Focus on Inclusionary Recruitment at Dragados George Hanible, National Contract Com- pliance DBE/EEO Officer for Dragados and formerly with Skanska, has been in the forefront of the push for progress in Black representation in the industry. “I’ve seen changes and we’ve had ups and downs over the last 30 years,” he noted. Moving towards a more inclusionary


recruitment process and getting away from the “check the box” mentality are essential steps to building a truly diverse and inclusive company in the construc- tion industry, Hanible said. Strategies that he has found most ef- fective include recruiting from colleges with a large Black population, having someone of color on the recruiting team, partnering with community-based orga- nizations like the Urban League or Black Chamber of Commerce, and even going into churches with a large Black population to post information on job opportunities. Visiting schools in communities where


Dragados is working to talk about projects and partnering with local youth author- ities and foster care programs to inform underrepresented, at-risk youth about the many opportunities in construction are other effective ways to recruit Black workers. “You really have to think outside the


box,” Hanible said. His advice to compa- nies looking to start the journey? “If you are a firm whose management is mostly Caucasian, it can be hard to start think- ing about how to recruit people of color. Work with organizations that can help you identify where the cache of talent is. Ten put together an internal program with an inclusionary component, and make it part of your culture.” Once Black employees are hired, it is


critical to ensure there is a clear path for advancement, Hanible added. “We don’t just want to count numbers,” he said. “It’s


10


CALIFORNIA CONSTRUCTOR JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022


“We don’t just want to count numbers. It’s getting qualified


people but them giving people the opportunities to advance in our industry.” – George Hanible


getting qualified people but them giving people the opportunities to advance in our industry.”


OE3 Coordinator on Recruiting Blacks into the Trades Some of those same recruitment strategies have also proven successful for Meg-Anne Pryor, Coordinator for the California Operating Engineers Journeymen and Apprentice Training Center (OE3 JATC) near Sacramento. Her efforts to help boost Black enrollment and representation in the union’s pre-apprenticeship and ap- prenticeship training programs focuses on outreach at every level. “It’s going into the schools, doing ca-


reer fairs, giving out business cards, and working with individuals to give them the tools” to navigate the process, she noted. Pryor decided to enter the construc- tion industry while in college. That’s when she heard about the pre-appren- ticeship program, CityBuild, which offers an 18-month program that introduces trainees to the trades. After completing the program and working a brief stint as a Laborer, she pivoted to the Operating


Engineers union, journeying out through their apprenticeship program. Pryor jumped at the opportunity to join OE3 a little over three years ago; she serves as the first female, Black appren- ticeship coordinator in the union’s history. Her boots-on-the-ground approach to recruitment often puts her in community meetings well past “typical” business hours or talking to at-risk minority youth in the San Francisco neighborhood in which she grew up. She is constantly looking for the next recruit and is eager to share the many rewarding career op- portunities construction offers. “A lot of people don’t know about


the trades or about construction, so it’s a real eye-opener for them to hear about it,” she said. Her pitch to young students: “I al-


ways tell them if I can do it, you can do it. Don’t pigeonhole yourself by going to college to get a degree and take out $100,000 in loans that you are digging yourself out of for years. You can go into our apprenticeship program and make $100,000 a year and you don’t have to pay back to anyone.”


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