The Importance of a Specialist Construction Recruitment Desk

At Maxim we endeavour to offer added value to our clients and a first rate experience for all of the candidates we deal with. One way in which we do this is by assigning consultants to a specialist niche desk within the construction sector.

Giving our consultants a specialist field to ply their trade, enables them to learn in-depth their particular area of the market, as they are speaking to and networking with relevant construction professionals throughout every day.

Benefits for Candidates
How often do you find yourself on the other end of a phone to a recruiter that appears to have little, if any, knowledge of what your job role actually involves and what a suitable matching job opportunity would actually look like? Maxim’s approach eliminates that frustration, as our consultants have an extensive knowledge of the niche sector they are covering – we are speaking to professionals like you on a daily basis.

It’s scary how often a candidate will be on the other end of a phone, or worse, sitting across the table, hearing about a role that bares little resemblance to their skills and qualifications. Our consultants value their time and reputation as much as yours. The term ‘screening’ to most recruiters relates solely to candidates. Wrong. At Maxim, we screen our clients in just as much depth; giving us the added insight to match an applicant to their relevant role. You’ll get the honesty from our consultants to be frank with you if you don’t suit a particular position.

Money.
A major motivating factor; yet not everybody’s favourite topic of discussion. Maxim’s consultants pride ourselves on the honest relationships we have with our clients and candidates; facilitating transparent and confidential conversations when it comes to the ‘M’ word. Does ‘they are paying the market rate for a Project Manager’, sound familiar? Quite frankly, there is no ‘market rate’. Your skills and experience, coupled with the employer, their budget and the scale of the project will determine the rate. Nothing is more frustrating for all parties involved than a contract falling at the final hurdle due to a recruiter not doing their homework, which could and should have been addressed in the ‘screening’ process.

Benefits for Clients
Inundated with CVs from recruiters who claim to be ‘solving’ your requirements by sending you candidates with the same title as your job profile? Been given the best roads guy on the market for that high-rise project you have? Having a dedicated desk gives us the direction and understanding to filter our searches, unveiling, more often than not, just the one or two candidates that fit your criteria. In reality, somebody who is covering the construction sector as a whole (or even multiple industries!) won’t have the knowledge or time to find these people. If there’s a needle to be found, then somebody searching solely in that haystack has the best chance of finding it.

The unpredictable nature of the construction sector, often influenced by the region you work in, can mean that employee churn can create sudden recruitment challenges and pressures. Our consultants monitor the market, keeping in regular contact with their pool of specialist niche candidates; so if a client comes to us with a requirement, there is no delay in sending them the most appropriate and readily available candidates out there because we are already in touch with most of them.

The Planning & Project Controls Desk at Maxim Recruitment
I run the specialist planning engineering and project controls desk for Dubai and the Middle East and my colleague Rita Chan covers planning recruitment in Hong Kong and Asia, and Adam Cadwaladr covers planners and claims consultants in the UK.

If you are an Planning Engineer who is looking for your next step on the career ladder, or a Planning Manager looking to source quality planners in your organisation, please get in touch with the relevant person to see how we can offer truly specialist recruitment help.

John Lee
Maxim Recruitment
Dubai & Middle East Region