The Importance of Finding Quality People When Hiring for a Manufacturing Job

If you’re looking to fill a challenging role at your manufacturing facility, it’s critical to find the right talent for the job. This presents numerous difficulties for manufacturing hiring teams. One hurdle is that young job seekers tend to have a negative perception of skilled trade jobs. At the same time, the existing workforce is aging out, and high turnover rates could be problematic if you’re already struggling to fill vacant positions.

Follow these pre-hiring steps to ensure you have a strategy for attracting and retaining quality employees for your manufacturing facility.

Change the Misperceptions of Working Skilled Trade & Manufacturing Jobs

Mike Rowe, former host of Discovery Channel’s “Dirty Jobs” and founder of the mikeroweWORKS Foundation, awards scholarships to students pursuing careers in the skilled trades. As an advocate for “working smart and hard,” Rowe has testified before the House and Senate about the importance of shattering misperceptions surrounding blue-collar careers if the US economy is to thrive.

Your goal is to build relationships, create awareness, and paint manufacturing jobs as a successful career path among youths before they start looking for a job. Here are some ways to present skilled trades as a viable career path:

• Give presentations about manufacturing jobs in local high school shop classes and tech colleges. Show that skilled trades are not just a vocational consolation prize. They can lead to great personal and financial success for anyone willing to roll up their sleeves and work.
• Develop a paid apprenticeship program to attract candidates out of high school.
• Share stories of employees on social media who complete apprenticeships and join the company full-time.

Develop Accurate Job Descriptions

When filling specific positions, write detailed, accurate job descriptions that outline the expected tasks and duties, along with any education or experience required. Then, include a list of skills and personality traits that applicants should have to succeed.

Remember, while relevant experience is essential for filling many roles, you should focus more on hiring for “skills and traits” rather than looking for the exact amount of experience. You could end up enduring years of mediocre performance from someone with the right background if you overlook another candidate with the perfect skillset who simply needs a little extra onboarding effort.

Hire a Focused Talent Acquisition Firm

With the pre-hiring process complete, it’s time to acquire talent for your team. Whether you’re trying to fill entry-level temporary positions or full-time leadership roles, you’ll find the best candidates and reduce your turnover rate if you work with a seasoned hiring firm that knows your industry intimately.

Be aware that firms focused on hiring in a geographic region or finding talent for the general “manufacturing” industry are a dime a dozen. The problem is that many recruiters try to start with the “title of a skill” and cram candidates into the job.

At Progressive Reliability, we find the “work behind the skill” and the “untrainable traits” behind a quality employee, delivering top-tier candidates to fill your toughest M&R requisitions. We are proud to have a deep understanding of our clients, with tailored workforce solutions designed to provide empowerment, increase productivity, and reduce turnover rates. By having a thorough onboarding process and a commitment to the long haul rather than hiring a “local resume farm,” you’ll end with people who are more suitable, more reliable, and better qualified for the job. Remember, your candidates will only be as qualified as the people who are looking for them!

To work with Progressive Reliability for all your hiring needs, please contact us today.