The CFA Is Promoting Jobs In The Concrete Construction Industry, Here's How

The Concrete Foundations Association has completed a national campaign to promote workforce development and career opportunities in the concrete construction industry.

CFA's Campaign to Promote Jobs and Carrers In Concrete Construction
Adobe Stock Images | By Hoda Bogdan
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"Concrete is the most used building material in the world."
- Doug Herbert, President of Herbert Construction and the President of the Concrete Foundations Association

As the most used building material, concrete requires millions of people working together to continue to not only construct but rebuild the world's structures and buildings. Concrete is in our roads, our highways, the walls of local businesses, beneath our homes, and more. With a nearly unfathomable amount of tons of concrete being placed each year, society needs concrete; it is everywhere. But this only happens on the backs and in the hands of a skilled workforce. 

The concrete construction labor force has been strained, but with residential construction still on the rise this seems to be not letting up. Graham Rigby, of Epicor, writes that "as of July 2022 the number of single-family homes under construction is 17% higher than last year and apartments under construction are up 25%. Meanwhile, builders continue to face similar supply chain disruptions, higher material pricing and labor shortages that other industries are seeing, resulting in a consistent, triple threat challenge to meet the needs of their consumers."

Yet, even with this uptick of construction nearly never corner of the construction industry are reporting labor shortages. According to a September 2022 announcement, "93% of firms reported that they have positions they are actively trying to fill, and of those, 91% are having great difficulty finding qualifying candidates to assume those roles. The hardest-to-fill being those in the craft workforce that perform the majority of on-site construction duties, typically the most demanding and physically taxing type of jobs."

More on Skilled Labor at ForConstructionPros.com

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How Equipment Can Fill Construction’s Labor Shortage - The challenges of attracting workers into the construction industry and the role advances in equipment and technology can play in building the next-generation workforce.  

Top Tips for Hiring in a Tight Job Market - Caroldean Ross, director of construction at RETS Associations, gives actionable suggestions about how construction companies can successfully recruit and retain top talent in a competitive job market. 

McCarthy Building Shares Steps to Help Construction Find and Grow its Craft Workforce - McCarthy's Erica Gilliland discusses the challenges the construction industry faces in hiring and retaining craft workers and other skilled laborers, and the steps construction companies can take to not only attract but help build the talent needed. 

Doing its part to counter the skilled labor shortage, the Concrete Foundations Association (CFA) have been working with ViewPoint to develop a national campaign designed to promote workforce development and career opportunities in the concrete construction industry. 

Hosted by Dennis Quaid, ViewPoint has been identifying key topics and issues found throughout the corporate and organization landscape to be elevated to public awareness for nearly two decades. Using a similar distribution model for Public Television, people should be able to watch the videos across the breadth of the U.S. television market. 

“The Concrete Foundations Association has been developing a strategic approach to education and awareness of the needs and opportunities found in the trades,” states CFA Executive Director James Baty. “Many of our members have ongoing success building relationships and efforts for local and regional education outreach. This position became a strategic priority in 2020 to nationally recognize the great opportunities for careers in concrete construction. We are very pleased with the professionalism we have achieved with this ViewPoint partnership.”

Beginning this month ( November 2022), the program includes resources spanning from public awareness to member promotion development kits:

  • A CFA commercial to promote awareness of the Association and advocacy provided to be seen on national networks such as Fox Business News outwardly to an estimated 50 million households.
  • A corporate profile awareness video to be seen on the Association’s website, Vimeo channel, World of Concrete Booth and promoted for use in local markets.
  • A ViewPoint feature to begin airing on Public Television stations during programming breaks in December 2022 through the Fall of 2023. View this video here.
  • Members-only access to a Promotion Development Kit for a customizable workforce development video, draft press release and education outreach strategies.

“This project was an exciting and engaging opportunity for the CFA,” states Jason Ells, Executive Vice President for Custom Concrete of Westfield, Ind., and current president for the Association.  “Featuring key leaders in the industry, Association leaders and successes stories from the workforce, we were able to produce a message that some of the best careers await individuals that truly want to own their future and deliver it through a combination of working hard and alignment of their interest and skill set.”

Interested persons can learn more about the Concrete Foundations Association – ViewPoint partnership by visiting www.cfaconcretepros.org or looking for Concrete Foundations Association on Vimeo.  Members can log in to their online account and access information about the Promotion Development Kit including the range of engagement options.

For more information about this and other programs offered by the Association to its members, contact Skye Kelley at [email protected] or by phone at 319-895-6940.

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