HardHats is a new startup that features an on-demand recruiting platform connecting construction workers, crews, and contractors to combat downtime & labor with available jobs. We caught up with their CEO, Kassidy Hazelton over email to get her take on the construction recruitment sector.
1. You come from a family of construction workers, is that where the idea for Hard Hats originated?
Yes, there’s a total of 70 years combined between 4 generations in my family, all of us have worked in heavy civil construction, earth moving and heavy equipment needs. Most of us are professionals in the industry. My birthday also falls on Labor Day. The Idea came from my dad Patrick Hazelton who served many contractors in AZ in the equipment rental space and since I was looking to start my own business, he said my customers need employees so why don’t you start a recruiting service. I ended up building a website that had 50 plugins that had features like LinkedIn and Facebook combined and then I was scouted by Coplex to rebrand and turn into a startup which is now known as HardHats.
2. Its always great to see a woman lead a company in a male dominated industry. Do you think that gives you an edge?
It can be more challenging in certain ways when it comes to raising money or capital while being a woman but as far as business and earning revenue that comes naturally. I have an edge in this space because of the network I’ve built, my social media approach, industry expertise, the technology and disruption that I talk about specifically in construction staffing. Quite frankly, I hustle pretty hard compared to others in this space so it’s taken a lot of notice over the year.
3. Whats the mission of Hard Hats?
Our mission is to offer technology that can innovate the recruiting and staffing space for contractors to share crews and much more. Our mission is to think outside of the box unlike any startup in this space when it comes to the “labor shortage” topic. We want the best innovation our generation can bring before the boomer generation retires.
There’s no more room for just job boards. We are innovating just how Doordash and Uber did and that type of technology for crews and contractors inside of a marketplace.
4. How does the user experience work?
Foreman’s sign up their crew, contractors can chat with workers and hire a crew to drive supply and contractors can post regular jobs in addition. Contractors list crews for however long they expect a delay to occur and share to other contractors seeking temp help or to finish timelines. We currently provide an easy valuable service to test our innovation also known as a MVP. We match construction workers and crews to contractors manually right now.
Our upcoming product that we’re building eliminates losses for contractors when they experience downtime. We are a subscription base platform until both contractors share labor. It can locate crews in areas that are experiencing any delay so workers can continue to stay employed and have income while contractors sort out the project delays, this can cost up to 60k in losses if not managed.
Instead of driving so hard on workforce development or social platforms like Trade Hounds our software will be the pain reliever for workers, crews and contractors alike and not contributing to the shortage. We are utilizing qualified talent.
5. How are you different from other players in this market?
We are different from many companies but our main competitors are Craigslist, networking groups and Crews by Core. Unlike our competitors we solve a need for contractors designed around specific pain points. Project delays and downtime is affected by at least 40% of small to mid size contractors who need the relief the most.
No other player has a tool that can cut down their human capital losses like ours. Since we see staffing firms focusing on placement individually we will automate this placement with entire working crews on a subscription model and added fee for facilitating the conversation to share crews.
6. You are a relatively young startup…how will you make this a national brand?
We will get to market with our current solution so we can have early adopters ready to use our product. We have a brand that has attracted many big players in the game like Ziprecruiter, an Industry investor and we’ve already had interest from a company in Texas to strategically partner. Getting to market nationally has already started. Social media will drive our traction most likely and as we finish this raise we should easily get national recognition since we’re closely watched.
Learn more at https://www.hirehardhats.com
