Author Archives: Bridget Willard

About Bridget Willard

Bridget Willard is the Office Manager, Content Writer, and Social Media Manager for Riggins Construction & Management, Inc. CSLB 335720

#ConstChat Questions 8/20/15 Training

Hire Slowly — Fire Quickly #ConstChat Recap on Training

Construction Chat is a weekly chat on Thursday mornings at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time. If you’re free, we’d love you to join us.

Training Employees

We all get newbies. They may know our industry, but do they know how we work?

This chat was a bit more lively than even expected but the summary is this:

Hire right. Pair with Vet who knows culture and has outline of major points to learn. Rinse. Repeat.

Here are some highlights on training best practices.

  • “If the company vets the right candidates there are less bumps in the road… unless they’re necessary.” Jewett Construction
  • “Pairing a new employee w/an experienced one is a great way to provide orientation. Formal or informal.” The Ferri Group
  • “Don’t stop at one, pair them with as many as you can throughout the training.” Construction Data
  • “Also, assign mentors who can work more in-depth with the new individual from a culture perspective.” Zircon Tool Pro 
  • “I think shadowing is effective. Better than a video or “reading” a program. They get a real feel of company culture.” The Ferri Group
  • “And having someone patient that’s going to take the time to make sure that you get whatever it is and that it sticks is HUGE.” Fabuwood Cabinetry
  • “The best training is probably tailored to the trainee’s learning style.” Construction Data 
  • “Depending on the position we set up several training sessions teaching them about our products and procedures.” Hager Co
  • “There are 2 distinct sides: Job Tasks and the Culture. Likely not the same person would intro the newbie to both.” CGI Container Sales
  • “A company should always take time to train a new ‘ee, even when they’re experienced in the industry. Good way to ID bad habits.” The Ferri Group
  • “We also have a ‘customer is always right’ viewpoint, so there’s that training, too.” Window Works CA
  • “I think it’s important to make new hires aware of exactly what their role/responsibilities are & what goals you have for them.” Jorg Material Handling
  • “I think that on the job training is great because there are things that you just can’t/don’t learn in school.” Fabuwood Cabinetry 
  • “Particularly with safety, we have our own training course, a manual, guide, etc.” General Heating
  • “Cross-function training is great so employees get a feel for what everyone else does.” Construction Data
  • “Have a written training program for consistency, don’t just fly by the seat of your pants.” Construction Data
  • “Draw up a formal training plan to make sure its all covered. Include human element. Make it engaging.” Feeney, Inc.
  • “Constant continued learning is absolutely critical but a training guide can help in the early parts of the learning process.” Capital Tristate 
  • “Training should be on-going. We all want to get better and better. Never rest!” Feeney, Inc.
  • “Stay consistent, and check in to ensure employee is happy.” Fabuwood Cabinetry 
  • “If you need help with new hire training, ask your workers comp carrier or ins broker, they often have great resources.” The Ferri Group

What is your advice for training new hires?

 

 

#ConstChat Questions 8/20/15 Training

Employee Training – #ConstChat Questions 8/20/15

Are you in construction? Do you want to build up your following? Are you looking to connect with the Architectural, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) community?

You’re in luck!

Joining our weekly Twitter Chat may just be the right thing for you.

Construction Chat is on Thursday mornings at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time.

How to Join a Chat:

1. Follow the hashtag on Twitter (but don’t forget to add #ConstChat manually after your tweet or we won’t see your tweet).

2. Use Hootsuite or TweetDeck and make a column for #ConstChat (but don’t forget to put #ConstChat manually after your tweet).

3. Go to the Twubs page for #ConstChat.

4. My preferred method is using TweetChat. Just go here and log in with your Twitter account. You can even highlight the moderator so you don’t miss questions.

Training Employees

We all get newbies. They may know our industry, but do they know how we work?

Q1 What is the best method to train a new employee? Continue reading

Blogging - #ConstChat Topic 8/13/15 Co-Hosted by Tess Wittler

Blogging, Co-Schedule, Trello, Oh My! #ConstChat Recap

Construction Chat is a weekly chat on Thursday mornings at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time. If you’re free, we’d love you to join us.

Blogging for Contractors

Today’s chat topic and questions are from Tess Wittler, a regular chat participant, and blogging for contractors expert. Check out her 52 Ideas post.

But first, some of her tips.

  • Construction is so visual – photo blogs or vlogs with bullet points.
  • I started using a few weeks ago and love it! CoSchedule has analytics, “drip” posting, and a content calendar all built into it, and is also a WordPress plugin if you want it. CoSchedule – you need to pay for it, BUT totally is worth the cost, IMO.
  • I use Trello to gather my blogging ideas. Trello connects with Google Docs (as does CoSchedule) so you always have one place to gather, write and post your blogs. Link to Trello .
  • Smart approach is to post a blog article and then “drip” it out to the social media over days.
  • This may be “old school” but I use Feedly to gather online pubs/blogs to browse.
  • Most people are VISUAL learners.
  • Learning preference of visual is why YouTube and photos on Facebook are so effective!
  • Re ROI – you can’t always measure tangilble in marketing efforts, but you know what’s working.
  • Sometimes we get so focused on sharing WORDS that we forget there are other ways to share content that’s interesting and helpful.
  • Can any of you line up a few “guest” blog writers? Perhaps suppliers or others in the company?

 

Questions:

Q1. Where do you find topics to write about?

Continue reading

Blogging - #ConstChat Topic 8/13/15 Co-Hosted by Tess Wittler

Blogging – #ConstChat Questions Co-Hosted by Tess Wittler 8/13/15

Are you in construction? Do you want to build up your following? Are you looking to connect with the Architectural, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) community?

You’re in luck!

Joining our weekly Twitter Chat may just be the right thing for you.

Construction Chat is on Thursday mornings at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time.

How to Join a Chat:

1. Follow the hashtag on Twitter (but don’t forget to add #ConstChat manually after your tweet or we won’t see your tweet).

2. Use Hootsuite or TweetDeck and make a column for #ConstChat (but don’t forget to put #ConstChat manually after your tweet).

3. Go to the Twubs page for #ConstChat.

4. My preferred method is using TweetChat. Just go here and log in with your Twitter account. You can even highlight the moderator so you don’t miss questions.

Blogging for Contractors

Today’s chat topic and questions are from Tess Wittler, a regular chat participant, and blogging for contractors expert. Check out her 52 Ideas post.

Questions:

Q1. Where do you find topics to write about?

Q2. How often do you post a new article to your blog?

Q3. What’s your biggest hang-up to blogging?

Q4. What kind of Return on Investment (ROI) do you see from blogging?

Q5. Have you tried using other content in your blog, such as videos, info-graphics, audio? If so, what?

Q6. How important will blogging be for your company in the next year and why?

Q7. When it comes to blogging, what do you want to know more about?

See you then!

Construction Chat - Content Curation 8/6/15

Curation Takes Time — #ConstChat Recap

Construction Chat is a weekly chat on Thursday mornings at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time. If you’re free, we’d love you to join us.

Content Curation

Today’s chat topic and questions are from Loni Morrey aka @MaterialHndling, a regular chat participant.

Bonus Tweets

 

Q1. How is content curation important to your marketing strategy?

Continue reading