It frustrates me that there isn’t enough of a focus put onto employment opportunities with subcontractors.ﾠ
In a way, it seems at times to be seen as the ﾑDark-side’ of the industry and the truth is that people just don’t have the best insight into the organisations that function in this space.
Yes, many subcontractors do face some notable challenges in comparison to their Main Contracting counterparts with ﾑSubbie Bashing’/withheld payments, thin margins or the poor uptake of new talent in our industry.
However, many of the subcontractors I’ve had the pleasure of working with stand apart from these false perceptions of subcontracting and mitigate these issues or provide unique advantages to job seekers over other organisations.
Now I should start off by saying that this is by no means a stab at main contractors, but the perception that they always offer better career opportunities has become too commonly accepted and without much question.
Ultimately, subcontracting has its challenges, but it also has plenty of unspoken, or overlooked advantages and we need to shed some more light on the organisations that will give subbies a great name.
Over the coming months, one of the themes I’ll be covering in my posts will be what I’m calling ﾑsubbie spotlight’.ﾠ My goal is to address some of the issues with how we perceive subcontracting, why some people fear it, and what we need to do to raise awareness that subcontracting can be a more attractive option for new talent and those already established in the construction industry.ﾠ
Let me know what you think! I want to hear from all sides; what do you like or dislike about working in subcontracting v Main Contracting? Why do you think we struggle to attract more talent to this side of the industry? What do you think we should be doing about it?
Next up, I’ll be addressing some of the reasons I’ve heard thus far about why people fear working in subcontracting; are they well founded? Stay tunedﾅ
For more information about working with subcontractors contact me directly: scott.hallam@contractscotland.co.uk or call 01786 446651.ﾠ
