The construction on this historic landmark structure began in 1933. After four years of incredibly hard work, The Golden Gate Bridge officially opened for traffic in 1937.
Ready for some trivia?
Q: How long did it take to complete the painting on the bridge?
A: They’ve never stopped painting it. A maintenance crew is always at work applying special high-tech paint where needed, and somewhere on the bridge it’s always needed.
That means painters on the Golden Gate Bridge will never see the day when they can put away their brushes and scream, “Finally! This job is done!”
In this severely labor-challenged economy, business owners, leaders, managers, and supervisors have a lot in common with bay area bridge painters.
For employers, there is no touchdown happy dance in the foreseeable future when they will be able to spike the ball and jubilantly yell, “YAHOO! All our positions are finally filled so now we can stop recruiting!”
Just like a championship football team or a special ops military unit, a triumphant victory on your front lines today can easily turn in to a crushing defeat tomorrow if you’re suddenly forced to rely on a skeleton crew of disengaged and/or untrained workers.
The key to sustainable growth hinges on your ability to keep your pipeline full of qualified applicants who are eager to join your team, even when you’re not desperate for help.
The lofty goal of being fully staffed in this post-pandemic labor market requires two actions;
1. Your business must strive to have a reputation for a workplace culture that is superior to your competitors so the workers who have the skills you’re looking for come looking for you.
However, maintaining a strong reputation as the employer-of-choice in your industry is not enough to assure that a sufficient quantity and quality of applicants come knocking on your door. Therefore…
2. You must also be relentless in recruiting the right job seekers from the mutually beneficial connections you forge within the schools and colleges, churches, retirement centers, military establishments, government workforce centers, work-release programs, etc. in your community.
In this horrendous post-pandemic hiring climate, failing to be vigilant on either of these two fronts will erode any bridge your business is building towards its goal of becoming and remaining FULLY STAFFED.
