Latest / RoofersCoffeeShop / Attracting the Right Roofing Talent
Transcript
- Adam Cabrera: Welcome to Roofing Road Trips, the podcast that takes you on a thrilling journey across the world of roofing. From fascinating interviews with roofing experts to on-the-road adventures, we'll uncover the stories, innovations, and challenges that shape the rooftops over our heads. So fasten your seat belts and join us as we embark on this exciting roofing road trip. Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of Roofing Road Trips brought to you by RoofersCoffeeshop.com. I'm your host, Megan Ellsworth, and today I have the pleasure of chatting with my dear friend Kristen Case, managing partner and of the commercial roofing division at High Peak Staffing. Hello. Hi, how are you? I'm so good. I'm always better when I get to chat with you. So yeah. my gosh, same girl. It's a great way to start my day. Yes, absolutely. So, Kristen, can you go ahead and introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about High Peak? Yes, I am Kristen Case. I am the managing partner of High Peak Staffing. We are a commercial roofing recruiting agency. So we specialize in job placement within the roofing world across the US. We fill all positions, heavy and labor focus all the way up to the C suite and everything in between. Amazing. Amazing. So what led you to get into this space of work of roofing recruitment? my gosh, I love answering this question because I started out as a high tech recruiter, filling, you know, like software engineers and things like that. And it just wasn't a personality match with me. Are you shocked? I am. So one day a roofing company had called in and said that they were looking to fill an internal position. And I was like kind of biased, you know. I was like, what is roofing? This is 12 years ago, by the way. And ended up being a such a phenomenal experience, placed a position with them, thought, wow, there's probably other roofing companies out there that need help like this, and just started actively pursuing other roofing contractors. And experienced my first IRE about 10 years ago. And that was it for me. I was I I was sold. I was a lifer. And since then, about five years ago, my husband and I opened up High Peak staffing and now we have a staff of twelve people, it's twelve recruiters that work for us nationwide. Wow. Wow. So your whole company is you know, remote and w I was just I would love to know myself where is everyone located? Like are you really all over the place? Yeah, actually we have these we're everywhere. We have Florida, we have Pennsylvania, Texas, nice, California. Awesome. I'm trying to think California Arizona and Colorado me. Perfect. Yeah, yeah. Amazing. Amazing everywhere. I lurk We're always lurking. You're always in the background recruiting someone. Yes. Watch out. Okay. So, as we all know, there's lots of talk of a labor shortage here in the roofing industry. Yes. I wanna hear from you. Are are we really facing a talent shortage? or is it a recruiting problem, a leadership problem, getting young people into the trades? What what what are you seeing? Yeah. I would say on honestly, it's a combination of all three of those things. I do think that leadership has a big part in this though, because retention is a problem in the industry. And what that, you know, falls on leadership because, you know, you're going to need to constantly recruiting and developing your current staff in order to keep keep and retain them. And I think that that starts at the top. You know, so it's like you can't recruit your way out of a retention issue. but it's like if you are a good leader and you're seeing that, you know, foreseeing that, then you're not gonna be in this much trouble. Yeah. Yeah. How are you seeing roofing companies recruiting right now, like in terms of the next generation and the and young people coming in? Yeah, I think this is a huge I talk about it all the time. I think that leadership and roofing companies need to invest in the younger generation. So I think what's happening in the next five years or so, there's going to be a lot of retirements from people that have been in the game for 30, 40 years. And I think it's time that we start investing in the younger generation. So, you know, we have a 10 to 20 year plan. investing in folks starting them at the bottom, foreman level positions, field positions, labor positions, like what I talked about in shortages, so that those folks can become the next generation of leaders in the industry. so that's where I see a big a big gap right now. And so what we do is we we really try to focus on bringing in so much talent from outside the roofing industry. Yeah. Yeah. And being able to have those those employees that are retiring, are phasing out, be able to leave behind some of their wisdom and give some of that you know, years of knowledge to the people coming up behind them. Well, and to speak on that, because you can train roofing, right? Everyone's learned somewhere along the way. Yeah. but without, you know, that town that without those leaders that are in place right now to show the next generation, you know, how to do it, you know. We're gonna have a we're going to have a gap. And so that's always a big push for us over here is having those conversations with our companies, our clients about, you know, where do you where are we going in the next five years? What are you guys gonna be, what are you guys seeing? Yeah and trying to drive new talent into their locations. Yeah. What are you seeing as some of the biggest red flags that cause candidates to walk away from an opportunity at a roofing company. So I can speak on behalf of High Peak and I'm also a liaison between the candidate and the client. So it's like they're already getting an extra, they're getting extra TLC with me. I would say and and sometimes we do run into this issue and you know we have to address it head on, but the lack of transparency and communication with candidates that apply and interview for jobs, that's going to be the major red flag right there. So if you have a job posting And you interview a candidate and you like them, but you decide to wait two weeks because you're interviewing, let's say five candidates for the role, but you don't keep those open lines of communication, like maybe saying, hey, you know, we just started our interview process. we do have five interviews going on, and it's gonna take about a week or two before you will hear from us. If without that little, you know, tidbit of information, they're gonna think this company is not interested in me. And I'm gonna go look elsewhere. Or they're going to be instantly turned off because they're gonna think, Wow, I had this really good interview with the this company, but then they've ghosted me. And and then when they get that call back two weeks later, the momentum has kind of died. You know, the momentum and the excitement has kind of died. But if you can do something as send a a a text, like I tell my clients all the time, I'm like everyone texts these days, send them a text and say, Hey, I'm gonna be traveling for the next five days, but you'll hear from me next week. That's all it takes. And if they hear from you, then they're gonna say, okay, this person's excited in me, and I'm gonna hear from them. And we're gonna continue this process. Without that, I'm telling you, like they'll they'll contact me and just say, you know what, you can pull my name from consideration. I'm no longer interested. Yeah. And so that it's it's a completely different world now where it's not just the company is interviewing the candidate. The candidate is truly interviewing the company now. Yeah. And people want transparency and they want that communication. Yeah. They really do. And also I think for a while when it was a I feel like right now it's the market is stalled in terms of hiring and and everything. But when it was really open and rambunctious, you know, a lot of candidates didn't get those Texts, didn't get the calls back, didn't know if they were gonna hear back. And so they got into the groove of just, you know, applying to multiple things, going to the next one, planning that you're not gonna hear back. And so now you really have to make sure because they're also used to not hearing back at all. Well, I mean, everyone can put themselves in that position, right? Like imagine applying over and over for jobs. And not working with the recruiter. So at least you have us saying, Hey, we're following up every day on your behalf. Right. Here's the situation. you know, Company X is traveling this week for a big project, but we we've learned we'll hear from them next week. So we can put those anxieties to rest. But imagine if you're just applying online and you know, they what they say is it feels like I'm going into a black hole. And if I'm am I ever gonna hear from anyone? And that becomes pretty defeating, right? You you So then when you finally get that interview that you're looking forward to, you're just not even sure is this really is this really what it's all about? You know? Yeah. Yeah. So we always I always am encouraging, like I tell my clients in it, and this is why, you know, I have these relationships with them for so long is that we make sure to say, Hey, if we're excited about someone, let's keep this train moving. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Great advice. So What would you say is another hiring practice or mindset that roofing businesses tend to hold on to that's actually maybe preventing them from attracting top talent? Yeah, I think that so as a recruiter, my job is to, you know, when they give me a job order, it is to find what they are looking for. But I think what needs to happen is an is opening up to different industries. So Find someone that maybe fits 80% of the skill set that you're looking for, but has the character, the work ethic, and the attitude that you're looking for. Because like I said, you people will learn roofing. You can train them on roofing. Yes, is it a small investment to get someone that's maybe fits eight out of ten of those boxes to get them to where you need them to be, but they come to work every day with a smile on their face and a good attitude? Yeah, those things you can't train, you know. So what I am telling, and and I understand because they are paying us for our services and we will follow their direction at the end of the day, but I'm always encouraging, like, hey, I had a great conversation with this person and I feel like they'd be a good culture fit for you because of this reason. I highly suggest you talk to them. And once they do talk to them, it's so fun getting that call or email from them saying, Hey, that was a great idea that we did that. we are willing to train and invest in this person because They had a great attitude. They showed up early. You know, their references were stellar, things like that. So I'm always, you know, telling them, open up, widen your search, be open minded, not just to someone who's gonna check every box in the rooping industry, but candidates that are definitely willing and excited to get into our industry. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Like you said, like looking outside the industry. I mean, I've I've seen at trade shows people Handing business cards to the people that are working at the hotels, like, hey you see. Customer service skills? I mean absolutely for salespeople. Like there's so many different types of people that can break into sales in the roofing industry. Just like what I did leaving tech, going to roofing, was my personality was much more of a match for this industry than it was for the tech industry. And So glad I did it. And here I am 12 years later. Like I that's just I'm just one story, you know? there's thousands of stories like that out there. So it's just about, you know, being more open-minded. Yes. Yes, totally. So what would you say are some of the misconceptions roofing contractors have about today's hiring market and what's happening right now? this is pretty easy for me. I would say they think that. Posting a job is going to generate, you know, 10 excellent candidates. Yeah. today, especially with the changes in the roofing industry with private equity getting involved, companies getting acquired by larger companies, there's a lot of unknowns out there. So a lot of people are staying in their current roles. So they're not scanning the job boards. They're not, they don't have open for work on their LinkedIn. So It's about like for us, it's about a relationship. So for me to speak on a client that I've worked with for so long and we're doing outreach, it's so easy to, you know, tell them and explain about the companies that we work with so that they get excited. So a big misconception I think out there is that they're gonna post a job online and tomorrow there's gonna be, you know, 10 great candidates ready to interview. And that's just not the case. And and a lot of times what ends up happening is all of a sudden we're behind, you know? Yeah. And then we get the call. Uh-oh, we needed this need a a month ago, you know. Yeah. Yeah. So it's it's more, it's more. It's about relationship building. I'm really big on companies getting onto social media. So LinkedIn, for example, or having an Instagram page. have people at your company post clips of what they do. So if you've got a roof for installing, you know, Yeah. A huge job. Get them up there and say, This is the company I work for. Look at what we've done. Or or have someone in marketing do a fun trend that they can put on TikTok. Like that's the generation. That's what we're looking for. We're we love to we love watching reels and you know, and that stuff gets us excited. So, you know, it's more than just posting a job these days to get people interested. Yeah. I you are right on the money about you know, having doing following those fun trends. Like I've seen so many roofing companies start to do that. And in the call it's awesome. Yeah. You're like you see like, wow, I've never thought about roofing as a career. And my gosh, are you hiring? And like it's crazy. So yeah, I think just getting the the public aware of this industry more will also help. Yeah. It's like how fun, you know, like like I always say, you know, like when you think of roofing, a lot of people have an old school like thought process. Like I did when I first started in it. And it's just not that at all, you know? And there's so many career opportunities, whether you like doing accounting, HR, sales, customer service. I mean, it working with your hands in the field. I mean, it it's there's so much opportunity. So when you see these trends online of like, you know, the internal staff like doing something funny or the guys on the roof like showing like, wow, look at this huge roof systems we just installed. All of those things are really attractive, right? So you see someone out there that maybe has never even thought about the roofing industry that was like, I want to do that. That looks awesome. Or wow, that company, they have great benefits. Like, I I wouldn't even have thought about this, you know. So it's always about doing you cannot just post a job anymore, get out there, reach the masses, get on social media, you know, build those relationships out there. It's definitely important. Exactly. Exactly. So if we were to have this conversation. a year from now, what do you think will have changed most about roofing recruitment? I definitely think AI and like recruiting platforms are definitely going to help companies, right? So if when it comes to like their internal staffing needs, I think like AI will be able to do a lot more outreach. But back to the relationship piece. Yeah you don't have good relationship building skills to reach these people, that you know, it kind of dies there. So it's like it's really important to because I I know like we see it right now, like AI is coming in, but why am I getting, you know, inundated with tons of job orders monthly is because of the relationships that we know how to create and the ones we have with our clients and the ones that we know how to build with candidates. They want that. They want someone to be able to sell the opportunity and their their company to someone, not just an AI person, you know, saying, hey, we think you'd be a great fit based on these skill sets. You know? So I think that in a year from now, definitely there's going to be, you know, more competition with the AI b backing, but you've got to remember that relationships are still really important in this industry. Yeah. This is a side question. I've seen a lot of roofing contractors starting to use like virtual assistance in terms of not like an AI but an actual person, but they don't live here. they live, you know, overseas, somewhere else, but they still make, you know, a living wage, that what would be a living wage here in the United States. are you seeing that pick up in popularity as well? No, actually I have not. I I've had a couple companies try it. and they have said that there was a big language barrier, right? So they said that that was hard because you know, trying to relay the the certain things over to potential people was a little bit difficult. But I can understand the thought process and wanting to do it. I just I I personally have not seen it. That was just kind of what I heard, some feedback from some people. I I do think AI is getting really good though. Like, you know, you get on the phone and it's like it actually sounds like a person. So which is like crazy. Which is which is, but you know, humans, we love human connection, you know. Exactly. I am not personally, this is just personally not interested in just working solely through an AI agent. Yeah. I really want a human personal connection. so I think that that part is still, whether it's here or overseas, like having a human connection is still really important. Yeah. Have you been seeing it? I've seen it very like I can count on one hand how many times I've seen it. so I've seen a couple people try the virtual assistant in terms of like it's an AI. And then also I've seen some people try the ver like virtual assistants that like don't live here. They live elsewhere at like out of country. And I've seen that work pretty well for some people. But that's awesome. Yeah. So But it's it's just like to each their own. And also it's what makes the most sense, obviously, like you said, to for that company and what makes the most sense for the relationships you have with your customers. Yeah. okay. So for contractors preparing for their next busy season, hopefully we get some more hail here in Colorado. my gosh, I know. Fine I feel like we're finally gonna have a winter. I think we didn't have one last year. Fingers crossed. Fingers crossed I know. I'm like I'm sweater weather. Like woo. What should contractors be doing today to ensure that they have the right people in place once that demand picks up, you know, next year? I cannot say this enough. Start filling your pipeline now. So, like as a recruiter, you know, and I'm just one of many recruiters in this industry. It's like I always get the call when there's like panic, right? We need to fill this position tomorrow or like last month. And And it, you know, thankfully high peak staffing is, you know, industry pros. We already anticipate this. I am anticipating the call. So we're already on the back end filling up our pipeline with candidates. You know, we I know that during busy season, you know, you're not or dur sorry, during winter seasons, you're not gonna be jumping up on the roof and snow, but you're gonna be getting a lot of inbound calls for things that need to be repaired come springtime. So sales is gonna be a position that's gonna need need to be filled. estimating and things like that. So we understand the seasons of this industry. So when we get that call, but I always tell my clients, you know, you guys have to start filling your pipeline now. Meaning get your outreach going, but keep that in line of what I talked about before the transparency open. So instead of keeping someone haying, tell them, you know, hey, we've got this need. We're looking in then in Q4. We don't have it today. But I would love to keep this open line of communication with you. If you are actively looking for an opportunity and are not available, we completely understand. But we would love to have continued conversations with you in the next, you know, 30, 60, 90 days. People clock that as like, wow, that is so cool. Like you reach out to me, you have interest in me, you're being honest that you're not just gonna interview me and you know put my resume at the back of a pile somewhere. Yeah. And so that's that all kind of ties in, you know. So When busy season hits, you know, you're ready rather than you're just starting your search. Yeah. You know. So in this, you know, rooting root roofing recruiting should be a year around effort, not a seasonal emergency. Yes. I love that. And say it for say it louder for the people in the back. I love it. So that's that's like with High Peak, we s fully anticipate that. Like I already I know the clients I've worked with for like, you know. 10 plus years, I know when the call's coming. I I I feel it, you know, and I'm like, I I got you. So, and and that's just the big and I think that's what they know, you know, about us. And I think that's kind of what makes us different is we can anticipate their needs before they do. Okay. Last question, and I I this wasn't a prepared question, but for the people out there that want to get involved in the roofing industry, want to you know, be recruited and work for a roofing company, what are the what are the positions you're seeing right now that are like being looked at to be filled? So a position, it just depends on experience. Okay. Yeah. So a position, let's just say in the accounting, finance, and HR departments, those are always transferable. you know, so if you're working at a construction company that does or an HVEC company, And you see an opportunity in roofing, jump all over it. You know, those those roles are very easily transferable skills right in there. If you're looking, if you're green, you know, let's say you're a a recent high school graduate, or even if you went to college and you're like, I have no idea what I want to do with my life. But I am good at, you know, I love talking to people, I like customer service, entry level sales or project management. If you love working with your hands, get up on that roof, get into an apprentice program and start learning different roofing systems. I will tell you right now, that career right there, I am about to place a man who started 20 years ago, okay, when he was 20, so he's only 40, as a foreman, working as a roof tear-off person into a foreman role. He is about to be placed as a vice president at one of my roofing companies. And he's you know, young, a the young guy. So his career progression from you know learning the roofing. He went from roofing to project management to estimating to ops management and now VP level in a 20 year span. And he's, you know, his compensation is so great. So what I tell and he started as a foreman. So what I, you know, get get on the roof, learn the roofing systems. That's like most important, especially if you want a career progression. Yeah whether you want to transfer into sales or you want to move into operations, you're the most respected folks in this industry started at the bottom, you know? And yeah, so if it that or you know, project management or numbers, estimators are we're in dire need of estimators in the commercial roofing industry. whether you're using, you know, the edge software or others. There's such a need and it's such a great career because, you know, if you're good with numbers and you and you like going to job walks and you know, meeting with the customers and then coming back and putting together this package, it's you know, you have great employment retention there and you can grow every single year. So you might start off on doing small jobs and then all of a sudden five years later, you know, you might be estimating a stadium. You know? Yeah. How exciting is that? Yeah. So all of those things I say to the younger folks or people looking to get into the industry or even people with experience that maybe their industry is being taken over by AI. You know, reach out to a recruiter, tell them what you're looking for, tell them what you think your skill sets are so that we can get you in front of our companies and say, Hey, this person's skills may not be in roofing, but they are awesome here and and you know in their customer share sales, whatever it may be. And you guys need to talk to this person. And that also will help, you know, bridge the gap between you know, the generation that's gonna be retiring. Yeah. Absolutely. Okay. Thank you for answering my last minute question. I so appreciate it. Kristen, this has been amazing. Thank you for chatting with always is. Yay. Okay, so everyone can go learn more about high peak staffing on their directory on Roofers Coffee Shop. if you're looking for jobs, looking to be placed in a roofing company, please reach out to Kristen. Our website is www.high dash peaks staffing.com. That's h-i-dash p e a k staffing dot com. I'm also heavy on LinkedIn. So Kristen Case, managing partner at High Peak Staffing. we also all of our recruiters are there too. so if you see a position. We post our jobs there and on our website. So if you see a position that speaks to you or you're just interested in learning more about what we do, you can reach out directly there. I'll obviously you can always reach me on LinkedIn. and I'd be happy to chat with anyone, you know. And we like we work nationwide. So, you know, whether you're living in Chicago, Florida, California, you know, there may be a company or an opportunity for you. It's always worth at least a conversation for me, right? to help people, you know, with any type of guidance I can give them on their next steps is I love doing it. and more than happy to. Yeah. You never know. That person might be a client one day. So true. So true. And I really have to say, like I've sent many friends to you personally. Yeah. and Kristen really does just love helping people like figure out what they're doing and and and find find a solution, find something that fits for them. So Well done. Thank you so much. Thank you. please go to the High Peak Staffing Directory on rooferscoffeeshop.com to learn more. Everything will be in the show notes, all of their links, and where you can reach out to Kristen. So everyone, thanks for tuning in to this roofing road trip. And Kristen, thanks again. Thanks again. All right. See everyone on the next road trip. Bye. If you've enjoyed the ride, don't forget to hit that subscribe button and join us on every roofing adventure. Make sure to visit rooferscoffeeshop.com to learn more. Thanks for tuning in and we'll catch you on the next roofing road trip.