Myers & Chapman Is Shaking Up Their Approach To Hiring
By Elise Franco – Staff Writer, Charlotte Business Journal
Local construction company Myers & Chapman is making a long-term commitment to finding top-tier professionals.
Marcus Rabun, president and chief executive officer of Myers & Chapman, said the full-service construction company recently decided to bring its recruiting efforts in-house, hiring of longtime external consultant Stephanie Kaufman as its director of talent management.
Kaufman has 20 years of experience in talent acquisition, operations and strategic planning, which included opening her own industry-focused recruiting firm, Kaufman Search & Consulting. She worked with Myers & Chapman for several years before taking the in-house role.
Rabun said bringing the role in-house was a strategic move that will help the company further its proactive approach to gaining, training and retaining talent at every level. He said often times, external recruiting can be more about filling roles and turning a profit, but Kaufman’s approach was different.
“When she came along, I saw something different in how she approached things, how she was conscious of finding the right fits and the right people for the right opportunities,” he said. “As we evolved and the talent war within the industry continued to grow, we had to start moving outside the norm in how we find skilled workers.”
Rabun said Kaufman has a natural propensity for building relationships, which is key in finding the right employees and setting them up for success.
“She’s in tuned with making the placement then building relational capital with people, continuing to build their career and helping them be successful,” he said. “It struck a chord with me that it could be more impactful to bring her into the day-to-day fold to focus in on our people who are currently here as well as new ones.”
Kaufman said the construction industry is experiencing a talent shortage, especially in skilled laborer positions. Her job, she said, is to help Myers & Chapman bridge the gap left by older employees leaving the trade and a younger generation that’s less interested in the industry.
“Talent is becoming harder and harder to find, as the industry has shrunk a great deal since 2008 … and there are generational gaps within the talent,” she said. “Being in-house, my focus is on learning (Myers & Chapman’s) strategy, understanding their ‘why’, and being strategic when we’re going after certain individuals.”
Rabun said that while in-house talent acquisition isn’t quite commonplace within the industry, it is something more and more construction companies have started doing in recent years.
“What we’ve done with Stephanie is not cutting edge. All of my peers have been talking about it or are starting to put these positions in their business, but we’re in an upper tier of folks who are doing this,” he said. “The one thing I think is different about what we’ve done is asking her, with our leadership team too, to help ensure we build growth opportunities at every level within the company.”
According to Rabun, the industry, as a whole, hasn’t done enough to promote the skilled laborer side of the job. Myers & Champan is working to combat that through its internship program for college student as well as working with local high schools to help them better understand the full-scope of construction work.
“We need to educate (potential talent) on what being in construction actually means, that it’s hard work, but it’s not just manual labor,” he said. “Our intern programs are key. If you don’t have an intern program, you’re getting left behind, and it has to be robust … Those are the things that continue to move the message on what can be achieved by working in our industry.”
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