Is Google discouraging construction careers?

Faced with a deluge of negative industry news headlines on Google, would any young person today willingly chose a career in demolition and construction?

I’d like to tell you a story. And that story begins in 1983.

I have just left college. I am clean-shaven – It would be another ten years or so before I was shaving daily. I have long hair (because this was the 1980s) and I have questionable taste in clothing and music (again, because this was the 1980s). Both the clothing and the music cost money. And I had a girlfriend too. So I needed cash. And besides, once I was out of full-time education, my dad was on my case on a daily basis urging, pleading and demanding that I get a job.

Things were very different back then. There were employment agencies, but they specialised either in construction work or secretarial roles. I wanted neither of these. So my search for gainful employment was much more hands-on; much more laborious; much more tiresome and monotonous.

It involved scouring the local newspaper for situations vacant; calling local businesses to offer my services; and - in my case - it involved writing more than 100 letters to companies about which I knew nothing, folding them, placing them into an envelope, and then walking to the nearest post box to send them off. And then waiting. There was a lot of waiting.

Out of the 100 plus letters I sent, I landed several interviews. One was with a construction company in North London which I considered too far away from home comforts. And another was with a contract furnishing company just two stops away on the train and not a million miles from where I had attended college.

Thankfully for me, that was the job I was offered and I gratefully accepted. I left about six months later because - well - the job wasn’t for me and I most certainly wasn’t for the job.

But that’s how things were done in my time. You worked largely blind. You had no idea how good a company was. In my case, I had no idea what my first employer even did until I attended the interview.

Things are different today. You have lots of online job boards, recruitment agents with their sparkly white teeth and excessive make-up. You have LinkedIn and, of course, you have the Internet.

In an instant, you can check out companies and industry sectors before you decide if that is the career path for you.

So yesterday afternoon, that is what I did. I did some role play. In my head, I imagined I was 18 again and desperate for a job, if only to get some peace from my father.

First off, I used my daughter’s computer as I didn’t want my Google history to influence the search results.

I started by searching randomly for UK construction and UK demolition. The results I got back were not good. Not good at all.

The first headlines all related to company insolvencies and economic difficulties impacting the sector. Dig a little deeper and there were headlines about accidents and site fatalities. Dig a little deeper still, and there was an array of headlines relating to fraud and corruption. It left me thinking. If I had done that same search with my mother or father sat beside me, I am sure they would have questioned my industry choice.

So I cleared all that and I started searching individual companies in both demolition and construction. Like any self-respecting 18-year old worth their salt, I used ChatGPT to compile a list of the Top 10 demolition firms and the Top 10 construction firms. And then I started searching Google based on those names.

If anything that made things worse, particularly in the sphere of demolition. Google doesn’t forget. And so, many of the search results for the companies in demolition’s Top 10 appeared alongside references to the CMA investigation into bid rigging that was concluded almost two years ago. Once again, I was left to ponder how I would explain to my parents my eagerness to work for a company that had been found guilty of large-scale collusion. There were also a couple of fatal accidents mentioned too - Hardly the kind of thing a protective parent wants for their precious offspring.

In absolute truth, the search results for the Top 10 construction companies weren’t much better. Although there were fewer mentions of both bid-rigging and fatal accidents, there were more headlines relating to companies in financial difficulties: profit warnings; late payments to suppliers; narrow margins; and losses made on specific projects. There was also a lot of recent headlines about issues with competence cards and the like, and the lack of women within the industry.

Back in 1983, none of this would have mattered. Myself and my fellow school and college leavers were working mostly blind. To be honest, we were just glad to get an interview.

In the 42 years since, I have learned a lot more about the demolition and construction sector. I have experienced the camaraderie and banter. I have been up close with some of the most impressive equipment in the entire world. I have met some amazing people and seen some truly incredible projects. I have seen friends rise through the ranks and to have well-paid and highly-rewarding jobs.

But I ONLY saw all those benefits once I was working within the sector.

And maybe that explains one of the many reasons the sector is struggling to attract young people. Looking at the sector from within, it is easy to see the good things. Yes, it is a rough, tough and demanding sector. But it can be well-paid and extremely rewarding.

Looking at the sector from the outside, however, I saw enough from my Google search to put me off the industry for life. I have a horrible feeling that young people doing the same search might feel likewise.