Recruiting for niche manufacturing sectors can be challenging. Sectors such as aerospace and medical devices require specialized skills that few manufacturing professionals have.
Fortunately, hiring managers can take steps to recruit in niche manufacturing sectors. The following suggestions can help.
Recruiting for Niche Manufacturing Roles
Recruiting for niche manufacturing roles requires more outreach, personalization, and touchpoints than recruiting for other roles. Examples of these niche roles include:
- Plant managers
- Plant superintendents
- Shift leaders
- Department leaders
- Shipping and receiving managers
- Certain engineers
- IT architects
- Cybersecurity professionals
Choose among these methods to overcome the challenge of recruiting in niche manufacturing sectors.
Alter Perceptions of the Manufacturing Industry
Many candidates with niche skills are biased against working in manufacturing. For instance, they might believe the myths that jobs are on the decline, do not pay well, and lack flexibility. In reality, manufacturing jobs continue to be added, wages are increasing, and many jobs support work-life balance:
- According to the L2L report What’s Holding Manufacturers Back in 2024, the manufacturing industry will need an estimated 3.8 million additional workers within the next decade.
- The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which were signed into law in 2021 and 2022 to encourage investment in manufacturing, created over 75,000 jobs.
- Labor Titan’s 2024 Annual Wage Trends and Forecast – US Manufacturing report stated that manufacturing wages have experienced above-average growth for the past 2 years. Also, the tight labor market will keep wage increases above historical levels.
- Many manufacturing employers offer flexible start and end times, shift swapping, rotating shifts, shorter workweeks, and job sharing.
Educating candidates with niche skills on manufacturing industry advancements helps alter their perceptions. Showing the benefits of working in manufacturing encourages these candidates to apply to niche roles.
Recruit Recent Graduates for Niche Manufacturing Roles
Partner with local high schools, trade programs, technical schools, and community colleges. Also, it offers internships, apprenticeships, and specialized training programs for upcoming and recent graduates to fill niche roles.
Hiring young professionals starting their careers offers opportunities to shape their learning and development. These activities create a pipeline of talent for niche manufacturing roles.
Implement Digital Transformation for Recruitment
Add big data, systems integration, and cloud computing to your recruitment tools and technologies. For instance, implement an applicant tracking system (ATS) to post job advertisements, reach out and respond to applicants, and manage applicant information and relationships.
Storing details about an applicant’s education, skills, experience, and other relevant information provides a database to find qualified candidates for niche roles. Recording notes about candidate interactions helps build relationships. As a result, candidates with niche skills will be inclined to meet to discuss relevant job openings.
Partner with a Manufacturing Recruitment Firm
Connectology can help you recruit and retain niche manufacturing talent in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Find out more today.
