Millennials: Builders Are Desperate to Hire You

Facing a labor shortage and an aging workforce, companies across the industry are trying out new methods for recruiting younger employees.

The Empire State building rises beyond a construction site in New York City.
Photographer: John Taggart/Bloomberg

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By Patrick Clark

December 17, 2015 at 1:00 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

When the builder Frank L. Blum Construction, based in Winston-Salem, N.C., was getting started in the 1920s, the company’s assets included an automobile, two concrete mixers, and a team of mules. One assumes the animals were paid in food.

Today, Blum’s talent gets considerably more coddling. In recent years, the company has doubled down on its employee training program, fattened its benefit package, and started a mentoring program that has met at a bowling alley and a Dave & Buster’s arcade. The company has also invited clients, including a local hospital and a park for which it's building a public art installation, to talk to employees about why construction work matters.