For those looking at a career in construction, deploying internet infrastructure probably isn’t the first thing to come to mind. But the job openings in this area are booming.
During an industry event held this summer in Denver, Colorado, Primoris Construction — one employer currently hiring workers in the industry — touched base with us on what they look for in a candidate.
The advice boiled down to two simple tips: learn a bit about what's going on in the industry — and be willing to learn.
“I think being well informed of the market and the demands is really important,” Primoris’ Scott Connelly explained to us. “It's challenging talking to somebody about broadband construction and they're unaware of, you know, what the next few years of the market looks like and what we're trying to achieve there... so, being informed."
From a broad-lens perspective, the market and achievements he references are primarily about the US’s current effort to close its digital divide.
Through the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program, billions of dollars are being funneled to the States to help build out networks in underserved and unconnected communities. But the country currently lacks at least 180,000 workers to make that happen. The deployment and maintenance sides of the industry are eager for more skilled tradespeople.
For that reason, “Willingness and desire to learn is always top of our list,” Connelly offered as a final tip.
“If you've got the willingness and desire, we’ll teach you everything there is to know about this,” he said. “We know it's a growing market, and so, trying to pull people from other markets to get that experience into broadband is, I think, really important.”
Like many sectors of the industry, adaptability and willingness to learn is high on the list of valued skills. Combined with the extreme need for workers, barriers to entry are continuing to look more and more like a limbo stick.
“Get involved,” beckoned Connelly. “It’s technically less challenging than a lot of other areas of construction.” And skills from other areas can easily translate.
“If you can dig a ditch and put pipe in the ground, you can definitely work in broadband,” he said.
But just because it’s a simple road to entry, doesn’t mean the job won’t have any direction beyond digging trenches. As Connelly explained, along with competitive wages, Primoris provides career mapping and advancement opportunities.
“So, we give people a good roadmap to get you from getting you in the door — and in a lot of cases that [means] shovel in your hand, unskilled labor — to: what does it take to be an operator, a foreman, a project manager? And then we're able to back that up with the benefits of a large publicly traded company like Primoris,” he concluded.
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