How to Land a Career in Construction

Every October, NAHB and the residential construction industry celebrate Careers in Construction Month, a time to raise awareness of the rewarding opportunities available in the skilled trades. This article is part of a series highlighting the month.

The construction sector is a growing market, adding 11,000 jobs in September following a gain of 16,000 jobs in August. Residential construction employment stood at 3.3 million, including 923,000 workers employed by builder and remodelers, up 3,000 from the month prior. 

Two recent hires in the field are a pair of Kirkwood Community College graduates and NAHB Student Chapter standouts, Jonah Salow and Jade Heath, who were quickly scooped up by Rinderknecht Associates.

“It was apparent Jonah was someone we wanted to hang on to very quickly,” said Nic Plecker, chief estimator at Rinderknecht Asssociates. Jonah was originally hired as an intern in the estimating department. “Jonah is great at taking someone’s idea and turning it into a finished product that exceeds expectations. He really wants to learn and understand.”

John Baker, vice president of construction at Rinderknecht Associates, said Jade stood out from their first conversation.

“Jade is a very detail-oriented person, which is what you want in construction,” said Baker. “That stood out to me when we interviewed her.”

The Importance of NAHB’s Student Chapters

Rinderknecht Associates partners with Kirkwood’s Student Chapter each summer to help give students hands-on experience in the field, something that Baker insists is vital to students landing full-time employment.

“We see so many people who are coming out of school earn a great education and want to be an estimator or project manager,” he said, “but the field experience is so valuable in knowing how to do the job. It’s hard to estimate how to build concrete forms if you’ve never built concrete forms before.”

Although Jonah and Jade’s talents would’ve shined wherever they were, a career match was made easier because of their participation in NAHB’s Kirkwood Student Chapter and from Rinderknecht Associates’ commitment to supporting the program, including providing sponsored demos at school events and speaking in classrooms.

Learn more about joining or starting an NAHB Student Chapter near you.

How Current Students Can Stand Out in the Hiring Process

Participation in NAHB's Student Chapters provides great exposure to the industry, and staying sharp in the classroom and utilizing rapidly evolving online building tools are essential to landing full-time employment.

Baker encourages students to keep up with the latest trends in construction technology — including computer-aided design (CAD) software and Revit, a building information modeling platform.

“We need good, qualified craftsmen in the workforce,” said Baker. “A lot of our workforce is aging and retiring. We’re passionate about helping get excitement for the younger generations to get involved in construction. We like to paint the picture that there’s so many different avenues you can go into in construction; it’s not just general construction and framing.”

Learn more about some of the strongest skilled trades careers in residential construction.