Aaron Witt

Founder, BuildWitt

Shawna is a superstar in every regard!! We were lucky to find her and brought her on before we probably should've from a financial standpoint. We never questioned the decision. She was huge in helping us grow our business early on as we learned how to build a hiring process from scratch.

As we doubled in size and then again to about 75 full-time people, Shawna was there every step of the way, writing job descriptions, writing interview guidelines, training others how to interview, developing a system to screen for core attributes, and effectively communicating with all candidates. We were often flooded with applications and drinking out of a fire hose, but Shawna never asked questions—she kept moving. After we grew ourselves, she went on to help many of our customers do the same.

Construction companies desperately need better hiring practices to accommodate the next generation, and Shawna has the skills to make it happen. Unfortunately, we were a victim of our ambition and scaled back toward the end of 2022. Without the need for much hiring, we could no longer put Shawna's effort and knowledge to work. I recommend her to anyone serious about recruiting great people, hiring for more than resumes, and caring for people through the process. Not only is she great at her job, but she's a great human overall.

Dan Briscoe

CRO, BuildWitt

When we only had 6 people at BuildWitt and needed to hire 3 more, it was already worth it to invest in an ATS. We did get a great one for under $300, but I tried to do all the setup myself. I did OK and we made the hires, but I didn't set up a good candidate experience. We wound up upsetting hundreds of applicants.

Shawna came in, showed us where we were going wrong, and built a beautiful candidate experience in less than a few weeks. Seriously, we would not hire people and I would get the nicest thank you letters, from people we rejected, about how Shawna communicated during the whole experience.

Get an ATS and get Shawna to help with setup. And, if you already have one, hire Shawna to improve it.

Herb Sargent

Retired CEO / Board Chair, Sargent

Shawna provided us with a job posting and recruitment marketing guide. I wasn’t sure what to expect except to have high expectations, and she delivered on that. I was surprised to learn that the job posting and job description are (or should be) two different things. Our former postings were filled with legalese. I never liked that, and found it very refreshing to see how you can post a job like you're talking to a real person. Her blueprint is an excellent culmination of all the things Shawna has shared over the years. It's built BY a human FOR better human experiences. It's well-executed, and it leads well. Anyone who wants to continue to try to hire people, and wants the RIGHT people, less friction, and better support of the company's values, should have a look at how her guide could help. Because I KNOW it can.

Matthew Moser

Owner, Sunset Valley Construction

Shawna built us a top of the line hiring system built into a platform she recommended to us. It's seamless to use and simple to me, a person who isn’t the most technologically advanced!

The hiring system has saved us tons of time in our hiring process, but also proven to work after we got 79 applicants to a position where everyone thinks nobody is available.

She also helped bring out the best in our company and really poured her 20 years of hiring experience into it.

She also helped me as a super busy business owner be more disciplined to hire great people the proper way.

We have great people working for us that prove her work, and I highly recommend using her products and service!

Update: Since Shawna got involved with our hiring process about 18 months ago, we’ve hired 12 people. 

Only 1 out of those 12 have quit. We really struggled finding and retaining people that had values which aligned with our culture prior to her helping us build our disciplined hiring system.

And please note that bringing the disciplined side of the hiring process to us was one of the biggest parts. How many of us had/have a system, yet aren’t disciplined enough to use it?

We are finally working with 12 people that enjoy working together for a common vision, rather than people bringing their own agenda for SVC to work. If you know, you know. It’s real, and it’s not easy to remove from a company.

Hiring is unfortunately only one piece to the puzzle of business, however I’m grateful she helped us lock it down and helped us prioritize culture vs. skill set and experience. 

Benjamin Holmgren

Owner, Kestaa / Ground Crew Peer Groups

I got to watch Shawna in her element when we doubled the size of our team in ninety days, from 30 to over 60 people. She's not "a recruiter," just waiting to get a huge cut of the pie after placing a candidate. She helps you build systems to attract, hire, and onboard the kind of people you want on your team. The key difference? She builds the system that generates repeatable results.

She will teach you a whole new approach and mindset. She can see the gaps in your process and help you quickly fill them. Shawna is not in this business for a headhunting fee. She builds partnerships for the long term, because she truly cares about people. If you're trying to hire more qualified team members but your current results aren't cutting it, I highly recommend working with Shawna!

Jesse Gemberling-Johnson

Chief Talent Officer, MCFA

Eric Watson

Owner, Watson Excavating Inc.

Before working together, our hiring process was hit or miss. We tried radio, newspaper, and Indeed, but never had much luck. I needed help with hiring, and Shawna came highly recommended by several other contractors.

My biggest problem was time. I didn’t have enough to dedicate to everything, so being able to hand this over and have it built out was a huge help. Since joining, the process has been much more streamlined, and having a platform put together with candidates applying was an immediate improvement.

Before, we just had a brief description for job postings. Shawna helped pull out what we were really looking for and was able to describe it better than we were able to on our own.

I was surprised by how easy and effective the experience was, especially with building the platform. The inflow of local candidates who hadn’t applied prior to setting this up was unexpected and a big positive.

It was very easy to work through the process. I liked how we were able to work back and forth through the shared drive and constantly update the folders. The screening questions and the initial interviews were some of the most valuable parts of the work.

Long term, we now also have a general application that will continue to bring people to the company.

Justin Lischka

President, Lonnie Lischka Company

Before working together, our hiring relied on newspapers and word of mouth. We had a lack of applicants and no way to track anything. We needed to hire smarter, and Shawna’s credentials gave us confidence she could help us.

The ATS simply organized the process. Having a system in place and getting our ads distributed across different online platforms has made a big difference.

The job postings went from having no personalization to being awesome. The way the roles were written made them far more attractive. That was one of the most valuable parts of the work, along with getting the ads in front of more of the right people.

Working together was easy. Responsiveness, collaboration, knowledge, and overall ease of working together were all a 5 out of 5.

Long term, we expect this to lead to better hires overall and new team members who better align with the company’s culture and values. You do great work, keep it up!

Evan Gerber

Project Estimator / Assistant PM, Gerber Construction Inc

My experience with Shawna has been great! She is the only reason we now have an organized streamlined process for all hiring and onboarding.

After a short meeting, she has built a system that works well for us with little to no maintenance.

I appreciate her persistence, keeping me moving forward when HR items fell to the bottom of my list.

I highly recommend her! The ATS implementation has made our hiring process much more efficient, especially with the new method of onboarding union workers.

Matt Gillett

Owner, Gillett Excavating

I reached out to Shawna because I was writing job posts based on how I felt that day, interviewing on skills only, and didn’t really know what to look for. I wanted to build a system to solve all my hiring needs and make hiring easier.

Getting an ATS set up made the process easier right away. It helped sort and filter candidates before they even hit my desk.

The job postings were much more consistent and professional, and brought in more applicants than before. 

The interview guides are a work in progress. They help us screen for core values and behaviors, not just skills. They changed how candidates are evaluated and brought more structure and clarity to the interview process.

Working together was easy. Shawna worked on my schedule, which was important. She had a clear understanding of what I was looking for. And, she made any refinements as needed promptly, which was nice.

I expect we'll continue to get better candidates through the door instead of just hiring bodies.

Wally Adamchik

Owner, Firestarter Speaking & Consulting

Looking for 100 ideas to post on social media?

Here are 6 of them.

95. Can you share an “Ah-ha!” moment that changed how you view the workforce?
96. When it comes to your company, what are you most proud of?
97. Do you have an employee story you’d like to share (e.g. someone you’re particularly
proud of)?
98. Let’s talk about an elephant in the room. This industry faces challenges with
mental health. How are you addressing that?
99. What’s the funniest or most interesting thing you’ve seen on a job site?
100. Share any outtakes/blooper reels from the interview

Notice this is 95-100. Recruiting Guru Shawna Armstrong created the list and she can get you the other 95. 

You will NEVER be looking for content ideas again...and trust me, some of you NEED this...

your LOOK AT US and how great we are posts are getting pretty boring.....everyone has a backhoe, it isn't special!

If you want to attract people you need to be attractive, this list from Shawna will get you there.

Danny George

Vice President, Midwest Services Group

Shawna is Great! I meet her through a company she was previously working for, they were assisting us in some consulting. I could not be more happy with our setup and how helpful she really was with professionalizing our hiring process. I was very impressed with her after normal business hours effort as well. I think that is a key part of keeping in contact with candidates and getting the ones we want across the finish line. I could not say enough good things about her work ethic and skills. 

Kristi Anderson

Sr. Manager, Global Talent Acquisition at OffSec

I have had the honor of working with Shawna in multiple capacities; she was not only my direct supervisor, but she also later became my career counselor when I was looking for a new opportunity and industry change. Shawna was a supportive and effective leader, motivator, and supervisor. She’s able to motivate her team and instill a sense of purpose and esprit de corp, regardless of the situation. Beyond her leadership abilities, there is an innate skill for motivation and mentorship. She is able to tailor her leadership and mentorship abilities to any situation. As a supervisor, she’s willing to take the time to develop her subordinates and apply the skills she has acquired over her own career to that end.

Her career coaching and mentorship grew organically out of our working relationship. She guided me through a challenging career shift, supporting an industry with which she was not intimately familiar, and her career coaching was instrumental in my being selected for a new position at a higher salary, in a role that I had been searching for for years. As a career counselor/coach, she has a natural ability to ask the questions that make you think abstractly about what you are looking for in a career and a prospective employer. Without her coaching and guidance, I firmly believe I would not have ended up in my desired position with such an amazing company.

Later, she provided me with a job posting and recruitment marketing guide to help me solve some recruiting challenges. Having previously worked under Shawna and having learned a lot from her, I expected to find it filled with thoughtful ways to elevate the normal boring ways of attracting talent. It exceeded my expectations. Our job postings “get the job done,” but they’re basically job descriptions turned into postings. Reading the guide opened my eyes to the fact that we don’t do a great job with recruitment marketing. We already have a strong in-house marketing team doing great brand work, and my team can be doing more on social media platforms to engage people. I've started updating job postings and getting away from only posting the job description. I haven’t rolled everything out yet, but I expect to attract a different caliber of candidates. It's a must-have guide to recruitment marketing.

Colt McCarthy

CEO, Republic Drill Co.

In the past, most of the hiring burden fell on me as the president and owner. When we needed to add or replace employees, I felt overwhelmed knowing the capacity I would need to give up to help our team. I knew I needed to equip my team to participate in the process, but I didn't have much to pass on.

Shawna helped us build the foundation for our hiring and recruiting process and trained our team on how to execute it. It's still challenging to find the right candidate, but I know we are doing all the right things along the way as we work in our new documented process. In the end, our team has been equipped to lead the hiring process in their space. That is a huge win for us!

Marcus Beal

Safety & Maintenance Director, Dunigan Bros Inc.

The system Shawna set up for us is working well. It has really helped standardize and simplify our hiring process. After it was up and running for field hires, we were able to make modifications for successful office hiring. We now have a seamless hiring process that is easy to use and easy to train our team to use.

Amory Scott

Vice President, Strategic Management & Mission, Scott Bridge Company

Shawna was easy to work with and flexible to our company’s needs. She has a wide breadth of knowledge in the recruiting industry as a whole as well as the construction industry. The quality of her job posting and social media copywriting work was excellent!

Shawna always responded in a timely manner and communicated with clarity and transparency. She provided a shared project database, which was very helpful for keeping us informed on her progress. so we weren’t in the dark.

Glen Perry

President & CEO, COP Construction LLC

Before reading the job posting and recruitment marketing guide Shawna provided to us, our job advertising was OK, but it could be more personal and less “HR.” After going through it, I see the importance of the style of the job advertisements. Her sample ads were especially helpful. We’ve started redesigning how we advertise jobs, particularly on social media, and I believe it will lead to more and better applicants that want to work here, not just checking a box.

Zach Rose

Founder, Forge Construction Recruiting

I have been recruiting for the construction industry for 5 years and Shawna helped me significantly improve my efficiency for finding "good" candidates quickly. While it's relatively easy to find candidates with a technical skillset, contractors wanted more than just technical skills they were looking for "fit".

By meeting with and discussing this observation with Shawna, she gave me the tools to ask better screening and interview questions to expose and illuminate the characteristics and habits of candidates that would identify each candidates match to the need. I believe that Shawna is an invaluable resource and can help any company struggling to find more good candidates.