By April Drew

IRISH construction workers will no longer have to worry where their next job will come from. Construction-project.com, a new website created to act as a recruitment site specifically for the construction industry, has the answer.

“All you have to do is register with the site, fill out a profile and wait for an employer to contact you,” said brainchild behind the website, John Gianino.

Riding the wave of a steady construction boom in New York, Gianino, who co-owns a construction company with his brother Matt, felt it was time to create a website that explicitly targeted construction workers and the contractors seeking to hire them.

The young entrepreneur, 28 told the Irish Voice on Monday the idea came from a business venture with his brother. They found in their construction business they were always short a pool of construction workers for single day tasks.

“It is really hard to find a construction worker especially because the city is so big and there is a lot of construction going on, so we came up with the idea of setting up a website specifically targeted at construction workers to locate the available ones,” he said.

The website, which can be described as the Myspace for construction workers, allows a worker to post their profile on the site and potential employers to view it. The profile outlines what your skills are, where you’re located and how much money you charge per hour.

“This kind of system works great for employers who want to hire a sub contractor or laborer with particular skills,” said Gianino.

In addition, the creators will soon be attaching a country flag to each profile to inform the possible employers what nationality the construction worker is.

“For example some contractors might prefer to hire an Irish or Polish guy because most of his team are already Irish or Polish,” he explained.

So how does it work? Well, according to Gianino, the website is geo coded so once a contractor logs on the site automatically knows what city they are located in. It will then provide details of how many people are available in that specific city.

The contractor may then view all the profiles of the workers in that area. The search can be refined by the specific skill required. Once a suitable person is selected, the contractor can contact then directly.

The dynamism between construction workers and the website soon became transparent. Only eight months after its creation, the site has thousands of people registered and is viewed daily by 5,000 or more people, according to Gianino.

Similar to Craig’s list the website does not charge to post a profile or an advert. Gianino said the site makes it’s money from the sale of banner space.

Irish people who wish to come to the U.S. to work in the construction industry can also avail of this site, said Gianino. The website, which was initially tagged for the New York construction market has now spread nationwide and is recently being used by people living abroad.

“I would eventually like to see a construction network set-up across the globe so when people plan to come to the U.S. to work they have an opportunity to line up a job before they arrive,” he said.

Whether an employer is seeking a mason, a carpenter or a plumber, all trades are available on this comprehensive site including construction designers and glass workers. Gianino said the website is one of a kind.

“The approach we use is that we never screen the contractors. It is up to them who they want to hire with whatever level of skills and licenses,” he added, saying that the homeowner and the developer are not involved in the selecting process.

“It’s really about the contractor finding his crew.”

To find out more about the site log onto www.construction-project.com.