Key tips on recruiting top candidates for manufacturing

The manufacturing industry is one of the most essential sectors in our world. Manufacturers function to meet the constantly rising demand for goods. Nonetheless, as the demand for goods increases, so does the demand for labor.

Increasing demand for manufacturing labor typically means greater difficulties for recruiters to find top talent. However, understanding basic manufacturing skills and using manufacturing skills tests make it far easier to identify and hire top talent.

With high-quality factory workers, your company can reach and surpass its goals and maintain a solid reputation.

Here, we will uncover some key tips and manufacturing skills to consider when you’re recruiting manufacturing personnel for your company.

Why is it necessary to hire top candidates for manufacturing?

From food and clothing to gadgets and technology, manufacturers build and distribute the items that shape the world as we know it. For such an important sector, it is essential to hire the best candidates to handle manufacturing operations.

Of all the issues the manufacturing industry faces, inadequate or inefficient labor is the most challenging. Without highly skilled factory workers, industries would suffer from low sales, low quality of produced goods, and poor public image.

Skilled manufacturing personnel are essential for the success of any manufacturing industry – not just because they build the products the company sells, but because they comprise the very framework of the organization and its operations.

Aside from quality production, top-notch manufacturing personnel have skills that reduce the risk of problems arising in the manufacturing process. They provide solutions to the issues that arise as they work while ensuring efficiency.

Therefore, hiring top employees for manufacturing ensures that your company can offer the best services despite the challenges and can build and maintain a firm reputation with the public.

7 skills to look out for when recruiting manufacturing candidates

The basic role of manufacturing personnel is to produce goods to meet customers’ needs. However, they need various technical and soft skills to work effectively.

Here are some skills to look out for when hiring manufacturers:

1. Attention to detail

Manufacturing workers must be attentive to and take note of any details as they work. Attention to detail helps prevent them from making errors that could lead to flaws in their production.

2. Critical thinking

Critical thinking is a soft skill that enables manufacturers to think outside the box and provide viable solutions to the problems that arise. This ability works closely with attention to detail, helping to improve an employee’s efficiency.

Manufacturing personnel with critical-thinking skills are flexible and can adapt to various conditions while ensuring the quality of the items they produce.

3. Communication skills

Communication skills in the manufacturing workplace are invaluable and help to ensure the smooth running of an organization’s operations. Manufacturers with effective communication skills can convey information to others effectively and in a way that’s easily understood.

Effective communication also helps the exchange of ideas in the workplace and brings about greater innovations that bolster an organization’s success.

4. Learning skills

Manufacturing personnel need to be able to learn new things to improve the quality of their work. With the variety of jobs available in the manufacturing workplace, they need to undergo training to use new machinery or perform different tasks.

5. Knowledge and interest in technology

The manufacturing industry depends on technologies to function properly. Hence, any factory worker must have basic knowledge of the machines in their area in order to excel at their work.

6. Hard skills

Hard skills are role-specific and vary with each job in the manufacturing organization. When recruiting, you should check candidates for the basic role-specific skills needed for different functions in the workplace.

7. Reliability

Of course, manufacturing personnel must be trustworthy to deliver quality or carry out various tasks properly. But manufacturers also work in teams – for any team to be productive, the members need to rely on each other. 

Recommended reading: The 7 best assessments for manufacturing jobs

8 tips for recruiting top manufacturing candidates

As a recruiter, you want to hire skilled candidates who want to help boost your organization’s success.

To help you achieve this, we’ve put together eight useful tips for recruiting top manufacturing candidates.

1. Determine your company’s needs before publishing a job posting.

2. Ensure that your job description shows your company’s culture.

3. Include attractive offers.

4. Choose the right platforms to post your job description.

5. Check candidates’ soft skills thoroughly.

6. Check candidates’ familiarity with equipment.

7. Hold comprehensive interviews and extend a job offer as soon as possible.

8. Carry out an excellent onboarding and orientation process.

1. Determine your company’s needs before publishing a job posting

Determining your manufacturing company’s needs is the first step for an effective recruitment process. Setting standards enables you to filter candidates even before they apply. These standards work with your recruitment strategy to help you find the right candidates 

2. Ensure that your job description shows your company’s culture

It can be extremely frustrating to find a highly skilled candidate who doesn’t match your company’s culture. Thus, your job description must reflect your organization’s culture. Doing this helps you avoid disappointment and makes your hiring easier.

3. Include attractive offers 

Stating the remuneration for the role in your job description helps candidates understand what to expect before applying.

The more attractive your offers are, the higher your chances of attracting top talent. And when you outline your offers, you should consider the average pay of a factory worker to align your offers with your budget.

4. Choose the right platforms to post your job description

Where you post your job description matters if you want to hire the right manufacturers. Selecting platforms with higher engagement makes it easier for your job description to reach more qualified manufacturers. 

You can find manufacturing candidates on platforms like Indeed.

5. Check candidates’ soft skills thoroughly

During your recruitment, it is crucial to review candidates’ soft skills. Testing candidates for things like communication skills, problem-solving skills, and attention to detail helps you identify the right individuals for your organization.

A great way to test candidates’ soft skills is with pre-employment tests. Usually, these tests are administered before interviews to help save time and resources.

6. Check candidates’ familiarity with equipment

Pre-employment tests are also effective for assessing candidates’ familiarity with equipment relevant to your open role. You can set up a test to examine candidates’ knowledge of the parts of various machines and their functionalities.

7. Hold comprehensive interviews and extend a job offer as soon as possible

Interviews provide an opportunity to see how the candidates express themselves and how they react to certain conditions. They are also a great way to check their communication skills. 

To conduct effective interviews, it is good practice to draft an interview plan and specify the questions you want to ask. Subsequently, you should extend the job offer as soon as you’ve decided who to employ so you can secure the talent you’ve found.

8. Carry out an excellent onboarding and orientation process 

Onboarding and orientation are crucial post-recruitment processes for welcoming new manufacturing employees. During this time, you introduce the recruits to your company’s system and give them a chance to become accustomed to your organization.

The smartest way to recruit top talent

Pre-employment tests make it easy to identify talent for your manufacturing organization. They save time, cost, and energy while increasing the effectiveness of your hiring.

Furthermore, pre-employment tests reduce bias during recruitment and ensure transparency so you can be sure that the manufacturers you recruit meet your standards and are suitable for the post.

TestGorilla has a pre-employment test library with many soft-skill, hard-skill, and personality tests to point you toward the best candidates for your organization. Register with us for free and take the smarter route to hiring today.