​Innovative Recruitment in Housing & Buildings: The Opportunities and Challenges

The Housing Today Good Employment Report has introduced some compelling ideas in its first chapter, Innovating in Recruitment Now. The report suggests ways to tackle skills shortages, improve diversity, and modernise hiring practices in the housing and buildings sector. While these proposals offer exciting opportunities, their practicality depends on how they are implemented. Recruiters have a key role to play in making these ideas a reality, ensuring they work for both employers and job seekers.

Broadening Talent Pools – A Step in the Right Direction

One of the report’s key recommendations is widening talent pools by recruiting from underrepresented groups and offering flexible working arrangements where possible. In a sector facing an ageing workforce and ongoing skills shortages, opening up hiring to a broader demographic is essential.

However, some roles in housing and construction are inherently location-based, making remote work or flexible arrangements more challenging. Therefore, employers may also need to adjust how roles are structured to accommodate different working styles.

Charlie Weeks, Lead Consultant in the Buildings team at Carrington West, highlights the potential of this approach but also the need for realistic expectations:

"The building sector’s talent shortage is a real issue, and widening recruitment strategies can certainly help. But flexibility needs to be meaningful, simply offering remote work in a sector where many jobs require on-site presence won’t solve the problem. Instead, we need to rethink how we attract and retain talent by creating more adaptable career pathways."

Recruiters can support employers by identifying where flexibility is possible, advising on job structuring, and helping businesses connect with untapped talent pools.

Inclusive Hiring Practices: How Can They Have a Lasting Impact?

The report also encourages inclusive hiring practices, such as:

• The Rooney Rule – ensuring at least one underrepresented candidate is interviewed for each role.

• Guaranteed Interview Schemes – offering interviews to candidates who meet minimum criteria.

• Anonymised Shortlisting – removing personal identifiers from applications to reduce unconscious bias.

These initiatives aim to create a fairer hiring process, but their success depends on how they are applied. For example, the Rooney Rule ensures diverse candidates are considered, but if there aren’t enough qualified individuals from underrepresented backgrounds in the hiring pipeline, the impact may be limited.

Declan Bacon, Team Leader for Property & Housing at Carrington West, highlights the importance of long-term investment in talent development:

"Inclusive hiring practices are a great step forward, but they need to be backed by real investment in training and development. If we don’t create stronger pathways into the industry through apprenticeships, mentoring, and upskilling, we risk missing the bigger picture."

Recruiters can help employers by providing diversity-focused hiring strategies, building stronger candidate pipelines, and supporting businesses in implementing inclusive recruitment practices effectively.

AI in Recruitment – A Helpful Tool but Not a Complete Solution

The report also explores how artificial intelligence (AI) could reduce bias in hiring by screening candidates based on skills alone, without considering gender, age, or background. AI can help streamline recruitment, but it is not without challenges.

For AI to be effective, it must be properly monitored to avoid replicating existing biases found in past hiring data. Additionally, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) may struggle to afford AI-driven hiring tools, limiting their ability to adopt these technologies.

Recruiters can bridge this gap by offering expertise in bias-free candidate selection, leveraging data-driven recruitment strategies, and helping SMEs access cost-effective hiring solutions.

What’s Next for Employers and Recruiters?

The Good Employment Report presents a strong case for modernising recruitment, but meaningful change will require collaboration between employers, recruiters, and industry bodies. To make these ideas work:

• Employers should explore how flexible working can be applied realistically within their organisation.

• Diversity efforts should be paired with long-term initiatives, such as skills development programmes, to ensure a lasting impact.

• AI recruitment tools must be used carefully to support fair hiring without reinforcing existing biases.

Recruiters have a vital role in helping businesses navigate these changes by providing guidance, talent strategies, and access to a wider range of candidates. By working together, employers and recruiters can turn these recommendations into practical, effective hiring solutions that benefit both the workforce and the industry as a whole.