Intel
Field notes from
the institutional bench.
Notes on how US construction firms hire preconstruction, cost and project management people, written for the person carrying the requisition.
Careers
The construction superintendent resume: one page of projects beats a paragraph of adjectives
A superintendent resume gets read for jobs, crews, schedule and safety. Here is what to put on each project line and what to cut.
Careers
Explaining a problem project in a construction interview: say the number, own the decision, name nobody
How to answer 'tell me about a job that went wrong': the loss in numbers, the decision that was yours, what you changed, and what stays confidential.
Hiring
The failing construction leadership hire: three causes at 90 days, and a different response to each
A new construction leader struggling at 90 days is a hiring error, an onboarding error or a brief error. Each needs a different response.
Hiring
Hiring construction leaders from another sector: what transfers, what does not, and how to test the gap
When your sector's local pool is thin, the adjacent-sector leader is often the best hire available. Here is what transfers and how to test the rest.
Careers
A late-career construction job search: tell the employer which of four things it is buying
Why a construction leader in the last ten working years is hired for different reasons, how to answer the five-year question, and where federal law stands.
Careers
A long tenure in a construction career: fifteen years at one contractor, read from across the table
Why fifteen years at one contractor draws a compliment and a doubt, how to show growth inside one employer, and the three exposures to check yourself.
Hiring
Outsourced construction estimating: what a takeoff service buys, and what bid day still needs
An outside estimating service buys quantity capacity. It does not buy the judgment that sets the number on bid day. Here is how to split the two.
Careers
Passed over for a construction promotion: the three things the decision can mean
What a missed promotion at a contractor is telling you, the questions that get a real answer in the first two weeks, and how long to wait before you look.
Hiring
The search firm off-limits policy: ask who they will not recruit from before you sign
Before you sign with a search firm, ask who it will not recruit from. The answer protects your people and tells you how much market it can reach.
Hiring
Timing a construction leadership search: the calendar that matters is the candidate's
A leadership search runs on the candidate's calendar: bonus dates, project milestones, bid seasons and school years. Start in the wrong month and you pay.
Hiring
Announcing a construction leadership change: who hears it first, and from whom
A confidential search can hold for ten weeks and leak at the announcement. The order in which people hear it is the last part of the search.
Careers
Becoming a general superintendent: the job where you stop building and start staffing
A general superintendent runs the field through other superintendents. What the seat demands, what you give up, and how the move usually happens.
Careers
The chief estimator career path: the chair goes to the estimator who stops estimating
What separates a senior estimator from a chief estimator, the experience that gets you the chair, and when moving firms is the faster route.
Careers
Construction job references when your employer does not know you are looking
Who to list when your boss cannot be asked, when a current-employer reference belongs in the process, and how to get ahead of off-list calls.
Careers
A confidential job search in construction: how to look without your subs knowing by Friday
Construction markets are small and word travels through subs and owners. How to run a job search while employed without your firm finding out.
Careers
The construction employment agreement: what a senior hire should have in writing before resigning
Offer letter or agreement, severance and its triggers, bonus terms, covenants and repayment clauses: what a senior construction hire should get in writing.
Careers
The construction estimator resume: the number you know about yourself and never write down
An estimator resume is screened on bid volume, delivery method, what you priced yourself and a hit rate with its denominator. Software is a footnote.
Hiring
Construction executive background checks: what each one verifies and what none can
What to verify before an offer to a construction leader, what federal law requires first, and the one resume claim no background check can test.
Hiring
The construction exit interview: what a departing project manager tells you about the seat
Most contractors ask a departing project manager why they are leaving. The useful question is what the seat does to whoever sits in it.
Hiring
Construction leadership titles: how to level a seat before you write the brief
A senior project manager at a $60M contractor and one at a $2B builder do different jobs. Level the seat by what it controls before the search starts.
Careers
The construction project manager resume: what you controlled matters more than what the job cost
A project manager resume is read for scope of control, not project value. What each project entry should say, and what to leave off the page.
Hiring
How long should a construction search shortlist be? Three calibrated candidates beat eight resumes
A long shortlist hands the screening back to the client. Here is how many candidates an estimator or project manager search should produce.
Compensation
The construction sign-on bonus: buying out the bonus your finalist would forfeit
When a finalist would forfeit a year-end bonus by moving, a sign-on payment usually costs less than the quarter you lose by waiting for it.
Careers
Estimator to project manager: you priced the job, now run the part you left out
Why contractors want a project manager who can price, what estimating does not teach about running work, and the bridge roles that get you there.