By Mark Breslin, Apprentice Performance Solutions
Imagine a snowball at the beginning of its journey downhill: the growth is small at each turn, but the potential is huge.
That’s what we’re looking at with women in construction. Not even three years ago, 13.4% of construction workers were women. Fast-forward to June 2023 and the proportion is 14%. Now, some might argue that a 0.6% increase isn’t huge, but in terms of raw numbers, we’re looking at thousands of women choosing a career in the trades.
That’s a good thing. The more talented people applying for apprenticeships, the easier job we have of bringing in great workers and raising the quality of our workforce.
So, how do we get that snowball rolling faster? Since we’ve all heard the old advice, let’s look at three newer strategies to get more women into construction.
Creative Sourcing. While no job is exactly like construction work, some have useful similarities. For example, farm work requires hard, physical labor, working with machinery, and a willingness to get dirty.
One apprenticeship director we know noticed similarities in nursing home aides’ jobs, too: These workers start their days early, work in loud environments, and do a lot of heavy lifting, as well. The list of similar jobs goes on—it just requires some creative thinking.
Once you know what you’re looking for, search jobs websites like Indeed or ZipRecruiter for people in your area who have these experiences. You may find a lot of people receptive to your pitch.
Outreach. We know many apprenticeship programs that are trying get the word out everywhere they can about the opportunity of a union construction career.
The good news is that it works: a study by the National Association of Women in Construction found that 72% of women in construction said they were first exposed to the industry through outreach programs. If your outreach programs aren’t attracting women, consider tailoring your messaging and initiatives to spread the word more effectively.
Tailored Programs. This strategy is a deeper dive… If you’re not getting enough women into your apprenticeship program, try to learn why that is. An easy start is to survey the women currently in the program and get a sense of what changes might make it easier for other women to join.
It could be as simple as better outreach. It could be providing options for online, hybrid, or part-time courses that better fit women’s schedules and challenges. We’ve seen programs make lots of different types of adjustments and see positive results.
You may not have to make big changes for your changes to have big effects, but you do need to know where to start—and that comes from asking the questions.
There’s great talent out there, looking for the right opportunity. And we all know the incredible opportunity of a career in union construction.
As more women build careers in construction, more women will see their success and consider the possibilities for themselves. Our job as an industry is to get that snowball rolling faster—for everyone’s benefit. ■
Apprentice Performance Solutions delivers fair, equitable, and validated apprentice assessment through the APS Success Profile System, designed to address four common challenges among union apprenticeship programs: diversity, fairness, liability, and right talent. Learn more at apprenticeperformance.com
