Actalent’s Local Expertise Delivers Numerous Construction Inspectors in Record Time

The Client

A U.S.-based engineering consultancy that specializes in water, environmental, transportation, energy and facilities projects.

The Challenge

The client works with several water utilities to find and replace lead service lines across several municipalities. This effort required the client to enter thousands of individual customers’ homes to inspect, verify, or ultimately replace service lines. Some areas were challenging and required multilingual staff with knowledge of the community to perform engagement and outreach.

This client had originally brought on an environmental consultancy to help complete the community engagement and outreach, but that consultancy failed to retain local candidates and continued to miss delivery expectations. Our client needed a customized talent solution from an established vendor with deep knowledge of the local community. Enter Actalent.

The Actalent Solution

As a former partner of Actalent, the client recognized Actalent’s established network in the community and our ability to scale quickly to meet demand. The client needed a large number of construction inspectors with at least one year of field experience, OSHA 10 certification, and solid communication skills. Initial conversations with the client demonstrated that Actalent had a strong understanding of the project and could therefore pre-screen candidates for the desired qualifications.

After listening to our client’s needs, Actalent deployed an expert team of tenured, local recruiters who specialized in architecture, engineering and construction. Thanks to our long history in the area, Actalent was able to present quality candidates for interview within five business days of our client’s request.

The nature of this project posed additional challenges. As work on the project is impossible during rainstorms, Actalent offered a 50% higher pay rate for overtime and weekend shifts to encourage staff to work irregular hours in the event of a storm. Actalent also created an SOP procedure to ensure strong attendance, and we quantified KPIs for staff in advance so that everyone understood performance expectations going in. Once each month, we checked in with each member on the team to assess performance and garner feedback that we could use to improve the program.

The Results

Since the onset of this project, which is ongoing, Actalent has placed over 35 qualified construction inspectors, four of whom have become permanent employees of our client. Only three of these 35 employees were lost to attrition, with the remainder finishing the duration of their assignment successfully, leading to a stellar retention rate of 91% and several staff converting to full-time positions.

Lead service line replacements are not limited to specific localities; rather, these projects are a core part of the Biden administration’s national infrastructure agenda. Thanks to Actalent’s customized solution, our client has developed a reputation for completing these projects and even won opportunities to complete similar projects in other cities and states across the country. Fittingly, this client has also engaged Actalent to support many of these projects.

According to the client, “Actalent’s responsiveness and understanding of our project goals are the main reasons that we continue to turn to Actalent on these projects and as we work in new areas.” Our knowledge of this client and industry, combined with our vast recruiting network in all major regions of the United States, has made Actalent a valued workforce solutions partner for infrastructure projects of national importance.