It’s no secret that manufacturing recruitment is tough these days. Experienced Baby Boomer workers are slowly leaving the field, Gen X is approaching retirement themselves, and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is powering the manufacturing world to the future. On top of these challenges, Manufacturers Alliance found that 61% of companies say entry-level candidates are the hardest to recruit.

With a tight labor pool and a growing skills gap, recruiting staff are struggling to attract and retain talent through the entire hiring process. Let’s go over a few tips for recruiting manufacturing talent.

Increase workplace diversity

Studying over 30 million profiles, the recruiting platform Zippia found that nearly 57% of the manufacturing workforce is men. To hire young talent, one of your strategies must be to diversify your talent pool. One way to do so is by hiding names and photos on resumes to prevent bias if you’re already attracting diverse applicants. Not only is attracting and hiring a diverse group the right thing to do, but a 2020 Gartner survey projected that businesses that focus on this aspect of recruiting are more likely to exceed their financial goals.

Always hiring

To avoid downtime in between hires and to keep the business running smoothly, hiring the right employees is key. Look for candidates who have the right skills, mindsets, credentials, experience and certifications you need to keep up with the day-to-day and avoid downtime. Just missing one key position can slow down production and cost manufacturers money.

Use career sites to tell your story

The general public sees manufacturing as the backbone of the country, but not always a great industry to work in. to change public opinion on what manufacturing can offer to someone’s future, you can tell your company story in your job description, highlight modern technologies, offer competitive salaries and benefits. Some ways you can encourage someone to apply include:

• Feature employee testimonials and your workplace satisfaction rating.
• Make it easy to find relevant roles to their skills.
• Show off your company culture, values and industry wins.
• Take pride in how you give back to your community or put safety first.
• Provide a glimpse into your benefits and wellness packages.

Do all this and more to create excitement around the open position while you inform candidates about the opportunity.

Streamline your hiring process

If you have a lot of applications and they’re all talented candidates, there are ways to streamline your hiring process so that you’re not reading through each one and only top talent shine through. A dedicated candidate relationship management (CRM) system can sift through keywords in a resume to find candidates who are more qualified for the position.

A hiring tracking system could even help your onboarding process run more smoothly with automated push throughs, alerts and checklists.