Top Tips for Hiring Manufacturing Talent

A critical issue facing manufacturing companies (and all companies) today is the tight labor market. Companies are vying for top talent at all levels. The days where companies were in the hiring driver’s seat have long gone the way of phone booths and floppy disks. ‘A-list’ talent have choices and hiring managers would do well to put on their ‘sales & marketing hat’ to develop a strategic plan to court and retain them. Has your company lost out on top candidates to your competition??Do you have trouble attracting top talent? You are not alone! Today’s top manufacturing candidates are sophisticated buyers.

?Based on my three decades of former experience in recruiting manufacturing candidates I recommend these talent attraction and retention tips to ‘out-hire’ your competition:

?1.?????DATA: Provide plenty of data about your company to professional level candidates during the entire hiring process. Manufacturing leaders are process driven and make critical business decisions based on metrics and measurable results and making a career decision is no exception. If you tell candidates that your products are superior to your competition, your market share is up, and your company is growing, be prepared to back up your claims with supporting data. Recruiting and hiring are sales and marketing functions. Your candidates are a customer, and they are making a purchasing decision –to come to work for you. Understand how this type of customer makes a buying decision and make your ‘sales pitch’ accordingly for optimal hiring results.

?2.????CAREER AND CULTURE: Top manufacturing performers are not looking for a job. They are seeking a career opportunity with a company where it will be a good culture fit. They want to work on interesting projects and products, be surrounded by colleagues who set the bar high for optimal performance and become incrementally better at their craft. For currently employed candidates, the interview is the place to show them how your opportunity and company culture is better than the job they currently hold. During the interview, ask candidates what they are seeking in their next job, and then clearly demonstrate how the job at your company will help them attain their career goals. Let others on the interview team know what is important to the candidate so that you are all on the same page.

?3.????PRIORITIZE THE INTERVIEW: Make the interview process a priority on your schedule. Top candidates are receiving multiple offers. If you can, schedule the interviews close together. If your hiring managers are traveling, schedule a phone or Zoom interview. If you like a top candidate, your competition may like them and be prepared to move quickly. Don’t lose your candidate of choice just because of scheduling issues. Also, don’t talk too much and oversell the opportunity during the interview.

?4.?????KEEP IN TOUCH: Don’t let an unreasonable amount of time pass between interviews until you contact your prime candidate. Even a one sentence email to let the candidate know that they’re still under consideration goes a long way. Keep engaging with candidates. Every time you speak with a prime candidate, ask if they have received or are close to getting an offer. Don’t leave anything to chance – know the activity level of your candidates. You’ve invested a lot of time and resources to attract these candidates and you don’t want to start over. Don’t let your investment flop because you dithered around during the interview process.

?5.????BUY NOW: Be prepared to make an impactful offer quickly. I’ve seen too many companies lose out on their prime candidate because they weren’t prepared to move fast with a great offer and articulate why their company was the best career choice for the candidate. You must keep selling especially during the offer phase. Don’t snooze and lose! Recently one of my outplacement clients received three competing job offers and we worked together to evaluate all of them. The final decision wasn’t about the money -it was about the career growth and company culture.

?6.????ONBOARD: You’ve spent a lot of time, money and perhaps some sleepless nights to hire your top performer. You aren’t done yet! This is the time to invest in onboarding for success and retention. You must equip your new hire with the tools and strategies to get up to speed quickly and achieve results faster. Sadly, this is one of the most overlooked yet highly critical business functions. Invest now for future retention dividends.

?In today’s competitive hiring market, candidates are the customers and companies are the sellers. Be strategic with a well-crafted plan and understand how the buying decisions are made. If you implement just a few of my suggestions, you will be ahead of your completion in the ‘war for manufacturing talent’. Happy Hiring!?

Marni Hockenberg is owner of Hockenberg Search, an Iowa based Outplacement and Career Transition Coaching business. As a former Retained Executive Search professional, Marni has placed hundreds of talented people in the right career and has partnered with business owners in all industries for their hiring and outplacement needs. Her clients benefit from her ‘on the ground’ knowledge of the employment market, vast experience with preparing candidates to land the right job with a solid offer and ‘door-opening’ introductions to key business leaders. In 2020 Marni relocated from Minneapolis to her hometown of Des Moines. While in Minneapolis she founded two Executive Search firms and Gears & Gadgets, a Midwest manufacturing networking group. ?In 2016 she was awarded ‘The Real Power 50’ Power Players of the business community by the?Minnesota Business Magazine. In 2022, Marni founded ExeConnect Iowa, a job transition support and networking group for Executives to find the hidden job market.

Providing job search assistance for your departing professionals is the right thing to do. Contact Marni at [email protected] and 612-720-7448 to learn about her ‘Fast Track to Job Search Success’ program and Interview Boot Camp.?

#manufacturing #manufacturingrecruitment #hiring #talentshortage #manufacturingjobs #manufacturingleadership #talent #talentattraction #execonnectiowa