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Before 2020, any survey of construction industry leaders would have revealed a clear trend across all trades: the industry needed more skilled workers. This fact existed before the worst economic disruption in over 100 years descended to remind us of just how fragile we, and all of our business plans, really are.
In 2020, according to a survey conducted by the Associated General Contractors of America, nearly 40% of U.S. General Contractors had to lay off employees because of project cancellations and shortages of equipment or materials caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. For the construction industry, this drop in the number of active projects resulted in further attrition within an already-depleted workforce of skilled labor, with many technicians forced to adapt, retool, and redirect their energies toward finding employment in other industries.
Now, as the country works hard to rebound from a disastrous year, construction industry workers are in demand like never before.
Indeed, any conversation about the economic health of our country or about a “return to normal” will include a reference to the shortage of skilled workers upon whom all forward motion depends. With the benefit of hindsight, we can clearly see that the pandemic played a huge role in taking a growing problem and turning it into an almost existential challenge for contractors and service companies looking to get busy again now that the worst of the pandemic has passed.
So today the question is simple. How do companies whose stock in trade is the delivery of skilled services expand their employee ranks with the most well-trained, motivated, and future-focused technicians available?
The FSG Way
Like any good baseball team, FSG believes in the farm system. The company develops talent beginning with high school students and recent graduates interested in learning more about a career in the electrical trades.
Through its affiliated Propel Career Academy, FSG actively recruits and develops the next generation of skilled apprentices and journeyman electricians, with programs conducted across the country and in compliance with state and local codes.
In places like San Antonio, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Austin, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, and Long Island in New York, FSG is supporting Propel Career Academy as it reaches out to local young men and women interested in getting started with a career in the electrical trade. In each of these places and elsewhere, FSG focuses on the delivery of real-world training and active, focused, servant-minded mentorship for young people just getting started.
How this looks in each location can be as inspiring as the people who live there. In El Paso, Texas, for instance, the local FSG branch maintains a sponsor relationship with a local high school’s vocational education program. The program happens to be overseen by a former FSG electrician who left the trade to pursue a career in education.
Now, from the development side of the industry (like a seasoned scout), Ricardo Villareal directs young students in his Electrical Trade & Solar Technology program at Riverside High School toward meaningful internships and employment opportunities with his former employer at FSG.
In El Paso, and in every other place where we work to develop the electrical trade leaders of tomorrow, our recruiting and development efforts have a local focus that values communities, networks, relationships, and connections.
More Than Just a Job
Through all the various training programs and recruiting initiatives FSG undertakes each year, one common theme comes up whenever two or more people sit in a room to discuss life as a professional electrician. At FSG, the message is always the same: education is key, and excellence is rewarded.
Since the company was founded in 1982, FSG has been focused on the principle that hard work, dedication to excellence, and continual learning will always yield a positive result for everyone involved. For new hires at FSG, understanding and applying this principle leads to more than just a paycheck.
Experienced electricians who have spent a few years in the trade will tell you that not all employers are the same, and not every project leaves you with that warm glow of accomplishment. Through a shared commitment to excellence in the delivery of lasting value, FSG electricians understand that even the most challenging projects deliver a level of satisfaction that sustains and nurtures a long, stable career.
Most importantly, at FSG we provide a total compensation package that includes not just top pay and benefits, but also a complete employee support system that protects families and forms the basis of a rewarding career.
With so many ways to define success in business, we stake our claim on this one belief: the true measure of our success lies in the satisfaction of our employees and in the difference we are able to make in their lives.
Building a Shared Future, One New Hire at a Time
As it happens, the answer to the simple question posed above is just as easy to understand. The way forward involves hard work and faith that excellence matters, excellence sets individuals and companies apart, and excellence is ultimately rewarded.
Together with every new hire and career academy enrollee, FSG is stepping out in that faith. We believe that the best stories are shared stories and that the future we desire is counting on us to make the right choices today about how we train, develop, and support our new employees.
For our customers, this commitment defines our brand as much as any other task we perform. For our employees, this belief is the basis of a long career spent doing exciting work that matters, for the best customers, on a team that contends for the championship every year.
Our Mission in Action
In the end, recruiting at FSG is the most important task we undertake. It forms the basis of all our future plans for success and allows us to continue providing the overall employee experience our family enjoys.
You may know us for our creative solutions, our nationwide distribution network, our bedrock commitment to excellence in the smallest details of the services we provide our customers, or because of our impressive list of completed projects. While we may be known for any or all of these things, we would rather be remembered as the company that cared most for the development and support of our team members.
As a matter of mission, we see recruiting as the first step in the process of providing excellent jobs, satisfying careers, and a foundation for unlimited employee achievement. We see the recruiting and development of new team members as the single most important task we can undertake to ensure success in this year and in all the years to come.
We welcome every contact from prospective employees eager to learn about opportunities at FSG. As one of the nation’s largest electrical contractors, FSG has team members working on some of the biggest buildings, connecting some of the largest customers, and lighting some of the most important projects being completed anywhere in the world.
Join the A-Team today! Find out about hiring opportunities at FSG, and take the first step toward a rewarding career with a team that values relationships. Talk to some of our journeyman electricians, master electricians, and project supervisors and find out about how FSG’s total package of compensation, benefits, and incentives allows you to take your skills as far as they can go.
