As the economy turns around, construction companies are preparing to hire again! In some cases, they will simply hire back the employees they had to let go, in other cases they will have to start over.

Deciding between hiring a candidate that is a strong fit with your company culture or a candidate with an impressive skill set can feel like a no-win situation. So, don’t put yourself in a situation where you need to choose! Instead, change how you think about announcing your intention to hire and the hiring process.

When a company hires for culture they do so based on chemistry, personality aspects, drive, and other key elements that make working at the company desirable. The lingering question throughout the interview process ends up being “Will they fit in?” People can learn the skills necessary to do the job, but if the person’s personality is not a fit, they will not remain with the company.

When a company hires for skill, they are trying to ensure that the new employee is ready and able to do the job from day one. Here, the lingering question is “Do they have the past experience to help us achieve our goals?” Skills alone are not sufficient and are all that can be determine from a resume or application. A potential’s techniques and standards still need to be considered to see if they are at the same level as your company’s and how they will work with other employees.

Balancing the two approaches is not easy and normally results in one of them out weighing the other—usually with skill out weighing culture. The reason is because skill is easier to prove while most techniques to assess personality and thinking patterns are illegal and unreliable at best, to use during the interview process. This is normally the case until a system or technique custom to a company’s culture is identified and implemented.

Here are three areas that construction companies looking to thrive in the new economy should be looking at:

Complimentary Services
A prevalent trend that is going to emerge from this economic downturn is a restructuring of the industry, its expectations, and how and what it delivers. In the new economy you will see fewer pure construction companies where they only offer a construction service; instead, you will see more mixed companies that will offer construction and a service related to construction such as a form of training. This will allow them to build creditability in the market, amongst peers, and create more predictable cash flow for future blips in the economy.

Marketing and Outreach
People will still love to buy, but they do not like to be sold to. Self-proclaimed marketing techniques are quickly becoming a thing of the past and in some cases making companies look desperate and untrustworthy. It is no longer about what you want them to know. Marketing in the new economy is more about equal conversation, understanding and respect. The challenge construction companies will face is having that equal conversation with a market that may only purchase once in their life.

Sales Process
When companies changes their services and their marketing, they will be forced to change how they sell. In the new economy, clients will be smarter and have easier access to finding out everything about a company—the things a company needs them to know, the stuff a company doesn’t want them to know and the irrelevant information that the client feels is important. Companies will have to develop a sales process that accounts for all of this new information and captures a client’s experience and feedback from day one.

What other changes do you see coming?