Manufacturing Talent Mastery: The 7 Frame “Good People Are Easy To Find” Edition

To The Leaders, Innovators, and Drivers of The Industrial Talent Community,

Are you tired of pushing through the same old job searches yielding the same lackluster results?

Are you fed up & FINALLY ready to transform your results?

Do you feel like there has to be a more effective way to find talent?

In the hyper-competitive pursuit of talent; learning how to engage the right candidates has little to do with luck – it's a definitive skill that YOU can learn.

There are currently 12.7 million people actively employed in the manufacturing sector - and you’re here to capitalize on YOUR piece of the industry.

Today’s edition is presented for you to draw upon decades of recruitment insight. Let’s lean into a better future by leaving the “old ways of doing it” behind.

The following 7 frameworks are presented to show you our detailed search criteria and modern sourcing strategies. This is how our team connects with candidates who have been specifically groomed to fit their company's culture and vision.

1. Defining the Target Candidate Profile:

?? Questions to Reflect Upon:

• What unique technical skills and personality traits align with your company culture? *Culture is what we say & do to get what we want
• What career aspirations should your ideal candidates have?
• What can you offer your ideal candidate that their current job opportunities don’t provide?

?? Utilize Resources: Create candidate personas, use internal team data and gather feedback from successful hires to create a comprehensive profile of your ideal candidate. The secret is to quantify the qualatatives - and score them appropriately.

2. Identifying Sourcing Channels:

?? Questions to Research:

• Which job boards are frequented by niche industrial professionals? Research this extensively.
• What networks or associations are they a part of that could be tapped into?
• Have you looked into your industry memberships to see if they offer job postings?
• How can the other social media networks be leveraged for sourcing?
• Are you using local facebook or (active) linkedin groups? Are there any group chats or slack channels that your best teammates are members of?

?? Resources to Employ:

• Put your job on the industry-specific job boards, LinkedIn, professional forums, and channels you’ve identified.
• Post often - weekly.
• Cultivate employee referrals to widen your search with a series of probing questions to get to a better answer. Manufacturing is often a family business, so let’s get familiar.

3. Developing a Sourcing Strategy:

?? Strategic Questions:

• What KPIs will enhance your search metrics?
• Can you come up with 7-8 and pick the best 2-3 to drive?
• How will you maintain commitment during challenging searches? It often takes 7-12 attempts to get through the noise and engage someone.
• What methods will attract passive candidates? The results you’re seeking always lie on the other side of several initial resistance barriers.

?? Key Resources:

• Master your corner of the company career page and make updates & upgrades.
• Look for the great people haunting your applicant database and be involved with an active talent pool management strategy. Chances are you have amazing people that your HR ATS disqualified because of outdated requirements, assumptive guidelines, or good people with bad resumes.
• Asking “why” 7 times in a row will go a long way to transcend “the way it’s always been done.”

4. Creating Engaging Job Descriptions and Ads:

?? Considerations for Impact:

• Do your job descriptions (actually) stand out?
• Have you looked at what your 10 closest competitors are offering?
• What language resonates with your target audience?
• How can you optimize listings for visibility?

?? Useful Tools: Find & implement attractive job description templates, effective SEO language, and guides on effective advertising & copywriting to craft compelling listings. We live in an era of “noise” and it’s up to us to make our offerings stand out. Be clear on the quantifiable reasons your job is presented better than the 5 closest competing postings.

5. Utilizing Technology and Tools:

?? Technology Questions:

• What ATS features do you have at your disposal?
• Which ATS features have been overlooked or underutilized?
• Which ATS features suit your needs best?
• Are there AI tools that can enhance your sourcing and screening? How can you track & improve efficiency in sourcing?
• Are you optimized for finding the right person or finding the right resume?
• Have you tried applying to your own company to actually see what the candidate experience is like?!?

?? Tech Resources: Explore more of your ATS software features, AI-based screening tools, and online training for mastering new technologies. There is no “revolutionary” tech tool that will “do it for you” without consistent exploring, testing, iterating & optimizing.

6. Measuring and Refining Your Approach:

?? Metrics and Analysis:

• What metrics will measure your sourcing success?
• How many outputs (reach outs, conversations, applications, interviews and offers) does it take to secure a viable candidate?
• How can these outputs be increased and improved?
• How will you effectively track and analyze these metrics? Look for the ratios you’ll want to use:

1. Applications:Interviews.
2. Interviews:Offers.
3. Offers:Accept.
4. Applications:Accept.
5. Accept:Start.

• How many Applications or interviews do you actually need to have for someone to start & stay in the job?? Working all of these points backwards from an effectively onboarded hire, you’ll have a clear vision of the output it takes to win, and where you can improve your process.

?? Refinement Tools: Utilize analytics tools & reporting within ATS, performance tracking dashboards, and establish regular score review (accountability!) for output & strategy adjustments.

7. Networking and Relationship Building:

?? Networking Strategies:

• How can you build & expand strong industry connections?
• What regular, trackable tactics will you use to maintain relationships with past and passive candidates?
• When was the last time you looked through ALL of your first connections on Linkedin and sent engaging messages? Even better - look through your first connections for people that you already know and send texts and get on the phone with the people you like/know/trust. If it’s an objectively good opportunity, people will want to hear about it - and they will raise their own network value by helping spread the word.

?? Networking Resources:

• Engage in industry events, seminars, presentations, webinars and utilize online platforms for professional networking.
• Ensure every industry presentation that your company does clearly promotes your roles to the audience (with a short link to your career page that has a great video).

Call to Action in Closing:

Your journey to mastery-level talent acquisition begins by asking these questions and implementing these strategies. You’ve got new answers. This big beastly issue has been broken down into achievable micro steps. Steps you can now plug into your calendar or agenda and take action on. And you know what? Armed with the info above - It’s actually fun.

Play with these practices and get clear on the metrics you’ve defined to ensure your results are visible.

Share your experiences and insights in the comments below and be the first advocate in revolutionizing your talent search.

It’s now up to you to convert talent acquisition from an administrative liability into a strategic asset.

You’ve got this. Start small. Pick your top 3 tactics and put them to use before the close of business today!

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." proreli.com/5pillars

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.