If you run a manufacturing facility, you know how challenging it can be to find the right employees. Manufacturing company managers must be very intentional about searching for, recruiting, and retaining high quality workers.
One current trend in manufacturing is to design and execute targeted recruiting efforts for your company. With this kind of careful recruiting, you find more experienced employees and spend less time understaffed. Maintaining the right number of employees doesn’t just help you balance the books—it also helps you to create a more satisfying work environment.
Liberty Staffing Services can help manufacturing companies (like yours) create a targeted recruiting strategy that works. Reach out to us today to learn more. We’re ready to help your facility run more efficiently.
In the meantime, check out the rest of this article, which is full of advice about designing and implementing better recruiting efforts at your factory.
Know Who You're Looking For
You need to be able to articulate who you are looking for before you start searching for a new employee. In addition to identifying the key skills, experiences, and qualifications required for each role, think about what kind of person you want to hire.
Are you looking for a team player? A hard worker? An independent thinker?
We recommend creating an ideal candidate profile for each open position. After all, you don’t need the same job qualifications for every position. You can train entry level workers to do some jobs, but you may need someone with lots of experience or credentials to do other work in your facility.
Don’t forget to consider what kind of soft skills you need your employees to have. After all, many skills can be taught, but it’s much harder to teach soft skills like communication, problem solving, critical thinking, and teamwork.
Take Advantage of Job Boards and Online Platforms
When it comes to job boards and online platforms, some are better than others. Invest your time and money, if necessary, on job boards with plenty of active manufacturing job seekers. You don’t just have to post on manufacturing job boards though. You can also post on sites specific to your region or province.
Some employers don’t put enough effort into their job listings, but it’s a well-known fact in the staffing industry: the more effort you put into your job postings, the better the candidates will be.
Consulting with a staffing professional can help you create a job listing full of relevant keywords, great descriptions, and important information.
Leverage Local Workforce Development Programs
Have you collaborated with your local workforce development agencies? These organizations, along with colleges and professional training programs, often have connections with newcomers to the local workforce who are ready to get started.
Additionally, these organizations can often connect you with local job fairs and recruitment events where you can promote your company and share open positions with qualified members of the public.
Create a Strong Employee Referral Program
If your current employees aren’t helping to recruit your new employees, you’re missing out on a great opportunity. Some of the best hires you will ever make will come from word-of-mouth recommendations from people who already work for you and can vouch for your manufacturing company.
Why not create an incentive for people to make those valuable referrals?
Your referral incentives could come in the form of cash bonuses, extra paid time off, gift cards, parties, or any other motivator that works well for your employee culture. To ensure that people are referring great new hires, you can provide the incentive after the new person reaches the end of a probationary period. These periods are often 30, 60, or 90 days long.
Streamline the Hiring Process—Especially the Application Process
Do your job applicants feel like they just ran a marathon by the time they finish submitting an application to your company? If so, you are going to lose great candidates. People are going to quit midway through the application and find an employer that doesn’t make it so difficult for them to apply.
Streamline your application process to keep these qualified candidates. The easier it is for job seekers to get their information in front of you, the more likely you are to get a large group of qualified potential new hires for your manufacturing facility.
Another important thing is to reply quickly to every application. If you take your time to get back to someone, they will probably find something else before they ever hear from you.
Review applications promptly, and schedule interviews right away. This is also important because the hiring process gives your candidates a glimpse into what it’s like to work at your company. If you want to promote a workplace culture where there is a lot of positivity and professionalism, this is your chance to model that behavior.
Work with an Experienced Staffing Agency
You have an incredible resource at your fingertips—a staffing agency! Staffing agencies are one of the best resources you can use when creating targeted recruiting efforts for your manufacturing facility. You can even choose a staffing agency that has plenty of experience with staffing manufacturing plants.
A staffing agency can assist you with many different tasks, including:
- Representation at job fairs.
- Screening of potential employees.
- Hiring
- Onboarding
- Training
- Personnel management.
- Payroll.
And a lot more!
Staffing agencies provide their expertise to you and your company so that you can source new employees. The staffing company’s role is to deliver qualified job candidates quickly and efficiently. One of the ways they do this is by using their databases of pre-screened candidates who are ready to work. Additionally, they have deep networks within your community and know how to access job seekers who are just starting their job search.
Most of all, a staffing agency can handle the entire recruiting process. Whether you need help crafting great job posts, understanding your ideal candidate, recruiting new employees, or retaining the employees you have, staffing professionals can help.
Liberty Staffing—Your Staffing Partner for Targeted Recruiting
Liberty Staffing in Southern Ontario has been helping manufacturing employers like you find great staff for decades. When you need to scale up quickly with temporary and permanent employees, our staffing professionals can find you the help you need.
When you’re ready to develop a targeted recruiting effort, let us help! Reach out to Liberty Staffing today so that we can take the stress and uncertainty out of hiring.
