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From page 30... ... 30 Building a Qualified Workforce: Attracting Employees Due to changes in the transportation industry, including increased demand for constructing multi-modal transportation systems, adopting new technologies, and implementing resiliency plans, DOTs across the United States need to build workforces that include highly skilled employees in design, maintenance, and construction. To meet their changing workforce needs, DOTs must begin investing in innovative, wide-ranging recruitment strategies that target and attract new pools of potential employees. Read the entire page →
From page 31... ... Building a Qualied Workforce: Attracting Employees 31 Chapter Overview is chapter includes six detailed action plans, designed to help DOTs build a qualied workforce by attracting skilled employees. Each action plan describes one strategy and then includes one to three tools that may be used by DOT leaders to support the implementation of the strategy. Read the entire page →
From page 32... ... 32 Attracting, Retaining, and Developing the 2030 Transportation Workforce: Design, Construction, and Maintenance Action Plan Overview Partner with Educational Institutions to Market Jobs DOTs should form partnerships with educational institutions (e.g., vocational schools, high schools, colleges, and universities) to create a pipeline of talent experienced with new technological advancements (e.g., tablets) Read the entire page →
From page 33... ... Building a Qualied Workforce: Attracting Employees 33 Partner with Educational Institutions to Market Jobs Strategy Overview Partnerships with educational institutions can provide DOTs with pipelines of talent equipped to deal with the technological advancements and changing demands of the transportation industry. Partnerships may take on many forms, but the key to a successful partnership is the mutual goal of marketing transportation jobs such that potential applicants gain awareness of promising career opportunities in the industry and DOTs increase the available talent in their talent pool. Read the entire page →
From page 34... ... 34 Attracting, Retaining, and Developing the 2030 Transportation Workforce: Design, Construction, and Maintenance evolving workforce demands.1 This level of exposure to DOTs may also provide students with insight into transportation-related job opportunities they may otherwise be unaware of. Such partnerships can also promote recruitment and retention of younger staff by providing potential applicants a realistic glimpse of their future career experiences before employment. Read the entire page →
From page 35... ... Building a Qualied Workforce: Attracting Employees 35 • Host Practicums: DOTs may work with educational institutions to host practicums (i.e., programs that provide students who will soon enter the workforce with practical work experience in their field of study) Read the entire page →
From page 36... ... 36 Attracting, Retaining, and Developing the 2030 Transportation Workforce: Design, Construction, and Maintenance Im pl em en ta tio n St ep s 1. Determine which DOT personnel will manage and oversee the partnerships. Read the entire page →
From page 37... ... Building a Qualied Workforce: Attracting Employees 37 7. Determine DOT staff members who will participate in the partnership opportunity and what their role will be (e.g., supervising interns, mentoring participants, hosting field trips, developing curriculum materials) Read the entire page →
From page 38... ... 38 Attracting, Retaining, and Developing the 2030 Transportation Workforce: Design, Construction, and Maintenance Additional Resources The following resources provide additional information that may be useful when considering this strategy: • Baron, K Read the entire page →
From page 39... ... Building a Qualied Workforce: Attracting Employees 39 Tool: Example Education Partnership Plan for Educational Institutions and DOTs As DOTs form partnerships with educational institutions, they must establish guidelines to outline the expectations of the partnership. Partnering with educational institutions will help DOTs market jobs to potential applicants for employment and give students an idea of the types of careers that are possible at a DOT. Read the entire page →
From page 40... ... 40 Attracting, Retaining, and Developing the 2030 Transportation Workforce: Design, Construction, and Maintenance Description of the Partnership This section can be used to describe the intent of the partnership and what students and the educational organization could gain from participating. It will include the partnership goals and objectives as well as the activities the students will participate in during the partnership. Read the entire page →
From page 41... ... Building a Qualied Workforce: Attracting Employees 41 DOT Responsibilities Here, DOTs outline what they will be responsible for during the partnership process. Responsibilities may include providing support to students, being available for meetings, providing feedback on student deliverables, and providing qualitative and quantitative data. Read the entire page →
From page 42... ... 42 Attracting, Retaining, and Developing the 2030 Transportation Workforce: Design, Construction, and Maintenance Educational Institution Responsibilities In this section, the responsibilities of the educational institution should be documented. Educational institutions should participate in setting up the initial partnership with the DOT and agree on the logistics of the partnership as well as providing support to the students. Read the entire page →
From page 43... ... Building a Qualied Workforce: Attracting Employees 43 Strategy Overview A brand represents the way people perceive a company and impacts who will apply for open positions. By creating a brand that highlights the attractive employment opportunities DOTs offer employees (e.g., ability to work with emerging technologies, ability to make a positive impact on one's community) Read the entire page →
From page 44... ... 44 Attracting, Retaining, and Developing the 2030 Transportation Workforce: Design, Construction, and Maintenance Known and understood throughout the organization: All employees should know the brand and how it applies to their work. Known in the marketplace: To attract the right applicants, potential applicants need to know and understand the brand.3 To brand themselves, DOTs must consider their mission and vision to ensure the branding aligns with the organization. Read the entire page →
From page 45... ... Building a Qualied Workforce: Attracting Employees 45 Strategy in Practice A large urban transit agency needed to brand itself to attract entry-level employees. To accomplish this, the agency began to present working in transit as an opportunity for young professionals to make a significant contribution to their communities. Read the entire page →
From page 46... ... 46 Attracting, Retaining, and Developing the 2030 Transportation Workforce: Design, Construction, and Maintenance Implementation Plan and Guidance Target Audience Implementation Lead(s) Potential applicants. Read the entire page →
From page 47... ... Building a Qualied Workforce: Attracting Employees 47 Survey platform to assess applicants', potential applicants', and current employees' perceptions of the DOT (e.g., Qualtrics, Google Forms, Survey Monkey) Read the entire page →
From page 48... ... 48 Attracting, Retaining, and Developing the 2030 Transportation Workforce: Design, Construction, and Maintenance Additional Resources The following resources provide additional information that may be useful when considering this strategy: • Expert Panel, Forbes Human Resources Council. Read the entire page →
From page 49... ... Building a Qualied Workforce: Attracting Employees 49 Metrics to Measure Return on Investment or Strategy Effectiveness 1. Percentage of applicants who view the DOT as an exciting, meaningful, or attractive place to work – Branding DOTs to highlight their most attractive features should increase the percentage of people who view DOTs as exciting, meaningful, or attractive places to work that offer unique and desirable opportunities to employees. Read the entire page →
From page 50... ... 50 Attracting, Retaining, and Developing the 2030 Transportation Workforce: Design, Construction, and Maintenance Tool: Employer Branding Discussion Guide The Employer Branding Discussion Guide can be used to interview employees about what aspects of their experiences working within the DOT should be reflected in the employer brand. You may consider using some or all of these questions to determine the best ways to brand your organization. Read the entire page →
From page 51... ... Building a Qualied Workforce: Attracting Employees 51 2. What are some things that you enjoy about working at the DOT? Read the entire page →
From page 52... ... 52 Attracting, Retaining, and Developing the 2030 Transportation Workforce: Design, Construction, and Maintenance Tool: Mission and Vision Worksheet When developing a brand for your DOT, ensuring you have a clear understanding of the mission, vision, and goals of the organization is important so that these can be clearly articulated and incorporated into the new brand. Additionally, understanding your current strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) Read the entire page →
From page 53... ... Building a Qualied Workforce: Attracting Employees 53 Tool: Ideal Candidate Persona Worksheet To create a brand that will appeal to specific types of applicants, consider who the ideal future employees of your organization will be. This worksheet can be used to help determine some of the ideal applicant/future employee characteristics to ensure that your brand will resonate with them. Read the entire page →
From page 54... ... 54 Attracting, Retaining, and Developing the 2030 Transportation Workforce: Design, Construction, and Maintenance Use a Focused Social Media Presence to Engage Applicants Strategy Overview Social media platforms are frequently visited sources o or o or o o 's world. While many state DOTs utilize social media for information sharing, these efforts may not be targeted toward recruiting high-quality, new applicants. Read the entire page →
From page 55... ... Building a Qualied Workforce: Attracting Employees 55 7 Nhaissi, E Read the entire page →
From page 56... ... 56 Attracting, Retaining, and Developing the 2030 Transportation Workforce: Design, Construction, and Maintenance 9 Agius, A Read the entire page →
From page 57... ... Building a Qualied Workforce: Attracting Employees 57 Texas DOT posted a video on their Facebook page showing how their construction workers build road crossings to keep wildlife safe. This video shows the work of these employees and how they are helping the environment. Read the entire page →
From page 58... ... 58 Attracting, Retaining, and Developing the 2030 Transportation Workforce: Design, Construction, and Maintenance Implementation Plan and Guidance Target Audience Implementation Lead(s) Potential applicants to construction, design, and maintenance jobs. Read the entire page →
From page 59... ... Building a Qualied Workforce: Attracting Employees 59 Needed Support or Resources Access to visual materials to be shared (e.g., photographs, video, infographics) and repositories of resources. Read the entire page →
From page 60... ... 60 Attracting, Retaining, and Developing the 2030 Transportation Workforce: Design, Construction, and Maintenance Additional Resources The following resources provide additional information that may be useful when considering this strategy: • National Archives and Records Administration. Read the entire page →
From page 61... ... Building a Qualied Workforce: Attracting Employees 61 decreased by using social media to educate potential candidates about the company and the job itself. This information conveyed via social media helps to reduce the number of disinterested or unqualified candidates who might have otherwise applied without this information, and thus, could slow the overall hiring time line since the DOT would have processed candidates who are not a good fit. Read the entire page →
From page 62... ... 62 Attracting, Retaining, and Developing the 2030 Transportation Workforce: Design, Construction, and Maintenance Tool: Example Social Media Calendar Planning social media content is a valuable way to see the results of using social media; it ensures that there is advanced preparation to avoid a last-minute scramble that could result in lower-quality content. A social media calendar is created to organize and schedule the content you plan to post to various social media platforms. Read the entire page →
From page 63... ... Building a Qualied Workforce: Attracting Employees 63 Tool: Best Practices for Using Social Media Consider these tips and best practices when using social media to engage with applicants. Understand your audience. Read the entire page →
From page 64... ... 64 Attracting, Retaining, and Developing the 2030 Transportation Workforce: Design, Construction, and Maintenance Strategy Overview Members of groups underrepresented in the current transportation workforce (e.g., women, people with disabilities, people of color) offer often untapped, skilled talent that can fill the job gaps that may occur when the large number of current transportation workers who are near or at retirement age decide to retire. Read the entire page →
From page 65... ... Building a Qualied Workforce: Attracting Employees 65 college-educated labor force.10 The representation of people of color in the workforce is also increasing, with nearly half of the students at the undergraduate level being students of color.11 Many top companies have found that having a workforce that includes individuals from different ethnicities, cultural backgrounds, racial groups, and genders produce more creative, innovative, and improved performance and financial results.12 As such, enhancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in recruitment is key to building a strong, resilient workforce. Organizational recruitment involves three main phases, including (a) Read the entire page →
From page 66... ... 66 Attracting, Retaining, and Developing the 2030 Transportation Workforce: Design, Construction, and Maintenance available to participate as a representative of an underrepresented group, it may be an extra burden to have them participate in all the hiring panels.) Require hiring managers to use a standardized rating system when scoring applications and interviews. Read the entire page →
From page 67... ... Building a Qualied Workforce: Attracting Employees 67 Strategy in Practice Two examples that highlight different aspects of an equitable recruitment strategy: Medtronic, Inc., a global medical technology company, uses mentoring as a recruitment strategy to attract and retain a diverse workforce. They partner with national organizations such as the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, National Society of Black Engineers, and Society of Women Engineers to work with their employee resource groups to offer support and mentoring to current employees.14 The Vermont Department of Transportation (VDOT) Read the entire page →
From page 68... ... 68 Attracting, Retaining, and Developing the 2030 Transportation Workforce: Design, Construction, and Maintenance Implementation Plan and Guidance Target Audience Implementation Lead(s) Potential applicants who are members of underrepresented groups. Read the entire page →
From page 69... ... Building a Qualied Workforce: Attracting Employees 69 Im pl em en ta tio n St ep s 4. Based on the survey results, identify internal areas where changes or improvements can be made to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion in recruitment and hiring. Read the entire page →
From page 70... ... 70 Attracting, Retaining, and Developing the 2030 Transportation Workforce: Design, Construction, and Maintenance 6. Use survey findings and internal and external audits to identify topics for a diversity recruitment policy. Read the entire page →
From page 71... ... Building a Qualied Workforce: Attracting Employees 71 Additional Resources The following resources provide additional information that may be useful when considering this strategy: • Catalyst. Read the entire page →
From page 72... ... 72 Attracting, Retaining, and Developing the 2030 Transportation Workforce: Design, Construction, and Maintenance Metrics to Measure Return on Investment or Strategy Effectiveness 1. Number of members of underrepresented groups hired – If the purpose of adopting equitable recruitment practices is to attract members of underrepresented groups, measuring the number of new employees who identify as members of underrepresented groups after the policies have been implemented may be a key metric to measure success. Read the entire page →
From page 73... ... Building a Qualied Workforce: Attracting Employees 73 Tool: Recruitment Strategy Elements to Increase Diversity This tool provides elements that can be incorporated into a recruitment strategy to help increase the number of members of underrepresented groups who apply to open positions within DOTs and ultimately are hired. Create inclusive job descriptions and advertisements • Limit gendered wording (e.g., dominant) Read the entire page →
From page 74... ... 74 Attracting, Retaining, and Developing the 2030 Transportation Workforce: Design, Construction, and Maintenance Tool: Example Survey Items to Assess Perceptions of the DOT's Diversity Climate These types of survey questions are designed to help DOT leadership, managers, supervisors, and staff identify perceptions of the current diversity climate. This survey can highlight areas in which employees believe their organization has a very diverse and inclusive environment as well as areas where they can improve. Read the entire page →
From page 75... ... Building a Qualied Workforce: Attracting Employees 75 Workforce Culture 1. How satisfied are you with the overall DOT climate/environment that you have experienced over the past 6 months? Read the entire page →
From page 76... ... 76 Attracting, Retaining, and Developing the 2030 Transportation Workforce: Design, Construction, and Maintenance Strategy Overview Assessing an organization's policies and procedures and adjusting where current practices have the potential to result in the maltreatment of minority employees, should help improve a DOT's ability to recruit and retain underrepresented individuals. Ultimately, the goal of this type of assessment is to identify any anomalies that exist in the policies and procedures in place at DOTs that may prevent women and other marginalized groups from comfortably and equitably participating in the workforce. Read the entire page →
From page 77... ... Building a Qualied Workforce: Attracting Employees 77 interpretations. For example, promotion policies that use the term "may," such as, "managers may use interview panels when interviewing candidates for hire," provide managers with an opportunity to forgo this equitable practice, ultimately allowing their personal biases to impact hiring decisions. Read the entire page →
From page 78... ... 78 Attracting, Retaining, and Developing the 2030 Transportation Workforce: Design, Construction, and Maintenance Implementation Plan and Guidance Target Audience Implementation Lead(s) Current employees. Read the entire page →
From page 79... ... Building a Qualied Workforce: Attracting Employees 79 Needed Support or Resources Skilled and dedicated staffing -- staff who can develop surveys and focus groups, analyze quantitative and qualitative data, and are well-informed about EEOC recommendations and diversity, equity, and inclusion best practices -- for example, regulation specialists, diversity and inclusion subject matter experts. Access to existing data (if applicable) Read the entire page →
From page 80... ... 80 Attracting, Retaining, and Developing the 2030 Transportation Workforce: Design, Construction, and Maintenance Tools to Assess Workforce Policies to Ensure Support for Diversity and Inclusion Barrier Analysis Overview – Presents types of explicit and implicit barriers that may exist as obstacles to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Business Case for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion – Lists research findings that support the business case for diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. Read the entire page →
From page 81... ... Building a Qualied Workforce: Attracting Employees 81 Tool: Barrier Analysis Overview The following paper focuses on why diversity is important and how to conduct a barrier analysis. The language included in this overview may be adapted as needed and used to help convince DOT employees and managers of the importance and moral obligation of fostering workplace diversity. Read the entire page →
From page 82... ... 82 Attracting, Retaining, and Developing the 2030 Transportation Workforce: Design, Construction, and Maintenance movement, and recent civil rights laws protecting gay and transgender workers (to name a few) Read the entire page →
From page 83... ... Building a Qualied Workforce: Attracting Employees 83 Barriers can exist at all levels of the employee life cycle, from recruitment to advancement, and thus require a comprehensive analysis to identify where they exist. It is important to remember that the structure of an organization -- including policies, procedures, and appointed leadership -- is often the legacy of old, discriminatory institutions. Read the entire page →
From page 84... ... 84 Attracting, Retaining, and Developing the 2030 Transportation Workforce: Design, Construction, and Maintenance Tool: The Business Case for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion When gaining support for diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, it is important to ensure that there is support and buy-in from leaders across the organization. To gain this support, it can be helpful to present a business case that shows the benefit of diversity, equity, and inclusion and how these efforts will occur. Read the entire page →
From page 85... ... Building a Qualied Workforce: Attracting Employees 85 • Most cultural transformations require working with all ranks of employees to see meaningful change in the entire culture.39 • When change occurs too rapidly, management and organizations are unable to adapt quickly, and most cultural change efforts will fail in the process.40 39 Katzenbach, J Read the entire page →
From page 86... ... 86 Attracting, Retaining, and Developing the 2030 Transportation Workforce: Design, Construction, and Maintenance Strategy Overview To help fulfill their increasing need for workers with specialized skills, DOTs must create and revise their job descriptions and specifications to ensure they accurately represent open jobs. DOTs should create thorough job descriptions and specifications to recruit individuals for new jobs and review and possibly revise job descriptions and specifications for existing jobs. Read the entire page →
From page 87... ... Building a Qualied Workforce: Attracting Employees 87 specialized skills into existing jobs and garner large pools of qualified applicants because they describe the job well and remove requirements that may discourage competent individuals from applying. Stated another way, when the job description and specifications are accurate and comprehensive, applicant pools should include a greater number of qualified applicants (i.e., applicants who meet the minimum requirements for a job) Read the entire page →
From page 88... ... 88 Attracting, Retaining, and Developing the 2030 Transportation Workforce: Design, Construction, and Maintenance As new technologies are developed and implemented to improve the construction processes (e.g., tablets on job sites) , DOTs may consider updating the job specifications for construction workers to include competence using these types of technologies. Read the entire page →
From page 89... ... Building a Qualied Workforce: Attracting Employees 89 6. Conduct interviews or focus groups with job incumbents and SMEs to further refine the job duties, task list, and the list of KSAs. Read the entire page →
From page 90... ... 90 Attracting, Retaining, and Developing the 2030 Transportation Workforce: Design, Construction, and Maintenance Tools to Create and/or Revise Job Descriptions to Accurately Market Jobs Guide for Accessing and Navigating O* NET – Demonstrates how to access and navigate the O* Read the entire page →
From page 91... ... Building a Qualied Workforce: Attracting Employees 91 Tool: Guide for Accessing and Navigating O* NET Purpose and Overview After DOT managers and/or HR personnel determine the new jobs that will be created to better meet workforce needs and which jobs will need to have their specifications updated to garner a greater applicant pool, they will need to collect information about the job using a variety of methods, including searching for relevant information about the job on the Occupational Information Network (O* Read the entire page →
From page 92... ... 92 Attracting, Retaining, and Developing the 2030 Transportation Workforce: Design, Construction, and Maintenance Step 3: Review the Summary Report to discover the key tasks and KSAs. Click on the (+) Read the entire page →
From page 93... ... Building a Qualied Workforce: Attracting Employees 93 Tool: Form for Gathering Job-Related Information from Job Incumbents and SMEs Purpose and Overview After DOT managers and/or HR personnel determine the new jobs that will be created and which jobs will need to have their specifications updated, they need to collect information about the job so they may draft a list of the duties that need to be performed and the KSAs needed to perform those duties. One way the DOT managers and/or HR personnel may collect this data is by conducting interviews, focus groups with job incumbents or SMEs, and/or observing job incumbents. Read the entire page →
From page 94... ... 94 Attracting, Retaining, and Developing the 2030 Transportation Workforce: Design, Construction, and Maintenance List the specific areas of understanding of theories, concepts, and information required to successfully perform the major duties associated with this job. You may provide more or fewer knowledge areas than the spaces provided here. Read the entire page →
From page 95... ... Building a Qualied Workforce: Attracting Employees 95 Requirement (X) Level of Supervision Close Supervision – Incumbent is assigned duties according to specific procedures, and work is reviewed frequently. Read the entire page →
From page 96... ... 96 Attracting, Retaining, and Developing the 2030 Transportation Workforce: Design, Construction, and Maintenance Tool: Template for a Comprehensive Job Posting Purpose and Overview This tool provides an example job posting template that includes all pertinent information, including a comprehensive job description (i.e., list of duties) and job specifications (i.e., KSAs) Read the entire page →
From page 97... ... Building a Qualied Workforce: Attracting Employees 97 Job Specifications Knowledge List specific areas of understanding of theories, concepts, and information required to successfully perform the major duties associated with this job. You may provide more or fewer knowledge bases than the spaces provided here. Read the entire page →
From page 98... ... 98 Attracting, Retaining, and Developing the 2030 Transportation Workforce: Design, Construction, and Maintenance Department of Transportation (DOT) XYZ is looking for a highly skilled Transportation Engineer to join their energetic and collaborative engineering team. Read the entire page →
From page 99... ... Building a Qualied Workforce: Attracting Employees 99 Deductive Reasoning – The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense. Inductive Reasoning – The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events) Read the entire page →

From page 30...

... 30 Building a Qualified Workforce: Attracting Employees Due to changes in the transportation industry, including increased demand for constructing multi-modal transportation systems, adopting new technologies, and implementing resiliency plans, DOTs across the United States need to build workforces that include highly skilled employees in design, maintenance, and construction. To meet their changing workforce needs, DOTs must begin investing in innovative, wide-ranging recruitment strategies that target and attract new pools of potential employees.