How Powell Industries took back control of their recruiting process and saw impressive results with the next generation of LinkedIn Career Pages
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Recruiting talent
Understanding the state of the most in-demand manufacturing candidates can help you make better talent decisions.
- Where are candidates located?
- Where should you open your next office?
- Which of your competitors are vying for the same talent?
- What’s the size of the candidate pool you’re recruiting from?
Read on for insights into how to gain a competitive advantage in the hiring market.
Searching for talent
The qualified manufacturing talent you’re looking for is out there, and the best way to find it is by searching through online networks. To do this successfully, you need to understand essential search operators, write appealing job descriptions, and master candidate engagement tactics.
The vast majority of candidates, especially those in the Generation X and millennial generations, use online job boards like LinkedIn to find open positions. Making your role stand out among the thousands of similar positions online can be daunting and time consuming. To help, we’ve put together job description templates for five of the most common roles in the manufacturing industry. Use these templates to save yourself some time and learn what manufacturing candidates are looking for in a job description.
For more, check out the full selection of job templates.
A machine operator is responsible for working with heavy machinery so that companies are able to manufacture and distribute goods effectively. These professionals set up machinery to start a production cycle, operate and oversee equipment, test machines to make sure they’re running smoothly, feed raw materials into semiautomated machines, and adhere to health and safety regulations at all times. Machine operators must be meticulous, skilled individuals who can contribute directly to the success of a company’s product. Excelling in this role takes years of on-the-job training; it’s vital to understand the nuances – and hazards – of each particular machine.
Responsibilities
- Verify that safety equipment on machinery is functional prior to operation
- Follow production instructions, either written or verbal, as necessary
- Set up and perform minor calibrations on machinery as needed
- Operate machinery in a manner that’s safe to yourself and others
- Perform inspections of machinery to ensure efficient operation and production
- Maintain high quality of products as produced through machinery
Skills and Qualifications
- High school diploma or GED
- 1–3 months related experience in a manufacturing setting
- Ability to read, write, and understand instructions
- Ability to add, subtract, multiply, and divide in all units of measurement, using whole numbers, common fractions, and decimals
- Ability to use arms and legs, and lift 30 lbs.
LinkedIn is an excellent source for finding qualified manufacturing candidates. To kick off your search, you can go to our search engine and type in the name of the role that you’re hiring for. But while the search results may be high in quantity, there are often many candidates who aren’t qualified for the role – either because they don’t have the right experiences or skill sets, or because they’re in an entirely irrelevant function or position. And unless you know exactly what to look for, it can be hard to narrow down your search, causing you to spend hours parsing top talent from candidates that don’t quite fit the bill.
Boolean strings can save the day. These allow you to search for candidates more strategically by letting you filter your search results based on the things that matter most to you, like specific job titles, skills, education, and other keywords.
LinkedIn’s Boolean operators are a bit different than those found on other sites, so it’s important to construct your searches properly to get the results you want. Use straight quotation marks (") around a word or phrase that must be included – curly quotation marks (“) won’t work. Or try adding the word “NOT” immediately before a search term that you don’t want to see in your results. You can also use the word “OR” between search terms to find people who match at least some of your requirements, or “AND” to find someone who matches them all. If you need to narrow your search even further, you can put parentheses around multiple terms – we’ll delve deeper into that in a moment.
- Always type “NOT”, “OR”, and “AND” in capital letters or they won’t work
- The “+” and “-” operators or the wild card “*” searches are not officially supported by LinkedIn
It may help to think of Boolean searches kind of like math, meaning that LinkedIn Recruiter reads certain parts of the search string before it reads others. That means that poorly worded strings can lead to bad results. Don’t worry, though – understanding how LinkedIn prioritizes search operators can help set up your searches accordingly. The order of precedence is:
- Quotes
- Parentheses
- NOT
- AND
- OR
Parentheses are key. These help you clearly communicate your intention to LinkedIn’s search engine, so you should use them around certain search terms as much as possible. Let’s look at some examples of how search strings can help you find talent for the most in-demand manufacturing roles.
To hone in on your ideal candidates, start by creating searches that use clear, concise phrasing. To do this, you’ll need to have a good understanding of the skills and experience that the role requires. From there, use smart searching techniques to find candidates who match your criteria. For more help, select “All Filters” on LinkedIn’s search function to specify additional aspects of an ideal candidate. These search tips can save you time, so you can get back to engaging the best talent for your roles.
Engaging with talent
It’s vital that you develop a method for effectively starting the conversation with manufacturing candidates, whether you’re messaging them directly or posting an attention-grabbing job post. A great way to accomplish this is by keeping your company’s key differentiators – including company culture, brand, and mission – at the forefront.
Learning about a new job opportunity can be exciting, but many talented candidates receive a mountain of emails from recruiters. If you want to be noticed, you need to create a message that stands out and immediately piques a candidate’s interest.
General best practices when writing candidate emails:
- Keep your subject lines short and sweet
- High-performing subject lines often use keywords like “thanks,” “exclusive invitation,” “connect,” “job opportunity,” and “join us.”
- Craft a conversation starter
- It’s a mistake to simply copy and paste a job description in your outreach. Instead, engage candidates right away by asking them about their career goals and aspirations. From there, make an argument for how your role can help them make strides along their chosen career path.
- Ditch the formality – keep your tone conversational
- Even if the role you’re hiring for is serious, your approach to candidates doesn’t have to be super formal. Use language that aligns with your personal voice and shines with authenticity.
Successful communication begins by establishing a personal connection with a candidate and sparking their interest in your role. Even if you use a template, that template should be customized to fit a candidate’s unique profile and your own style. Check out these examples, and get started expertly engaging manufacturing talent.
Hi [NAME],
I came across your profile while looking for qualified warehouse managers, and your experience is impressive. With five years at [Company X], including three years serving as a warehouse manager at their Seattle facility, I’m sure you probably have your pick of jobs, but I have a role where you could really shine.
[Company Y] is comprised of dedicated, enthusiastic team members like yourself. Every day, our employees manufacture and ship products that enrich the lives of people around the world. I’d love to speak with you about how you could make a difference here, as well as learn more about your career goals. Let me know if there’s a good time for us to connect.
Best,
[YOUR NAME]
Hi [NAME],
Would you be interested in setting up a time to talk about how your experience aligns with a role I’m looking to fill? From what I’ve seen on your profile, you have what it takes to accomplish great things at [Company X], and we’d love to share more about how we could work together.
Our founders began [Company X] with the mission of providing top-quality electrical services to clients across [Location]. Today, we’re fulfilling that goal by employing candidates who are truly passionate about what they do. We’re also big believers in supporting your career goals, which is why we offer every employee paid training and reimbursement for continued education courses.
Let me know when you’re free for a quick call. I look forward to hearing from you!
Best,
[YOUR NAME]
Hi [NAME],
You may get dozens of these emails a day, but not from a company like ours. [Company X] isn’t your typical manufacturing facility. Unlike the rest, we’re employee-owned and operated, and we treat our team members just as we treat our clients: with respect and understanding.
Are you tired of working for employers who don’t care about your professional goals or a healthy work-life balance? Our founders were too, which is why they created [Company X]. We’ve been ranked one of the top places to work in [Location] for five years running, and we’re just getting started.
Before you delete this message, I’d love the opportunity to learn more about your career interests. I think you’d be a great fit at [Company X] and I’d welcome the opportunity to make my case over the phone. Do you have a time to talk this week?
Best,
[YOUR NAME]
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