AI can draft a checklist, but it can’t run a concrete pour. That reality sits at the center of the McCarthy Building Companies workforce development strategy: Create a people-first system that attracts talent early, develops field leaders deliberately and makes promotions stick, without forgetting that recognition, safety and family also matter as much as training hours.
The challenge is industrywide: Veteran superintendents and foremen are retiring, a mid-level experience gap is opening and those new to the industry bring fresh energy and tech savviness but still need the on-the-job experience. The answer isn’t a single program but an integrated model that starts before graduation and follows craft professionals through foreman ranks to superintendent roles and beyond.
Recruit Early and Educate the Whole Household
Reaching students before they pick a major is paying dividends. McCarthy teams visit high schools and middle schools to demystify construction careers, showing that the industry stretches far beyond hard hats and hammers. At the yearly STEMstruction event, 20–50 high-school students rotate through hands-on stations: pouring concrete photo holders, operating a mini-excavator to drop basketballs into bins, learning to safely handle power tools. The confidence surge from morning to afternoon is visible.
Parents and school counselors are invited, too. A companion workshop explains career paths, salary ranges and the idea that college is one great option, but not the only one. The message lands: There’s a future in construction that’s both stable and rewarding.
That message now reaches even further through McCarthy’s sponsorship of Build California’s high school summer program, where interns volunteer as near-peer mentors. Students see people who are only a few years older leading workshops and it clicks, “That could be me.”
At the college level, McCarthy’s internship program has evolved into a true talent pipeline. Nearly 300 interns were placed across 100+ projects and offices nationwide this year, sourced from over 75 colleges. In the Southern Pacific region alone, 75 students participated, the region’s largest class yet. And the work they do is real: RFIs, submittals, concrete pours, field coordination. Not coffee runs.
The results speak for themselves. Last summer, 90% of the region’s interns received return internship or full-time offers, and nearly all of those offers were accepted. Some stick around for decades—McCarthy’s current SoPac CEO started as an intern more than 20 years ago.
Repeat interns are encouraged and paired with first-timers to build peer-to-peer leadership. Managers check in often, combining formal feedback with informal conversations that help students connect progress with purpose. The focus stays on attitude, curiosity and growth—the stuff that turns a summer job into a career.
Level Up the Field, Together
Once craft professionals join the team, development continues with structure and heart. Twice a year, foreman and general foreman peer groups bring together 100–160 field leaders for a mix of technical and leadership topics. Superintendents build the agendas themselves, working with learning and development to identify subject-matter experts and keep sessions practical.
What started a decade ago with a handful of attendees now fills every seat, with superintendents calling to nominate high-potential journeymen for the next round.
Complementary programs follow: layout training for foremen twice a year, plan-reading courses for all craft up to twice annually and a partnership with BuildWitt that builds technical competency for pipe layers and underground work. Nationally, McCarthy’s self-perform leaders are designing unified training paths for general foremen and assistant superintendents (ASUPs), which is a critical bridge in field succession.
Make Promotions Stick: From GF to ASUP
For many craft leaders, advancing from general foreman to ASUP marks one of the most challenging and defining turning points in their career. The pay structure changes, the tools change and suddenly there’s a laptop involved. Tackling that transition with intention is key.
There’s “laptop-ready” onboarding that teaches new ASUPs to manage digital workflows and communication. There’s clear ESOP education to demystify employee ownership and show the long-term upside. And there’s targeted coaching that blends leadership skills with real project management: schedules, safety, quality, cost.
Two efforts tie it all together. The general foreman talent review identifies emerging leaders and maps their readiness for superintendent roles, while the top talent mentoring initiative pairs 25 ASUP-to-SUP2 professionals with senior superintendents for monthly coaching and jobsite shadowing. Meanwhile, teams are pooling their best on-the-job training modules into a shared resource library—so great content spreads quickly across projects instead of living in silos.
Retention by Design: Safety, Continuity and Family
Retention begins on day one. Every new craft professional, regardless of experience, starts at the regional yard for a full day of safety orientation and hands-on training before setting foot on a jobsite. It’s practical and beneficial because it sets a cultural norm: Nobody is too experienced for a safe start.
Appreciation runs deeper than an annual thank-you post. McCarthy’s Craft Appreciation celebration has grown from roughly 300 attendees to more than 1,200, evolving into a family event where spouses and kids join in. On jobsites, project teams host breakfasts, raffles or team-building events during Craft Appreciation Week, and project milestone celebrations routinely include the craft who made the work possible.
Service milestones—every five years up to 35-plus—are marked personally, often with physical invites hand-delivered by superintendents. Even the smallest gestures count: otter pops on a hot day, kids’ coloring books featuring the project or swag that families wear proudly. These are simple acts, but they say, “You matter.”
Continuity of employment is another focus. No builder can guarantee steady work in every market, but it’s vital for teams to plan schedules with their people in mind. When there’s a lull, many crew members return quickly because they know what to expect: safety first, communication and a family-like culture.
About AI—And What It Can’t Replace
AI tools now help McCarthy’s training teams draft curriculum and organize policy content faster. But even the company’s most tech-forward leaders agree: About 70% of what’s truly learned in construction is learned on the job. Mentoring, judgment and teamwork can’t be automated. Technology might evolve, but building skills will always be hands-on. In practice, “AI-proof” isn’t anti-tech; it’s pro-human.
And maybe that’s the real lesson behind today’s workforce story. When a foreman brings their family to Craft Appreciation Day, or an intern comes back as a superintendent years later, it’s clear what really builds the next generation: a culture that invests in people, celebrates their craft and believes learning never stops.
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