FULCRUM CONSTRUCTION AND CONSTRUCTREACH:
A Partnership that Helps Position for the Future
The Situation
When Mike Arasin, the CEO and Founder of Fulcrum Construction, a retail commercial contracting company, heard that their longtime client, Target, was teaming up with an organization to attract young, diverse talent to the construction industry, he was immediately interested.
“As anyone in construction knows, the industry is facing a shortage of young, qualified talent—and we have been lacking in diversity for decades,” he said. “ConstructReach intrigued me because although there are many organizations and associations attempting to solve these problems, ConstructReach is the only one uniting all the stakeholders in the discussion and implementation of solutions.”
As a workforce development company and social enterprise, ConstructReach increases the visibility of the construction industry by educating students about career opportunities within construction, connecting general contractors to interns and innovative internship curricula, creating content and experiences to expose a diverse population to sustainable construction careers, and uniting stakeholders to ensure the construction industry continues to thrive.
The Challenges
Arasin knew his internship program was lacking and wasn’t serving to produce a pipeline of primed candidates for Fulcrum or the industry at large. In addition, he knew they needed to have a consistent presence in front of area youth so they could be educated about construction and Fulcrum—and consider the company as a potential employer.
“As a medium-sized company, I knew we needed to do something to make our internship stand out to compete with larger contractors,” he said.
When he joined ConstructReach, he immediately gained access to a variety of services, one of which was an internship program evaluation and overhaul.
The Solution
“Before our internship program was siloed,” shared Arasin. “We had internship experiences in the field or in the office—two tracks. ConstructReach helped us realize that we needed an integrated, holistic program to attract young talent.”
As part of the new internship curriculum, Fulcrum interns are now exposed to all parts of the business—from accounting to project management to wearing a hard hat in the field.
In addition, as part of Fulcrum’s ConstructReach membership, Arasin receives access to the ConstructReach social network where he can interact directly with educators and their high school students who are interested in construction. He is also able to participate in and connect with students and guidance counselors at “I built this!” events produced by ConstructReach.
The Results
“ConstructReach has helped solve some of our most pressing recruitment challenges,” said Arasin. “Our internship program is in-demand and producing great candidates, one of which we have hired full time. In addition, ConstructReach provides opportunities for Fulcrum Construction to be positioned as a thought and industry leader in front of students, educators, and top brands.”
Arasin describes it as a partnership that brings peace of mind.
“I now have a partner who is intimately involved in all aspects of the industry and is offering a variety of services and resources that I can leverage on behalf of my company,” he said. “I know they are going to help me keep my employee pipeline filled and will help ensure that our workforce will look vastly different in the future than it does now. We can lean on them as strategic thought partners as we navigate the ups and downs of the construction industry together.”
