing downwards.”

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