CLIENT OVERVIEW
Our client is a multi-billion-dollar heavy civil contractor headquartered in Maryland, known for delivering complex infrastructure projects across the Mid-Atlantic. Their work includes site development, road and highway construction, heavy earthwork, utilities, and large-scale transportation projects. With a reputation for safety, quality, and precision, they consistently win high-profile work.
THE ROLES
The contractor needed to rapidly expand multiple field crews with highly skilled tradespeople and management level employees across several disciplines:
- Project Managers
- Superintendents
- Paving Crews
- Surveyors
- Excavator Operators
- Dozer Operators
- Lowboy Operators
- Dump Truck Drivers…and more
These roles directly impact project schedules and productivity, meaning having the right workforce in place—on time—is mission-critical.
THE CHALLENGE
The company’s growth plan included adding new project sites and expanding into additional geographic markets. However, they ran into challenges common to large contractors competing for management level & skilled trades talent:
- Traditional job postings weren’t generating enough qualified candidates.
- Internal hiring teams were stretched thin across multiple projects.
- The business needed predictable hiring costs as headcount scaled up and down.
- They required speed and consistency during peak project mobilizations.
Instead of paying standard recruiting contingency fees per hire—which can be unpredictable and expensive—this contractor wanted a scalable hiring model that supported long-term workforce planning.
HOW CORNERSTONE RECRUITING PARTNERED
Cornerstone Recruiting had been recruiting partners with this specific client since 2004, primarily with a standard contingency search model with one dedicated Account Manager and a team of Recruiters working closely with their in-house talent acquisition group. We did seasonal on demand recruiting during busy times, but it was difficult to manage internally. In 2025 as the company was experiencing rapid growth and needed a more streamlined model a more efficient solution was needed.
Cornerstone’s Solution: RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing)
We became an integrated extension of their HR & field operations team—managing sourcing, screening, scheduling, and funnel management—for all skilled trades roles and delivered several polished, experienced Management level candidates for them to choose from.
Cornerstone’s custom RPO Recruiting Program delivered:
- A fixed monthly cost model (no unpredictable per-hire fees)
- Dedicated Cornerstone recruiters assigned to their account
- Weekly pipeline reporting and candidate forecasting
- Active recruitment of passive, employed operators—not job board applicants
- A scalable model: expand or reduce recruiting support as project demand changed
This allowed the client’s team to stay laser-focused on project delivery, safety, and operations—not sorting résumés and making hundreds of calls.
RESULTS
A year into our RPO partnership, Cornerstone Recruiting is now the company’s preferred recruiting partner for all skilled trades and permanent placement hiring.
Performance Highlights:
- Multiple skilled trades and management level placements
- Hiring pipeline built for multiple project mobilizations simultaneously
- Ability to expand their workforce across multiple states
- Predictable recruiting costs
- Reduced time-to-hire
- Internal turnover decreased due to better skill and culture alignment
WHY THEY CHOSE CORNERSTONE RECRUITING
We’re big enough to handle high-volume hiring initiatives for major infrastructure contractors—yet small enough to care deeply about each placement and each project schedule.
READY TO SCALE YOUR WORKFORCE?
Cornerstone Recruiting is the partner that combines:
- Speed
- Scalability
- Predictable cost
- Industry expertise
Let us handle the staffing challenges while you build.
Cornerstone Recruiting — Find Your People. Build Your Business.
Let’s talk about building your workforce. Reach out to a Cornerstone partner today