Hiring Entry-Level Employees
Part of our “Building Business” series appearing in Fine Homebuilding magazine.
By HELM Business Consultant Paul eldrenkamp
Practical steps you can take to hire and develop entry-level workers and ensure long-term growth for your business, from fostering a supportive learning environment to creating clear career pathways.
If we’re going to solve the construction labor shortage, a lot more builders and remodelers need to be willing to hire people with little or no experience. Continually poaching higher-level experienced employees from your competitors may solve some short-term challenges, but in the long run it’s tantamount to an industry-wide Ponzi scheme, one that is already starting to crash.
If you’re the owner of a construction company in 2025, you have a responsibility to figure out how to hire entry-level people in a variety of capacities and give them their first work experience in our industry. Here is some guidance to help you tackle that challenge.
Make It Your Mission
Hiring inexperienced but promising individuals means playing the long game. You don’t hire someone with limited experience because you need a skilled carpenter now, or even a year from now. You hire someone with limited experience because workforce development is part of your mission and because you know that if you do it right, you’ll have some truly outstanding people on your team in three to five years or so—employees who are game-changers, with the skills, loyalty, and entrepreneurial drive potentially to take over your business when the right time comes.
Continue reading at Fine Homebuilding Magazine (April/May 2025, Issue 330)