Industrial Recruitment Process Issues Edition 1 (Why You Are Suffering)

To the leaders, Innovators and Drivers of The Industrial talent Community,

We recently crossed over our 5th anniversary, so I spent some time reviewing our client files in order to quantify just how far we’ve come since kicking off ProReli in 2019 (fun timing!)

While reviewing the onboarding notes of everyone we’ve supported (49 Manufacturers!) as well as the countless sites within those client networks - it dawned on me that the wild swings of ‘20/’21/’22 are finally way off in the distant past.

Based on recent news, I think it’s safe to officially say … the “particular set of troubles” we faced during the dawn of the decade are long, long gone.

And now that “that issue” from “that time” that caused all “that chaos” is far, far away, it’s time to take an honest look at the remaining realities that most of you are facing.

These are the 2 most significant contrasting versions of today’s market I want to encourage you to consider:

1. There is a vast array of skilled talent available for those who have learned where to look. We know because we talk to great people every day while consistently and predictably filling roles for our clients. Without a significant investement in talent acquisition skills - a bootstrapped 2019 agency like ours would never have survived. Fun fact - 45% of all businesses fail in the first 5 years and fewer than 5% of small businesses in the US reach 1M in annual revenue.
2. The “Industry Standard Practices” for hiring are woefully ineffective. We know because we’ve analyzed hundreds of sites in the last 5 years - and we’ve turned away more roles than we accepted. With those we’ve supported, success has come by applying more effort into narrowing the process than expanding the pipeline.

I want to be super clear here: “There is a sufficient pool of skilled talent available for those who know where to look.” AND “You need to invest significantly more effort into refining your process than into finding more applicants.”

Because of these two points, I wanted to put together a master list of ALL the sins I see preventing manufacturers from getting where they want to go in solidifying & expanding their team.

We’ve whittled all of our data down to the 29 most critical failure points. In order to make this a digestible newsletter (and not an overweight manifesto) - we’re going to break all of this information down into a 3 part series to give you the space to put these points to work.

So if you’re committed to improving your results, I’ve got the first 10 for you today.

See if you can spot which ones are causing you the greatest impact….

1. Over-Reliance on Traditional Recruitment Channels: Failing to leverage modern digital platforms, social media, and industry-specific job boards limits reach and engagement with potential candidates. It puts you in direct competition with everyone else attempting to win over the same candidates using the same channels. Your applicants likely aren’t “ghosting” you, they’re getting picked off by a talent auction platform posing as an applicant hub or social network and going to the most effective bidder.

2. Inadequate Employer Branding: You’ve underestimated the value of creating a brand in attracting top talent. This has led to a lack of investment in building and promoting a compelling employer value proposition. When you approach hiring from a commodity mindset, the talent market will see your opening as a commodity paycheck. If you haven’t figured out and promoted what truly sets you apart, you’ll be facing the same (lackluster) results as everyone else.

3. Poor Candidate Experience: This comes from a neglect of understanding the candidate's position during the recruitment process. These acts of neglect include: lengthy application processes, slow or poor response and communication, frequent rescheduling of interviews, ineffectively coordinated onsite interviews all underpinned by a general lack of communication and feedback. Remind yourself what it was like on your last job search - Finding a good job is scary and it’s full of perceived risk. Automated messages show a lack of empathy, understanding or interest in working together in the future.

“Treat every person you meet, without a single exception, as the most important person on earth. You will find that they will begin treating you the same way. You see, every person, as far as he or she is concerned, is the most important person on earth” -Earl Nightingale

4. Neglecting Passive Candidates: This is where most talent teams have developed the “bad habit” of focusing entirely on job ads & applicants. This “bad habit” means they’re ignoring (the better & harder to reach) passive candidates who aren’t actively looking for a job. If you want consistent results, you need to hunt and farm. A farm (passive candidate network) takes cultivation, time and patience to yield a productive harvest. The path to great hires starts by ensuring you’ve sewn enough to produce an abundant harvest.

5. Lack of Personalization in Outreach: This comes from using generic recruitment messages instead of tailoring communication to the interests, skills, and potential of each candidate. Spam is easy to spot. If someone is worthy of your company, they’re worthy of your time, care and genuine interest as well.

6. Ineffective Use of Technology: Failing to harness the full potential of recruitment technology, specifically your Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS). The ATS is your company’s talent database. Would an effective salesperson talk to a prospect once or twice and then forget about them entirely? Why do we think it’s ok to forget about a great interviewee that didn’t accept the job? Circumstances change - so if you’ve spoken to people you’d love to hire - play the long game & keep in contact with them until you’re able to work together.

7. Insufficient Skills Assessments: Relying on resumes and interviews without incorporating consistent skills grading, reference checks or challenging scenarios to accurately gauge candidate capabilities. Nobody wants to waste their time on a drawn out 17 step hiring process with 3 on site interviews and 5 hour exam, that’s not what we’re talking about here.

You have to create a consistent rating and grading system in order to ensure we’re applying the same process and improving along the way. You likely have continuous improvement professionals within your ranks, talk to them about applying CI to your hiring process the way you do with your production lines.

8. Ignoring Internal Talent Pools: Overlooking the potential of existing employees for promotion or lateral moves, missing out on opportunities to fill vacancies with known quantities. Capitalizing on internal talent pools will require sponsorship and support.

There are MANY leaders among you who never would have considered themselves right for their position if a mentor or leader hadn’t encouraged them to apply. Structured advancement and encouragement is the hallmark of a great organization.

9. Limited Networking and Community Engagement: Not engaging with professional networks, industry associations, and academic institutions to build a talent pipeline. This is a major missed opportunity considering all the time, effort, energy and expense you invest in traveling to conferences. Any time you’re facing outward at the industry - be sure to make your career paths known.

10. Slow Decision Making: Allowing choppy hiring decisions that delay offers, resulting in the loss of candidates to more decisive competitors. This is the harvest - where all of your hiring work among dozens of candidates and interviews comes to fruition. People are “looking for a sign” to make a major decision here - is yours a green flag or a red one?

This is the last place you want a scheduling conflict, a corporate visit, a training week, personal leave or a lowball offer to negate the goodwill you’ve spent weeks and months building. Take pride in the alignment you have created with your candidate and treat this harvest with utmost care.

The last 5 years have been a proving ground for all of us. The more work we do to improve how we interact with our industry, the more we improve its future. Keep pushing against the boundaries of assumption, use what you’ve learned here, and do what it takes to build a clear path leading the best talent to you. I’m excited about sharing the next 10 points with you soon.

If you're eager to further explore how winning teams are attacking the talent market, I invite you to explore our in-depth research on "The 5-Stage Industrial Talent Attraction Formula."

Inside, we’ve built a comprehensive blueprint for assembling & maintaining a high-performance team that aligns with your vision and goals. It’s a valuable resource that’s taken 5 years to develop; get your copy today and join us on the journey toward hiring excellence!

About Chris Pepin

Chris Pepin is the founder of Progressive Reliability, a manufacturing talent & consulting firm. Prior to ProReli, he served as the Founder & Managing Partner at Magnanimous Consulting, where he built & stabilized teams for mid to late-stage venture-backed data & analytics software companies. Chris initially acquired his passion for talent & consulting as the Lead business developer for The HCI Group, a healthcare company he helped place as #3 on the INC5000 list of fastest-growing companies in the U.S.

Chris graduated from Florida State University with a BS in Business Administration, with a focus on Entrepreneurship. He serves as a College of Business mentor at his alma mater, and also mentors youth through his involvement in Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. Progressive Reliability is a proud supporter of veterans through K9s for Warriors and Chris is a former board member of Operation New Uniform.