Manufacturers today face a talent shortage. They are challenged by the tight labor market and the skills gap. It’s estimated, for example, that by the year 2020, there will be roughly 3.5 million unfilled American manufacturing jobs.
When key positions go unfilled, it can be difficult for you to maintain your competitive advantage. Orders may be declined, and customer service may suffer – jeopardizing your existing customer relationships.
Proactive vs. reactive
It may seem counter intuitive, but to meet your short-term staffing needs, you need to take a long-term approach.
Recruiting talent, like acquiring customers, is a process that never stops. Approach hiring proactively, as a strategic initiative – not as a panicked response to open positions.
Instead of merely recruiting to fill open positions, determine who you should hire in the future. In other words, take the steps necessary to develop a talent pipeline.
A talent pipeline is also known as a candidate pool or network. It is an inventory of qualified individuals who could quickly move into your future job openings.
Your talent pipeline
The first step toward creating your pipeline is to project your future staffing needs. Factor in the following scenarios:
- The introduction of new products or services
- Planned retirements
- New equipment or facilities
- Increases in production or capacity
- Sales forecasts and seasonal trends
Then, based on your projections, determine if existing employee, teams and/or departments can handle additional workloads. Consider what will trigger the need to hire (or replace) staff? How do you monitor your staffing needs in relation to sales forecasts? And, how quickly can you train someone to fill the needed positions?
The next steps
In order to develop a pipeline, it is important to identify and “sell” your company to talent. To do so will require that you define your brand and clarify what makes your company a desirable place to work.
In addition, you must create and implement strategies to find, attract and recruit a pool of potential employees. These, and more, are the topics for Part 2!
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