HR in Industrial Construction

HR Carnival

2009-03-04T14:17:00.001-06:00

The HR Carnival is up at the hr capitalist. Welcome to March Madness.

I-9

2009-02-02T13:58:00.004-06:00

If you're in HR, note that the I-9 form that was supposed to be required starting today has been postponed. Implementation is now scheduled for April 3, 2009. Employers who use the new I-9 form prior to 4/3/09 will be subject to monetary penalties.

That's the government for you. (Don't shoot the messenger.)

Empowerment

2009-01-20T08:06:00.002-06:00

There is a fabulous blog entry on empowerment at the Morning Manager blog.

Austin University

2009-01-19T09:29:00.001-06:00

Austin University, our corporate university, opened today. I enrolled in my first few courses through our university. I can't wait to take them. It's very exciting that we now have this great resource for education.

Business Development Manager

2009-01-19T09:28:00.001-06:00

I can recommend a good Business Development Manager who is looking for a position in Houston. Contact me if you have an interest.

HR Carnival

2008-12-29T07:47:00.000-06:00

The HR Carnival is up at The Career Encouragement Blog. Check it out.

Austin Industrial earns 3 Excellence in Construction Awards

2008-12-23T13:41:00.004-06:00

At the November 6th presentation dinner, Austin Industrial was presented with three Excellence in Construction awards from the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) Greater Houston Chapter.

Austin Industrial was awarded the top-scoring Industrial Construction Excellence award in the Heavy Indusrial Maintenance category for our work at LyondellBasell facilities. Austin Industrial also achieved top honors in the Light Industrial category for a fast-track expansion project at one of the Roche Carolina facilities. Finally, we received a merit award in the Heavy Industrial Turnaround/Shutdown category for a Turnaround project at BASF.

Austin Industrial 2008 Christmas Party

2008-12-23T13:31:00.004-06:00

Some pictures from our Austin Industrial 2008 Christmas Party. A few of the favorite gifts were a Wii gaming system, a margarita machine, and a double DVD player for the back seat of a vehicle.

Morning Manager

2008-12-23T10:18:00.004-06:00

Check out Morning Manager. This is a great blog with some excellent tips for management and time-saving tips for everyone who uses a computer or wants to improve.

VPP Celebration

2008-12-18T13:24:00.007-06:00

The Austin Industrial Capital Construction Group working at Lyondell in Channelview was awarded VPP status (Voluntary Protection Program) by OSHA.

"The Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP) promote effective worksite-based safety and health. In the VPP, management, labor, and OSHA establish cooperative relationships at workplaces that have implemented a comprehensive safety and health management system. Approval into VPP is OSHA’s official recognition of the outstanding efforts of employers and employees who have achieved exemplary occupational safety and health."

Here are some pictures from our celebration.

2008 Austin Industrial Donations through Candlelighters

2008-12-18T09:36:00.007-06:00

Candlelighters' mission "is to provide information and awareness for children and adolescents with cancer and their families, to advocate for their needs, and to support research so every child survives and leads a long and healthy life." This year, employee-owners from Austin Industrial donated gifts to families with children who have cancer. Here is a slide show of pictures from that project. Click on the arrow to the bottom left of the video to play. Enjoy. : )

If you would like to know more about Candlelighters, visit the Candlelighters website.

HR Carnival

2008-11-26T07:47:00.001-06:00

HR Carnival is up at Fortify Your Oasis.

ERE Expo

2008-11-04T10:29:00.003-06:00

I attended the ERE (Recruiting) Expo in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida last week. I have to say I was dissappointed. The breakout sessions that I attended were good. Unfortunately, you could only 4 of them throughout the event. By the time you add in hotel, transportation, etc., and more importantly my time away from the office it was a very expensive event for just that. Too much time was wasted on general sessions, breaks, etc. The communication was awful. I could not find where the welcome reception was being held- the room listed on the schedule was not on the map of the convention center. Unfortunatly, a lot of the information was tailored to hiring in an "economic slowdown", yet our industry is very strong. We are adding projects and doing lots of hiring.

Breast Cancer Awareness Photo

2008-11-04T10:25:00.002-06:00

October was Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Make sure you take care of your health.

Texas A&M University Engineering Career Fair

2008-09-10T15:54:00.002-05:00

We will be at the Texas A&M University Engineering Career Fair on Tuesday, September 16th. Stop by our booth and say "hi" if you will be in the area and would like to learn more about working for Austin Industrial.

College Recruiting Fall Season

2008-08-27T11:52:00.003-05:00

Our first college career fair of the Fall '08 season is next Thursday. Austin Industrial will have a booth at the University of Houston's Engineering Career Fair. If you are a college student majoring in Engineering or Construction Science, stop by our booth and say "hi". Go Coogs.

Don't subscribe to Town & Country Magazine

2008-08-20T10:24:00.003-05:00

This has nothing to do with HR or Construction, but I wanted to share this information with you in case it saves you the hassle I went through. A year ago I wanted to order Harper's Bazaar magazine. I ordered a subscription online and then up came a pop-up offering a special deal on Town and Country Magazine. Of course, it's cheaper if you sign up for more than one year, but I selected 1 year only because I didn't know if I would like the magazine. I was happy with that decision, because I did not really care for it. I paid for the subscription at that time with my credit card. Then they sent an issue at the end of the year with a notice attached saying that they had signed me up for continuous service. I went to their website and submitted notification that I did not want continuous service. Then a couple weeks later they sent me an e-mail saying I was scheduled for continuous service, so I went online again and let them know AGAIN that I DID NOT WANT to continue receiving their magazine. Then a couple days ago they mailed me a letter and invoice saying that I had signed up for a subscription and requested to pay later and how astonished they were that I had not paid what I owed them. Incensed, I looked for a number to call them; there was none on the information they mailed to me. I had to go to their website and search for a customer service number. I finally found it (they don't make this easy- they try to make you submit questinons/comments online). So I called. They refused to connect me to the voicemail of the person who wrote me that rude and inaccurate letter. I told the customer service person that I had submitted two requests online stating that I did not want to continue receiving the magazine and then received a letter saying I owed them money anyway. She was arguing with me and said that she could see my requests and they said to cancel continuous service, but that was different than a request not to renew my subscription. Unbelievable! I will never buy their magazine again!!!

Yum

2008-08-18T10:03:00.004-05:00

A couple fun pictures from our ice cream social.

Empty Nest Syndrome

2008-08-18T09:47:00.010-05:00

I definitely have that empty nest syndrome. Austin Industrial's first Intern in our new Intern Development Program has completed his summer internship and gone back to school. Good luck Roberto; we'll miss you!

Welcome to Austin Industries

2008-08-11T09:56:00.002-05:00

A big welcome to Rebecca, the new Recruiter at our sister company, Austin Bridge & Road. I'm looking forward to working with you! We'll definitely keep you busy. Congratulations on your new job!

HR Carnival

2008-08-07T12:45:00.001-05:00

The 40th HR Carnival is up at McArthur's Rant. Check it out.

TWIC

2008-08-07T09:43:00.003-05:00

I finally got my TWIC card. I received a phone message about a month ago that it was ready, but appointments were pretty booked until now. I picked it up this morning. It takes about 15 minutes. You wait 5 minutes for them to find the card, and then it takes at least 10 minutes for the card to be programmed. They send data to Washington to get the card programmed. You need to select a 6 to 8 digit pin number, so you might want to have one in mind ahead of time. Just like the DPS office, they have a knack for taking the ugliest pictures known to man.

HR Carnival

2008-07-24T08:41:00.001-05:00

The HR Carnival is up at The HR Capitalist.

Mixed blessings

2008-07-03T09:22:00.000-05:00

I'm both sad and happy. Our receptionist is moving on to a new position with us. The good news is that she is staying with Austin Industrial, and will be getting a promotion. I'm happy for her. The bad news is that I'll miss her. She won't be working at our corporate office anymore. Other bad news is that I'll have to find a replacement for her and those are hard shoes to fill.

Best wishes, Julie, I'll miss you working with you every day!

HR Carnival

2008-06-26T16:32:00.000-05:00

The new HR Carnival is up at the Evil HR Lady.

Construction Interview Tips

2008-06-25T08:52:00.003-05:00

The most popular search term that's bringing visitors to my blog is construction interview tips, so it seems like something people want to know about. Therefore, I thought I would give you a tip. Apply for positions that match your experience and be prepared to describe specifics in your experience that indicate a true fit to the position. I constantly see resumes of applicants who are not a fit for our company. There are different kinds of construction. Some examples of construction types are:

- Industrial
- Commercial
- Bridge & Road (Heavy)
- Residential

Austin Industrial does industrial construction - we build, upgrade, and maintain chemical plants, refineries, ethanol plants, power plants, petrochemical plants, and heavy manufacturing facilities. However, I often receive resumes of people who have built airports, office buildings, hotels, etc. So, if your experience is building office buildings an hotels, etc., then apply with companies that do commercial construction. If you have built homes, apply for jobs with residential construction companies. If you apply with industrial construction companies, such as my company, then be prepared to discuss specific construction or maintenance projects that you've worked on that are chemical plants, refineries, etc.

Another interview tip is let the interviewer finish talking before you start responding. I've sat in on several interviews recently when the candidates would start talking over the interviewer before he had finished talking. Interrupting someone who is considering you for a job is not the best choice if you want the job. It's common courtesy.

Lots o' Hiring

2008-06-23T08:35:00.003-05:00

Employment is taking off here at Austin Industrial. I have 2 new employee-owners scheduled to start next Monday and 9 people already scheduled to start work in July. July is going to be a crazy month for me.

This evening is the ASTD meeting. That should be interesting. Hopefully, I'll meet some good Training Managers there.

Recruiter position

2008-06-13T08:16:00.003-05:00

A manager that I used to work with started a consulting firm with 2 partners. They specialize in infrastructure and IT-related consulting to the oil and gas industry. He is looking for a recruiter. If you know of any good recruiters who are looking for a job, please let me know. Their firm is in the Rice Village area. If you are interested, you can e-mail your resume to me. My e-mail is in my linked-in profile.

Presidential Candidates

2008-06-12T16:39:00.002-05:00

I went to the HR Houston meeting this morning. They had 2 speakers talking about where the Presidential Candidates stand on workplace issues. Guess what. The Republican candidate supports legislation that is favorable to business and the Democratic candidate supports legislation that is favorable to employees and non-employed people (I.E. higher taxes, bigger government). Who knew? LOL. I never would have guessed. : )

HR Carnival

2008-06-12T16:36:00.001-05:00

It's that time again. The new HR Carnival is up at Jon Ingham's Strategic Human Capital Management Blog. (That's a mouthful.) Enjoy.

Grand Canyon

2008-06-03T07:50:00.005-05:00

Over the memorial holiday weekend, I went to see the Grand Canyon. It was breathtaking. I haven't been since I was 5. We went to the Petrified Forest, Painted Desert, Sunset Crater, Meteor Crater, and Lowell Observatory as well. They were all wonderful things to see. It was an excellent trip. If you haven't been to the Grand Canyon yet, you definitely need to go!

HR Carnival

2008-06-02T10:12:00.001-05:00

The HR Carnival is up at the Pennsylvania Labor & Employment Blog.

SPHR Certificate

2008-05-30T10:50:00.005-05:00

Yeah - I received my SPHR Certificate yesterday. That was much faster than I was expecting. I'm so happy to have it. They sent a cool SPHR lapel pin as well. I'm wearing it today. : ) It was cool to take the test electronically and know the resuts right away. I took the PHR when they were scantron exams, and it was torture waiting to hear if I had passed or not. Now I just have to make sure to get all my recertification credits over the next few years. The Gulf Coast Symposium certainly helped with that. Good luck to all of you who are taking the test in June.

The ABC Expo last night was interesting. It's the first time that I've seen that type of thing done in reverse. The people who were trying to sell things went around to the booths and the people in the booths represented potential clients. In the past, I've only seen events where the people selling things were the ones in the booths. Our Purchasing Manager was very popular at the event, as you can imagine. One interesting thing that happened - the previous manager of one of my new hires stopped by and was jokingly giving me a hard time about recruiting his employee away from him. Small world. Of course, I told him about our great benefits and that he should consider a career with us as well. : )

ABC General Contractor Expo

2008-05-29T12:04:00.003-05:00

Austin Industrial will have a booth at the ABC (Associated Builders and Contractors) Expo this afternoon in Stafford, Texas. So, if you're curious about the company, stop by and say "Hi" to us. It should be a fun networking event. To learn more, visit the ABC Houston Chapter website:
http://www.abchouston.org/Hot_Links/Get_Involved/GC_Expo.aspx

Gulf Coast HR Symposium

2008-05-21T13:50:00.002-05:00

I attended the Gulf Coast HR Symposium at Reliant Center last week. I thought the seminars were good. I hope I am able to go again next year. I also hope I am able to institute some of the things that were brought to my attention at the symposium. It's very exciting stuff. I can't believe the price of parking though - $8 each day - OUCH. That's ridiculous.

NPRA

2008-05-21T13:45:00.002-05:00

The NPRA 2008 Reliability & Maintenance Conference and Exhibition is going on now in San Antonio. Several members of our company are attending the conference. I am not able to attend this year, but maybe next year. I can't wait to hear about it from my collegues that are attending.

SPHR

2008-05-16T07:40:00.003-05:00

Well I did it. The test was tough, but I passed the SPHR. I can't wait to get my certificate. It will probably take about 6 weeks. That's a huge relief to have that out of the way. I can tell you that from now on I'll be obsessive about getting my certification credits, because I never want to do that again.

Construction Expo

2008-05-09T09:36:00.002-05:00

I volunteered at the Construction Expo yesterday at the Pasadena Fairgrounds. It's a neat program. High school students who have an interest in working in the construction field come and see some demonstrations of what the work is like. The construction industry is a great field for people who want a great career path without having to go to college. The skilled trades pay very well and it's exciting to build something and get to see the finished product. There's a lot of satisfaction in that.

HR Carnival

2008-05-01T10:37:00.000-05:00

The most recent HR Carnival is up at The Rainmaker Group.

Boys and Girls Harbor

2008-04-08T09:18:00.004-05:00

Last Friday, some employee-owners from my company (Austin Industrial, Inc.) helped ABC (Associated Builders and Contractors) with a community service project at Boys and Girls Harbor. "The mission of Boys & Girls Harbor is to empower children and their families to become full, productive participants in society through education, cultural enrichment and social services." It was fun to give back. (That's yours truly on the left.)

Looking for a construction job?

2008-04-03T09:21:00.004-05:00

I'm currently recruiting for numberous positions for a very large, prestigious refinery expansion project. We have the following opportunities to be an employee owner with Austin Industrial:

Project Leader
Project Controls Manager
Structural Superintendent (2)
JV Sub Coordinator (2)
Structural Coordinator (3)
Pipe Coordinator (2)
Mechanical Coordinator
Civil Coordinator
Quantity Tracker (4)
Estimator/Qty Takeoff (3)
Cost Tracker (4)

The job postings aren't listed on our career page yet, but you can submit your resume into our online system or e-mail it to me. Hopefully, they will be posted on our website within a few business days.

Recruiting

2008-04-03T08:05:00.003-05:00

Well recruiting is going well so far. One employee-owner started on Monday 2 weeks ago, one started this Monday, another is scheduled to start on Monday, April 14th, another is scheduled to start on May 19th, and yet another is scheduled to start on June 2nd. Not bad for the new girl. I like this construction business - it's hopping. Plus, I received a request on Monday to recruit for 20 new positions. We were awarded the contract for the largest project that my company has ever done, and that's saying a lot, because the company was founded in 1918.

I also recently completed 2 client site visits - one yesterday and one the week before. They were both great. I have another one scheduled for next Monday.

Carnival of HR

2008-04-03T08:03:00.000-05:00

The Carnival of HR is up at Fortify Your Oasis.

Now a Certified Internet Recruiter (CIR)

2008-03-25T15:21:00.002-05:00

I obtained my CIR (Certified Internet Recruiter) certification today. Yeah. I hope I do as well on the SPHR exam in May.

Today was my second visit to a client site. This one was interesting because it has a research facility in addition to the plant. It's really cool to see the work in the field and it's great to meet more of our Austin Employee-Owners. They really seemed to be a lot of fun to work with; many of them were quite humorous. That's always fun to see. I'm looking forward to the next site visit which is scheduled for next week.

HR Carnival

2008-03-21T07:23:00.000-05:00

HR Carnival is up at Wally Bock's Three Star Leadership Blog.

It's a good day in my neighborhood.

2008-03-17T11:32:00.000-05:00

Today is a great day! Our new Business Development Manager started today. She's the first manager I've recruited at my new company. I'm really excited to have her on board.

Also, our executives are expecting to put a contract in place for our company's largest project ever (since the company was founded in 1918). That is thrilling. This is a huge project. We will just have 1 piece of it. This work is for the largest refinery expansion project in the US in over a decade. It's great for the company, but it will be very tough work for many of us. It will be hard to find all the people to do the work in this tight labor market. This is a very exciting time to be in the industrial construction industry.

New Website

2008-03-14T07:55:00.003-05:00

We have our new website up. It's exciting. Also, I am now able to post the employee-owner picture that we took recently. We'll be using this picture on the new booths we're having made to take to career fairs. All these updates are so exciting. Check out our new website with this link: Austin Industrial website.

1.7 Billion Dollar Company

2008-03-14T07:46:00.005-05:00

On Tuesday, we had our annual manager's meeting where our company executives talk about company performance for the previous year. It was very exciting. My company, Austin Industrial did $334 Million in revenue for 2007 and our parent company, Austin Industries, did $1.7 billion in revenue for 2007. Woohoo! That's important, because the company stock we are given (through our ESOP program) is for our parent company and reflects the performance of our 2 sister companies as well as my company. It's so cool to be given stock just for doing our jobs. Our stock is now worth $84.33; up from $8.79 when it was originally issued. It's a great feeling to know that we will be set for retirement if we work for this company. Can you afford to retire when you reach 65?

Think about your family and loved ones!

2008-03-05T10:32:00.003-06:00

I completed my first project site visit yesterday. It was great! We started with the monthly safety meeting. The speaker was Randall Royall. If you are ever looking for a speaker on the topic of Safety, consider him!!! He was excellent!!!! He was severely injured on the job when he did not follow the procedure of working with a second person when he went to check out a leak. He was paralyzed for a period of time due to those injuries. One of the points that he made in his presentation was that the consequences of not using safe procedures doesn't just affect you; it has a big impact on your family and friends as well. His wife had to quit her job to take care of him. He lost his new house and his new truck. This, of course, affects his entire family.

The rest of the site visit was wonderful as well. It was great to personally meet a number of Austin employee-owners who work at this client location. Our people are so cool! I'm very much looking forward to my visit next month to another client site. I wanted to take some pictures while I was there to include in this blog, but the client has very strict policies on that.

Don't let opportunities pass you by.

2008-02-27T06:55:00.002-06:00

If you ever get a chance to go skydiving, take it!

Yes, "Lapidary" is a real word.

2008-02-15T10:51:00.002-06:00

Lapidary means "Concerned with stones". Applies to jewelry-making, etc.

A resume for one of the new graduate candidates that one of my hiring managers was considering contained the word "lapidary". Neither of us knew what that meant and the hiring manager said, "I hope he didn't mean 'laboratory'". LOL!

So I looked it up. It is a real word. : ) (Whew- you never know.)

The Longhorns sure do love their burnt orange t-shirts

2008-02-12T14:01:00.000-06:00

The UT Austin Engineering career expo was a little disappointing. Compared to the other career fairs, not many people stopped by our booth. It wasn't just our company either. One of the recruiters for another company stopped by our booth and was asking me about how we were fairing. She said that students she was trying to talk to would actually say, "I am NOT interested in your company" when she tried to talk to them.

There was some good news though. One of the students that stopped by our booth was really excited about the prospect of working for us. He did an internship for one of our clients that exposed him to some Austin Industrial employees working there, and after that experience, he really wants to work with us. That's very cool! Also, a number of students stopped by who had done a school project working with one of our sister companies, Austin Commercial, and they are very excited about the idea of working for us as well. Sweet.

One interesting thing was that a number of companies there to recruit were giving out burnt orange t-shirts. I didn't notice any recruiters giving out t-shirts at any of the other career fairs.

We have one more career fair to go and then the overwhelming task of choosing which candidates to interview. We have a number of good candidates to select from, which is a very good thing but very time-consuming as well. It's especially difficult to choose from among entry-level candidates. I wish we could give them all a chance. It's really exciting to have the opportunity to work for a company that's 100% employee-owned!

HR Carnival

2008-02-07T12:11:00.000-06:00

Once again it's HR Carnival. This time it's hosted by Wally Bock. Check it out:

http://blog.threestarleadership.com/2008/02/05/the-26th-carnival-of-human-resources.aspx.

It includes a link to an interesting article, "Looking inside the Brain; is my Brain Fit?"

Career Fairs

2008-02-06T07:46:00.000-06:00

The University of Houston career fair went well. It was very busy in the afternoon. There were lots of students very enthusiastic about finding a job. It's very hard to get out of there (the campus) though. It's like the bermuda triangle. You can go in, but you can't get out. The amenities at the A&M career fair must have spoiled me. This time, there were no snacks, no massages, no hot lunch, etc.

The University of Texas engineering career fair is this Friday. That should be fun too. Hopefully we'll continue to meet great engineering students and graduates. The worst part of the career fairs to me is telling students that we're not hiring anyone in their field. We had a number of Chemical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and even Geology majors stop by our booth, and we're only looking for Mechanical Engineering and Civil Engineering majors. That part is no fun. There was one Biomedical Engineering student. While that seems like a very intriguing field and she made a great arguement for why a company should hire her, not many companies that I know of in Houston are looking for Biomedical Engineers.

Happy recruiting or job hunting.

Go Coogs

2008-01-31T10:56:00.000-06:00

We'll be at the University of Houston Engineering Career Fair next Tuesday. I'm looking forward to it. This will be my second career fair with Austin Industrial. Hopefully it will go as well as the last one at A&M. University of Houston is one of my Alma Mater. I haven't been there in years, so it will be interesting to see how it's changed since my last visit.

We'll be looking for mechanical and civil engineering graduates and interns as well as construction science. So, if you are majoring in one of those areas, stop by our booth.

Moving On

2008-01-30T07:56:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was a sad day. Our receptionist gave her notice. She's been with the company for 19 years. I'm happy for her though. This allows her to spend more time with her family while her son is growing up. We'll miss you, Linda.

Got TWIC?

2008-01-29T07:20:00.000-06:00

As if the hiring process wasn't complicated enough these days, now we may have to add TWICTM. TWICTM stands for Transportation Workers Identification Credential. You can read more about it at:
http://www.tsa.gov/what_we_do/layers/twic/index.shtm.
Also, unemployment costs may be going up. Democrats in the Senate are proposing an "economic stimulus" package that extends some unemployment benefits. See the Yahoo News article:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080128/ap_on_go_co/economy_stimulus

"You can't send a duck to eagle school"

2008-01-24T08:52:00.000-06:00

This link shows an excellent video related to Recruiting / HR. Check it out! It makes a lot of great points.

http://www.theeagleschoolmovie.com/?SRC=WPOIDUCKM

I'm attending my first CRG Meeting today (Craft Recruiting Group). I'm looking forward to it!

HR Carnival

2008-01-23T08:22:00.000-06:00

The newest addition of HR Carnival is up, hosted by Deb Owen at 8 hours & a lunch.

One post that she mentions caught my eye; it's cleverly titled "Employee Engagement has a Ring to it", and it's by Wayne Tumel. Cute, huh? That's the best thing about working for a company that's employee-owned; that makes for a LOT of employee engagement. What could be better than being an owner of the company where you work for being engaged with the company?

Enjoy.

Q&A

2008-01-23T08:16:00.000-06:00

If you have any HR, recruiting, or job hunting questions that you think I may be able to help you with, please feel free to send them to me. I'll be happy to answer if I can help.

Gig 'Em

2008-01-23T08:06:00.001-06:00

I'm back from the Engineering Career Fair at Texas A&M. We met some great candidates. They did a great job of organizing this event (except for running out of Diet Coke for a while in the afternoon). It's definitely nice to be back home though. They even give free massages to the recruiters and provide cookies as an afternoon snack. The only down side to the whole event was too much barbeque; both meals that they provided were barbeque. LOL! I'm all barbequed out!

I was surprised that only one candidate that I talked to said that he was especially interested in working for us because we are 100% employee owned. I was expecting more candidates to comment on that, since it's so exciting to work for such a company. It's so cool to own stock in a successful, growing company that's been around since 1918! It's also sort of funny that most people who see our company name assume we are based in Austin. You should never assume. My company is based in Houston. It's also very cool to be a Houstonian.

Some pictures of our booth at the event are attached. Obviously, I'm a horrible photographer (I won't quit my day job). It doesn't help that these were taken with a cell phone. This was my first time including pictures in a blog, and it's not as easy as you might think.

Two weeks from now, I'll be attending the University of Houston Engineering Career Fair and University of Texas Engineering Expo. Hopefully those will be as well run (but less barbeque).

Happy recruiting or job hunting.

Enthusiasm is Contagious

2008-01-21T07:29:00.000-06:00

Today I head out to my first college career fair for this company. I'm looking forward to it. New graduates and interns tend to be very enthusiastic and energetic. It can be very refreshing to speak with them about positions, and their enthusiasm is contagious. Very experienced people often lose that passion for their field over time. Speaking with college students reminds me why I love working in HR and especially doing recruiting. It's nice to remember how it felt when you were graduating and entering the working world and also how far you've come from there. Also, aren't you glad you don't have to do homework anymore or study for tests? Even though I'm studying for the SPHR exam, it's much more interesting than studying for a biology exam or something like that. I can't wait to start telling those students how fabulous it is to work for Austin Industrial.

Stress Free Job?

2008-01-18T07:24:00.000-06:00

One candidate I contacted about an administrative position I'm recruiting for said she was not interested in that position because it would require more than 40 hours per week and it would be stressful. She said please contact her for future positions that would be 40 hours per week or less and that would not be stressful.

This did make me think. Are there any jobs in the construction industry these days that are 40 hours per week or less and are not stressful?

Sorry, my job's taken. (Just kidding, of course.)

Interview Tips

2008-01-17T12:18:00.000-06:00

It never ceases to amaze me that some interviewees don't seem to know even have a clue how to interview. These are very basic tips, but please, if you're going to take the time to go to an interview, follow them.

1) Be on time (or about 15 minutes early is even better). It wouldn't kill you to plan to get there early, make sure you have found the place, and then hang out at a nearby Starbucks or McDonald's so you arrive about 10-15 minutes before your scheduled interview time. The last candidate that I interviewed even told me that she drove by our office the Sunday before the interview to make sure she could find it. (She got bonus points for that.) :) If traffic is bad or something and you find you are running late, call to let the interviewer know you are running late. Make this call BEFORE you are late.

2) Plan to fill out an application completely. Bring anything you need to fill out job history, reference contact information, etc.

3) Do your homework about the company. Look at the company's website. One candidate, when asked what he knew about our company said, "Um.......uh..........I think........you do construction or something like that." I'll just say, "Um..........no bonus points for him." The same candidate that I mentioned before who drove by the office on a Sunday also mentioned during the interview (without me asking) some things she read on our website. Again, bonus points for her.

4) Do your homework about yourself. Think about your knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) in relation to the job, the company, and the industry. Be prepared to explain how yours apply to the job, company, and industry if your previous experience is not an exact match. For instance, before my current position, I never worked in the construction industry, but I was prepared to discuss why and how my previous experience applied to it. Think about your strengths and weaknesses in relation to the job ahead of the interview and be prepared to discuss them.

5) Don't ask anything related to what's in it for you. I.E. Don't ask about salary or benefits until they make you an offer. The interview(s) is(are) to convince them to make a job offer to you. Then you ask what's in it for you (politely and professionally). However, it is a very good idea to ask some questions. This shows the interviewer that you are interested. You do want to find out about the job, the company, the culture, etc., so you can assess whether it would be a good fit for you. Personally, I don't mind at all when candidates ask me about the salary or benefits. For one thing, I love to talk about our benefits, because they are so cool. However, I know that some interviewers are very turned off by it.

6) Be honest. State things as positively as you can (while still being honest). Smile. Show confidence, but not arrogance.

Again, these are basic tips, but they are very important. They can make the difference in whether or not you are offered the position. You not only have to be qualified for the position, but you have to convince the interviewers that you are the best candidate for the position.

I actually have a smile on my face on my way to work in the morning.

2008-01-16T07:51:00.001-06:00

Why do I like my job so much? Of course, the best thing about working for Austin Industrial is that it is 100% employee-owned. We don't have any employees. We have employee-owners. How cool is that? There are so many other great things about working here though:

- My manager and co-workers are nice, smart, and friendly. It's actually fun to work here

- The upper management appreciates the people here and realizes that they are responsible for the success of the company. In fact, the company tag-line is people - performance - solutions, and they actually put that into practice

- Great financial stability and success with aggressive growth plans

- The company actually puts into practice the values that are espoused on the company website- integrity, performance, responsibility, safety, and employee-ownership

- The company is big enough to have most of the benefits of a big company, but small enough to have the benefits of a small company, like high visibility and access to the company president. You actually see him in the hall or in meetings sometimes.

- There is strong support for training and development and getting employees the resources to do their jobs as effectively as possible.

Did I mention the company is 100% employee-owned? It is a great feeling to work at a company that you own part of and contribute to every day!

20 Tips for a Positive New Year

2008-01-15T14:53:00.001-06:00

Check this article out; it is wonderful advice!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.greatmanagement.org/articles/356/1/20-Tips-for-a-Positive-New-Year/Page1.html

So True!!!

2008-01-15T08:25:00.001-06:00

"If you think hiring professionals is expensive, try hiring amateurs."

Anon.

Posted by: Amitai Givertz

Potpourri

2008-01-15T07:45:00.000-06:00

These are some things I'm working on:

- Recruiting Business Development professionals and Project Managers that have Industrial Construction experience.

- Succession Planning

- Developing a formal program for interns and new grads so that they will do real industry work and learn a lot about our business; not just make copies and that type of thing.

- Improving our onboarding

- Marketing our company; I work for a great company that has amazing branding already, but I want to get the word out about it, so everyone else knows what a fabulous company this is.

- Finding a source of good, current salary survey info that covers the construction industry in Houston, TX and throughout the US.

- Improving Training and Development programs

- Finding good HR training programs for myself (especially talent attraction and retention related)

- Instituting Mentorship and Buddy programs

- Finding good constructions related associations to join and attend conferences / seminars to network with others in the industry and make good contacts to potentially recruit for our organization

- Developing a network of recruiters who work at my competitors so we let them know when we are ending projects so they can pick up some of the people we are laying off, and they can do the same. (It's normal for construction industry personnel to work short-term projects and move around a lot.) Also, anything else that can help reduce our unemployment claims. (We have very low turnover for regular positions; it's just the project work.)

- Finding ways to make the transition to paperless go more quickly. We are currently scanning in all new employee files and have been for the last couple of years, but we have tons of older files to get scanned in.

Please comment if you have any suggestions to give me in any of these areas. I can use all the help I can get.

Welcome

2008-01-14T09:53:00.000-06:00

Hello,

Welcome to the HR in Industrial Construction Blog. I came across some fun and informative HR blogs, and thought it would be a great idea to start my own blog. I've been in HR/Recruiting for over 7 years, but I just started in the construction industry last month. I find that commercial and residential construction are big industries, but industrial construction is a fairly small niche. It's difficult to find candidates with a lot of experience specifically in industrial construction. Examples of industrial construction are refineries and chemical plants. That reminds me- I should mention that I am in Houston, Texas. I've found it difficult to find training or a seminar that's an overview of construction for administrative people like me; all the construction training I've found is specific technical training. It's a very interesting industry though, and I'm very much looking forward to learning more about it.

Here are a couple of other HR Blogs to check out:

The most recent HR Carnival is posted on Ask A Manager:

http://askamanager.blogspot.com/2008/01/carnival-of-hr.html

This is a very fun HR blog:

http://www.hrwench.blogspot.com/

Enjoy.

Thanks for visiting my blog, and I'd love to hear any comments that you have.