Insights for Key Professional Competencies of US Entry-Level Construction Positions: A Structural Topic Modeling Approach

The construction industry in the United States currently faces challenges, from the high labor shortage to the prospect of an increasing trend, along with changing job demands driven by evolving technologies. To help mitigate such issues for new graduates in construction-related disciplines, this study aims to provide insights that would assist educational institutions to better align their programs to emerging industry needs by identifying key competencies for entry-level construction positions. Through the combination of the structural topic modeling (STM) text-mining method and 1,046 real-world job posting data, the research team identified 16 key competencies for young construction professionals (or early career construction professionals), with a majority related to project management. Among those, two competencies associated with virtual design and construction (VDC) were identified, namely VDC capability and field VDC coordination, potentially indicating the industry’s growing need toward VDC implementation. Furthermore, this study revealed connections between different job types and required competencies through regression analysis. Results indicated that general project phase management competency was identified in all entry-level construction positions. Moreover, the presence of VDC-related competencies in numerous non-VDC positions further highlighted the increasing focus and wider adoption of VDC functions across the construction industry. This study contributes to the latest understanding of entry-level construction job competencies in the United States and provides a new analytical approach using STM within the studied field. The research findings also offer practical implications for educational institutions to adjust their curriculum designs pertaining to industry demands, job applicants to focus on relevant competencies, and companies to better match applicants’ abilities based on different entry-level positions. This study ultimately facilitates better alignment of skills and job requirements in the face of evolving technologies and labor shortage challenges in the construction industry.