It is a common problem: there are jobs available for skilled workers in the manufacturing field, but there aren’t enough skilled workers to fill the jobs. When you hear reports about unemployment and jobs that are available in different fields, there is often a large discrepancy between the experience of those who are seeking employment, and the experience of employers who are seeking skilled employees. If there are so many people who are looking for work, then it ought to be easy to find someone who can fill your vacancy, right? Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case.
In fact, in a survey of U.S manufacturing executives across a variety of different fields, including automotive, consumer goods, industrial parts, high-tech industries and electronics, it was found that finding qualified and skilled workers ranks as the number one or two issue facing manufacturing corporations today.
Why Skilled Labor Matters
The bottom line is that quality manufacturing can only happen when you have qualified workers. Unfortunately, the most difficult jobs for manufacturers to fill are the ones that are most necessary. CNC machine shops, CNC production, and CNC automation are all dependent on skilled labor. As a manufacturing employer, if you don’t know where to recruit skilled labor, then you may be faced with an issue of not being able to fully staff your manufacturing operation.
Old-fashioned methods of spreading news about a job vacancy doesn’t work anymore. You can’t rely on word of mouth or a newspaper post to bring you the candidates that you want. If you want the best people for the job, then you need to advertise the job where the best people are already looking. This means taking advantage of the internet, but more specifically than that, this means developing an online hiring strategy for your quality manufacturing facility.
Here are a few tips to help you find the right candidates for your position:
- Advertise on employment websites. Pushing your vacancy to the top of the list via a sponsored advertisement can dramatically increase your applicant pool.
- Be specific about the requirements. Don’t be vague when posting your job requirements. Let the applicants know what you are looking for, this way your applicant pool is full of qualified candidates who you may want to consider.
- Utilize a social network. Over 80% of adults use social media, so it makes sense to reach out to your potential applicants where they already are. You don’t want to directly poach employees from a competitor, but by letting more people know about your vacancy you may encourage someone to apply who hadn’t thought about leaving their current job.
- Work with local schools. By partnering with a local school, you can ensure that students are gaining the skills that you are looking for, and then you can create a candidate pool of fresh graduates who are already trained in your areas of need. Schools are often interested in working with potential employers, as it encourages students to enroll if they know there are job opportunities at the other end.
If you want skilled workers, you need to put your job advertisement out there where the skilled workers are going to see it. Finding the right candidates can reduce your training costs significantly, helping you to focus more on production and sales, which is what is going to help your business grow.