7 Ways to Attract Gen Z to the Construction Industry

In 2018 the worry was that millennials were not coming into construction. Millennials are now in their thirties and forties, and many of them run projects. The people you are trying to hire at the entry level today are Gen Z. Deloitte defines that group as born between January 1995 and December 2006, so the oldest of them are already in their early thirties.

The problem has not gone away. In the BLS 2025 averages, workers aged 20 to 24 are about 8.6% of the 12.1 million people employed in construction, and the median age in the industry is 42.2. Workers 55 and older make up roughly 22%.

There is some movement on the interest side. An April 2026 NAHB survey of adults aged 18 to 25 found 6% interested in a construction trades career, double the 3% in the earlier study. That is still a small share, which means firms that recruit well have room to stand out. The seven ideas below are aimed at the people you are hiring now. For the wider hiring picture, see our post on the construction talent shortage.

1. Lead with pay, and show where it goes

Of the young adults in the NAHB survey who were interested in the trades, 73% said they would choose that path for the pay. Among undecided respondents, 30% said they would take a second look at the trades if compensation were high enough, up from 18% in the earlier survey. Deloitte found that 48% of Gen Zs say they do not feel financially secure.

So put numbers in your postings. Publish a range for each role, not "competitive." Then show the next two or three steps. A field engineer who can see the route to project engineer, assistant project manager and project manager has something concrete to weigh. BLS puts the median pay for construction managers at $114,990 (May 2025), which is a useful number to have in front of a 22-year-old who has only seen starting wages.

Benefits count too: health coverage, paid time off, and parental leave. Say what you offer plainly on the careers page and in the posting.

2. Be specific about flexibility

Deloitte's survey reports that Gen Zs cite work/life balance as the top reason for choosing their current employer. A job site can't go remote, but many things around the job can change.

• Post the schedule. Tell people the normal start time, how often overtime is expected, and how much notice they get.
• Offer compressed weeks or a rotating Friday off where the work allows it.
• Let office roles (estimating, coordination, document control, preconstruction) work from home some days.
• Treat time off for family and health as a normal request, not a favor.

You will not match what a software company offers, so don't try. A predictable schedule you actually keep is a real advantage over the shops that run everyone ragged.

3. Train people and map the advancement path

Deloitte lists learning and development among Gen Z's top three reasons for choosing an employer. About half of Gen Zs say they want their managers to teach and mentor them, but only 36% say that is happening.

Construction can answer that better than most industries because the knowledge is concentrated in people who are within a decade of retiring. Assign every new hire a named mentor on a real project. Give them a written 12-month plan with milestones: certifications, software, site rotations. Pay for the credentials. Our post on building a mentorship program covers how to set that up. AGC's 2026 survey found 36% of firms started or increased spending on training and professional development in the past year, so some of your competitors are already doing this.

A 12-month plan for a field engineer might look like this: weeks one to four on safety orientation, reading the drawings and learning the project documents; months two to four on submittals and RFIs under a project engineer; months five to eight on quantity takeoffs, daily reports and subcontractor coordination; months nine to twelve on running a weekly coordination meeting with the superintendent watching. Each phase ends with a short review with the mentor, so progress is visible to both of you.

Advertise the progression too. Name the people in your firm who started as laborers, interns or field engineers and now run projects or divisions. Use real names and roles with their consent.

4. Make your online presence match the company

Candidates look you up before they apply. They read your website, your Google and Glassdoor reviews, and your project photos. AGC's survey found 49% of firms added or expanded online recruiting, including social media and targeted digital ads.

At minimum:

• A careers page that loads fast on a phone and lets someone apply in a few minutes.
• Job descriptions with the pay range, daily duties and required credentials.
• Photos and short write-ups of current projects, with the crews in them.
• Someone who answers applicants within a few days.

A site that looks abandoned tells a 23-year-old that the company is too.

5. Use current technology and say so

Gen Z grew up with phones and apps, and construction software has caught up. Digital plan sets, field reporting apps, drone surveys, scheduling tools and BIM coordination are common now on larger projects. Deloitte found that 74% of Gen Zs expect generative AI to affect how they work within the next year, and 29% already use it all or most of the time.

You do not need every tool. Pick the ones that remove the worst paperwork, such as paper timesheets, redlined drawings that get lost, and manual punch lists. Mention them in the posting and in interviews. If a new hire's first week involves a binder and a fax, they will notice.

6. Talk about safety directly

Construction is physically demanding, and the numbers are not small. BLS recorded 1,032 fatal injuries among construction and extraction workers in 2024, 370 of them from falls, slips and trips. Young people know this, and so do their parents.

Don't skip the subject. Explain your safety program (our post on improving construction safety lists what strong programs include): orientation for new hires, who has stop-work authority, how near-misses get reported, what PPE and fall protection you supply. If you have gone a long stretch without a lost-time injury, say how long. Say how new workers are supervised in their first weeks.

7. Start before they are job hunting

Most 18-year-olds have not seriously considered construction. In the NAHB survey, 65% of young adults said they know what field they want to enter, down from 74% a decade earlier. Fewer settled plans leave more room for a good pitch.

Reach them early. AGC found 48% of firms increased engagement with high school, college or career and technical education programs. What works in practice:

• Offer paid summer internships, not unpaid shadowing.
• Send a project engineer or superintendent to speak at a career and technical program and at a construction management program.
• Host a site tour. Seeing a building take shape does more than any slide deck.
• Tell the story of people who came in at the bottom and moved to executive roles.

For college students, point toward construction management and engineering degrees. BLS lists a bachelor's degree as the typical entry requirement for construction managers.

Where executive search fits

Everything above builds a pipeline for entry and mid-level roles, and it pays off over years. If you need a project executive, superintendent or operations leader now, that is a different search. The S.R. Clarke Group has recruited construction and infrastructure leaders for 47 years.

Hiring firms can start at /employers; candidates can look at /career-seekers.