Construction professionals who want a bigger paycheque often make the same mistake – they bring up money before they have built a solid case for it. That’s a pattern Ruairi Spillane sees again and again.
The founder and CEO of Vancouver-based Outpost Recruitment, who has spent 14 years placing technical talent across buildings and infrastructure, says the fastest route to better pay usually has nothing to do with asking for it directly. Rather, it starts with adding value and having direct conversations most workers would rather avoid.
Construction is a relationship-driven industry where pay is often informal and rarely discussed openly, he says. That makes self-advocacy harder, and it puts a premium on how professionals handle these conversations as their careers move forward. “Headhunters exist due to the lack of comfort in having hard conversations between an employee and their boss,” said Spillane, calling the dynamic “a bit sad.”
The deeper issue is communication, he says. Regular reviews and clarity on performance and the future prevent most of the friction that pushes people to leave. He sees younger candidates, in particular, reacting badly when a raise or promotion does not come through, calling it a “knee-jerk reaction to being overlooked.”
Rather than working out why they came second and improving, many assume the door has closed and start looking elsewhere, he says. His advice when a request is turned down is to slow down. “We don’t always get what we want in the time frames that we expect it,” he said. “You need to balance that ambition with respect for the people who made the decision.” He encourages workers to seek out the reasoning behind a no, then ask what they would need to do to be considered next time. Turning that into a target, he says, can make a demotivating moment useful.
Make it about value, not salary
Workers looking for more money need to take the focus off the number, Spillane says. He advises people to ask, “‘How do I add more value in this role, and not talk salary at all?’ That’s because if you’re adding more value, it’s implied that your salary will increase.”
He positions the conversation as a joint review rather than a demand: if things are going well, a worker can ask for the raise; if not, they can pick their battles and ask what to fix. He likes to reframe the request around a concrete goal, asking what someone would need to do “to be earning $10,000 more in six months” rather than simply demanding more money today.
“You need to balance that ambition with respect for the people who made the decision.”
Ruairi Spillane, Outpost Recruitment
Know your own value, and your manager
Self-advocacy depends on self-awareness, Spillane says, and the results often surprise people. He encourages candidates who are happy in their jobs to treat their resume as a workbook. Most resumes are essentially the job description from before the person started, he says. A more useful exercise is to look back over a couple of years and identify “where you have made an expected difference, and where you have made an unexpected positive difference,” then check that against the boss’s view. The point is to figure out what sets you apart.
“Figure out what makes you different, not what makes you similar to everyone else,” he said. For a project manager, the question is usually what they bring to the table that others cannot.
According to Spillane, the exercise often turns up surprises. Someone who assumed a technical skill was a weakness may find it is exactly where they come across well, which can reshape how they talk about their own value. Advocacy is not only about work performance, he says. Getting to know a manager as a person can help fill in the bigger picture, and understanding what motivates a boss outside the job can open doors to flexibility, time off or other perks that a purely professional relationship never surfaces. That type of relationship also creates room for honest feedback.
“Where you feel completely comfortable having frank discussions with your boss, that’s where the magic happens,” he said, adding that it is where real learning takes place.
He sees visibility and confidence as necessary along side competence, not as a substitute for it. Construction workers, in his experience, are more than capable of advocating for themselves and sometimes “over-advocate,” he said, occasionally overstating their record on resumes. The goal is to land “that fine balance between modesty and arrogance.”
Why younger workers approach it differently
A young professional who leads with salary may be throwing up red flags to management, says Spillane. That’s because early-career roles are really all about learning. “Every job is an apprenticeship,” he said, and workers who push for high pay or remote arrangements too early risk pricing themselves out of mentorship. “If you overcharge your employer, you’re pricing yourself out of the support.”
He frames the trade-off as a long game. Someone who wants to be a project manager on a six-figure salary in three years is better served by getting strong support now. Early job choices should be based “on mentorship and what you’re going to learn, as opposed to salary and benefits,” said Spillane. Impatience is the trait he sees most often in younger workers, though he is careful not to single out one generation. “Patience and wisdom can only be accrued over time,” he said.
“Advocacy is a muscle that you have to flex”
Ruairi Spillane, Outpost Recruitment
When candidates tell him they want to leave, his first move is to send them back to their boss to make their feelings clear, and many decide to stay once they realize the problem was a communication gap. He also warns about what gets lost in a job switch. Candidates he talks out of leaving often “blossom once they get through that first hard phase,” he said, while those who jump at the first sign of difficulty “lose all the positive equity” they have built.
Common mistakes and the transparency factor
Spillane prefers candidates who keep flexibility in play, and suggested framing conversations like this: “‘I would settle for what you mentioned right now, but I wouldn’t be comfortable at that long term. Could we have a conversation on how the title and the salary will progress, subject to my meeting expectations?’”
Pay transparency legislation and posted salary ranges are changing the conversation, but Spillane says job seekers should take ranges with a grain of salt. They are often very idealistic, he says, and not always current with the market. He sees employers anchoring low and candidates aiming high, and advises applicants to interview well before raising any pay gap.
Building confidence over time
For people who do not find self-promotion natural, Spillane suggests starting small and using LinkedIn in away that fits their personality. “Don’t be overly promotional if that’s not how you are as a person,” he said. Posting industry news, commenting on others’ work and joining industry groups all build visibility without forcing anyone into a sales pitch. He pointed to his own path as proof that the skill can be learned. After moving to Canada from Ireland, he had “a completely irrational fear of public speaking” and joined Toastmasters to get more comfortable organizing his thoughts under pressure.
“Advocacy,” he said, “is a muscle that you have to flex,” built by getting good at the job, then communicating with a manager, then with wider groups.