Recruiting & Retaining Talent Archives

Personality Assessment Tests: Infusing Objectivity & Insight Into A/E/C Firm Team Building

Deloitte reports that 80% of Fortune 500 companies use personality tests for a variety of reasons, including recruiting, career planning, leadership development and team building. The global consulting group adds that there are approximately 2,500 such tests on the market. In this issue of The Friedman File, we examine the experiences of two firms to consider how assessment tests can help A/E/C leaders more effectively hire, manage resources and promote employee success.

Seth Wilkinson, president of 140-person Wilkinson Ecological Design/Ecotone, says that his firm began using the Winslow Personality Test in 2014. “We were introduced to it by a third-party consultant, and we initially took it as a leadership team to understand each other’s personalities a little better,” says Wilkinson. “It resonated for many of us quite a bit, so we started using it more broadly. We now use it as part of our […]

By Rich Friedman|2024-08-06T13:04:19-04:00August 2024|Case Studies, Leadership, Recruiting & Retaining Talent|

Living the Dream: PAE Engineers’ HQ Embodies an Aspirational Vision

PAE Engineers enjoys a unique symbol of its brand identity – the company’s Portland headquarters office, which is the world’s first developer-driven Living Building. In this edition of The Friedman File, we look at how 375-person PAE Engineers achieved the multiple benefits of creating a sustainable, resilient and cost-effective speculative mixed-use building that serves as its main office, as well as an investment property, marketing jewel and beacon of the firm’s vision, mission, principles and values.

PAE’s Living Building Challenge

The PAE Living Building is a five-story, 58,000-square-foot mixed-use building located in a historic neighborhood in Portland. Designed to last 500 years, the comfortable, modern and functional structure uses far less energy, water, and material than comparable buildings of its size. The largest commercial urban Living Building in the world, it “demonstrates how the built environment can achieve the deep and immediate carbon emission reductions […]

By Rich Friedman|2024-02-05T20:01:23-05:00February 2024|Business Strategy, Case Studies, Marketing & Branding, Recruiting & Retaining Talent|

Your Secret BD Weapon: The Introvert

Can an introvert become comfortable with, contribute to and find happiness in business development? That’s the question we’re going to answer in this edition of The Friedman File.

Let me kill the suspense: the answer is yes, introverts can play an effective, satisfying part in your firm’s business development culture. This is a topic I address often in my work, including a recent webinar – “Business Development for Introverts” – that I presented last month as part of a series for ERP and CRM solutions provider Unanet.

Why Bother?

While business development may not come as naturally to an introvert as it does to an extrovert, the reality is that introverts are often more effective in the role. This can largely be because of their introverted tendencies, rather than in spite of them. Introverts are often subject experts with deep knowledge of how the firm’s services […]

By Rich Friedman|2022-09-09T14:21:07-04:00September 2022|Business Development, Leadership, Recruiting & Retaining Talent|

What’s Your Special Sauce?

In this issue of “The Friedman File”, I’ve asked Brand Strategist Nancy Jenner of D&CO (Carlisle, Massachusetts) (www.designandco.net) to discuss the importance of understanding and communicating your firm’s value and differentiators. Each year, I conduct hundreds of third-party interviews with my clients’ clients. In these interviews, I’m often told that my client looks/sounds/feels a lot like other AEC firms. Knowing your firm’s “special sauce” is more important now than ever—not just in business development, but also recruitment and retention. I look forward to your comments and questions at rich@friedmanpartners.com or 508-276-1101.

Understanding and leveraging your company’s unique assets and value to build awareness and engagement

When asked, most people can name a company or brand that feels distinctive and strong, one that seems particularly clear about what they do or sell. Large global corporations with long histories or huge marketing budgets might come […]

By Rich Friedman|2024-06-21T13:10:39-04:00June 2022|Business Development, Marketing & Branding, Recruiting & Retaining Talent|

Recruiting and Retaining Staff in a Candidates’ Market: One Firm’s Story

With nearly every A/E firm in existence desperate to add technical staff, a strategic approach to recruitment and retention can be the difference between winning and losing in the battle for talent. In this issue of The Friedman File, we examine how the Foth Companies, a 675-person, multidiscipline science and engineering company, has been able to keep its turnover percentage low and its hiring success rate high across its 28 locations.

Can an Interview Be “Enjoyable”?

Jobseekers will tell you that the interview process can be one of the most nerve-wracking experiences that a human can endure. According to employment consulting firm JDP, 93% of job candidates have experienced anxiety related to their interview.

And why wouldn’t they? Strangers firing questions at you that you may or may not be able to intelligently answer. Doubts swirling in your head. Is this the right fit for me? […]

By Rich Friedman|2022-04-12T13:15:34-04:00April 2022|Case Studies, Recruiting & Retaining Talent|

Lessons in Diversity, Equity & Inclusion: stories from the front lines

Even before much of the nation erupted into protest at the brutal death of George Floyd last May, social justice was on the minds and tongues of Americans to a degree unseen since the turbulent Sixties. For much of the past decade, in corporate boardrooms and small firms across the United States, leaders assessed and addressed their organization’s commitment to DEI – Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

In this issue of The Friedman File, we examine how socially conscious AEC firms are creating DEI initiatives that contribute to improvements in employee morale and overall financial and operational performance.

The Business Case for DEI

Whether driven by a grassroots effort among rank-and-file employees or a top-down strategy, even the most selfless pursuit of practices and policies that further the goal of DEI come with an undeniable incentive — businesses that embrace DEI perform better.

Global management consulting firm McKinsey […]

By Rich Friedman|2024-06-21T13:10:44-04:00February 2021|Business Strategy, Case Studies, Leadership, Recruiting & Retaining Talent|

Surprising truths about building a learning culture (one firm’s story)

The rate of change is moving at an increasing speed. Technology continues to change the way we design, build and run projects and our firms. In this issue of The Friedman File, we’re telling a story that we hope will inspire you to decide what kind of culture you want to build and be bold about going after it. It’s the story of how one firm has gone all-in on creating a culture of learning and innovation. They’re doing it in a way that is sometimes at odds with conventional wisdom— and growing a profitable business at the same time.

The big why: innovation + a growth mindset

Turner Fleischer (Toronto, Canada) (www.turnerfleischer.com), a 150-person architecture firm specializing in private-sector projects is determined to be on the forefront of technology and education. This is their strategic priority, and over the […]

By Rich Friedman|2024-06-21T13:10:51-04:00June 2019|Business Strategy, Case Studies, Leadership, Recruiting & Retaining Talent|

The one social media tool you must master

We’re switching gears with this issue of The Friedman File to address a question that often comes up during our training workshops and client engagements: What should we be doing with social media?

Many A/E/C and environmental firms remain skeptical about social media—and that skepticism can be well-founded. While some firms have jumped in with both feet and even mastered this area, too many are overwhelmed or simply not sure where, or even IF, to focus their efforts.

For most firms, creating a sustainable, realistic and effective social media strategy means starting small and mastering what we call Marketing 101 before moving on to more.

The social channel you need to master? LinkedIn.

Why Linked In?

LinkedIn has carved out a clear niche as the world’s largest social media platform for business. Starting out as a top recruiting tool, it quickly became the place to network. Now, with […]

By Rich Friedman|2024-06-21T13:04:09-04:00October 2018|Business Development, Business Strategy, Marketing & Branding, Recruiting & Retaining Talent|

How one firm took their values off the shelf and put them to work

Growing a firm comes with many challenges, but maintaining a strong company culture can be one of the more difficult. It’s also becoming more important as firms compete for the talent they need to meet their goals.

In this issue of The Friedman File, we go behind-the-scenes with 110-person Nitsch Engineering (Boston, MA), a fast-growing firm that is putting its values-based workplace culture at the center of its growth plans.

In the past 5 years, the firm has grown by 45% in staff size and revenues, moving from a successful one-office firm to a larger regional player. Along the way, they’ve prioritized building on the firm’s award-winning progressive culture to attract and retain high-performing employees.

“I wanted a way to measure our culture – I’m an engineer,” says Chairman and CEO Lisa Brothers, PE. “I wanted to define that culture and keep it intact as we […]

By Rich Friedman|2018-08-11T14:14:07-04:00August 2018|Business Strategy, Case Studies, Recruiting & Retaining Talent|

How one engineering firm is changing the world — and the workplace

The AEC and environmental consulting industries have long attracted people who are passionate about what they do and driven by a sense of mission. In all the years that we’ve been publishing The Friedman File, we’ve shared many successful strategies that are based in part in that dedication. It’s a large part of why this newsletter exists.

In this issue, we’re highlighting a firm— Mazzetti+GBA (San Francisco, CA)— that is taking that passion to another level. Over the past 5 years, this 200-person MEP engineering and technology consulting firm has integrated its commitment to create a better world into its business practices and firm-wide culture by becoming a Benefit Corporation.

Benefit Corporations blend the structure and tax liability of a C-Corporation with the mission ethos and transparent reporting of a non-profit organization. They’re relatively new and are few and far between in this industry. […]

By Rich Friedman|2018-02-23T10:40:40-05:00February 2018|Business Strategy, Case Studies, Recruiting & Retaining Talent|