Twelve project managers and site supervisors in ten months.
A construction group, Ontario
Two role families that decide whether a project lands on time and on budget, recruited against the group's own delivery record at a 5:1 submission-to-hire ratio.
- 12placements in ten months
- 5:1submissions per hire
- 2role families: project management, site supervision
Construction project delivery depends on a small number of people: the project manager who owns the timeline and the budget, and the site supervisor who runs the day. When either seat is weak, the project shows it within weeks.
The group needed experienced project managers and site supervisors who could coordinate site activity, hold schedules and budgets, and keep operations efficient, at a pace that matched its project pipeline.
We ran a targeted search for the two role families, screening every candidate against the kind of construction the group delivers, the size of project they had actually run, their record on schedule and budget, and how they lead a site.
Shortlists were short on purpose. The group interviewed people who had done the job at the right scale, not people with the right title.
The parts of the method that did the work.
- 01
Screen for the project, not the title
Project manager means something different on a $5 million fit-out and a $50 million build. We asked which, and checked.
- 02
Schedule and budget ownership, verified
What slipped, what they did about it, who signed off. References with the owner or the general contractor, not a colleague.
- 03
Site leadership in practice
How they run a morning, handle a subtrade that is behind, and keep safety from being paperwork.
- 04
Shortlists sized for busy people
Two or three per role. A hiring manager who is also running projects does not have a week for interviews.
Twelve positions filled over ten months at a 5:1 submission-to-hire ratio, across project management and site supervision.
A focused search that delivered relevant candidates and kept the group's project delivery staffed as its pipeline grew.
- Project Managers
- Site Supervisors
If you are hiring for roles like these.
- Hire for the project size you runExperience transfers within a scale, not across it. Say the number in the brief.
- Reference the delivery, not the personA call with the client or the GC on their last project tells you more than three colleagues will.
- Hire supervisors ahead of the peakA site supervisor hired in the mobilization week is already behind. Start when the project is awarded.
- Use 5:1 as a benchmarkIf you are interviewing ten people to hire one, the screen is happening in your calendar instead of before it.
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