Finding qualified staff can be doubly challenging when you need employees to possess specific knowledge that is necessary to perform a job. Companies may find that the applications they receive don’t meet their minimum requirements, making the process cumbersome for everyone involved.
How to Overcome Specialized Staffing Issues in Reliability
As technology advances, the maintenance and reliability industry has grown along with it, becoming increasingly innovative and heightening the demand for workers with specific skill sets.
Today, it is more important than ever to ensure you have the right staff in place, especially for those who require specialized staffing. Unfortunately, with these swift changes has come a transition in the way that employees search for jobs, leaving some companies who are still doing things the old ways behind in the dust.
Productivity and efficiency have skyrocketed thanks to innovation and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). The industry is adjusting to workforce shifts due to an aging population and a labor force participation rate that has plummeted to its lowest since the 1970s.
How can you improve the hiring process while also drawing in more qualified candidates? The power lies in taking a more active approach to recruitment. Before we dive into solutions, though, we’ll need to examine current challenges and why they pose an issue.
Common Challenges in Recruiting and Staffing for Reliability Engineering
To determine what steps companies should take to improve, it’s necessary to take stock of current struggles with efficiency in maintenance and reliability. While there have been many positive changes over the last few decades, these developments have led to inevitable growing pains.
Some of the most common issues companies are facing include:
Boomer Retirement
By now, most in the reliability and maintenance industry understand the implications of the looming retirement of baby boomers. These employees have been there through the industry changes over the last several decades, which has given them a unique wealth of knowledge to pass along to newer employees. As these workers leave, however, the opportunity to learn from their abundant experience diminishes, making it even more important for companies to invest in alternative methods of education to ensure their workforce is constantly improving.
Lack of Training
Just as important as knowledge gained from mentors, training and continuing education are essential for workers in industries that are undergoing rapid evolution, such as maintenance and reliability. As more new workers enter the workforce, training may have to take the place where mentors once passed along knowledge. In addition, a blue collar labor shortage has been plaguing many companies in the industrial and manufacturing field, making it harder to find the talent they so desperately need.
Outdated Recruitment Process
Technology has revolutionized the way we do many things, and job hunting is no exception. Today, it’s no longer enough to simply post your job openings on a job site. To stay ahead of the game, companies must take an active approach to filling positions. This is especially important in fields where competition is fierce, such as reliability. Even with updated procedures, many companies find they still lose out on their top candidates. Sometimes, this is due to a long and drawn-out hiring process, which just won’t do for today’s candidates. Wait too long, and your favorites could lose interest.
Lack of Time
Even if you want to take a more proactive approach to hiring, you may not have the bandwidth to do so. Search efforts for specialized staff can be complicated and unfortunately for many companies, lack of time is a major issue. Busy HR departments may be forced to deprioritize recruitment efforts when more immediate concerns arise. Add to this the expenses that can accompany dedicated recruitment efforts, especially when companies go it alone. However, leaving important positions unfilled can be even more costly.
How to Overcome
Recruiting and Staffing Pitfalls
As we enter the future and greater opportunities unfold, companies must decide how they will move forward to overcome their greatest specialized staffing challenges. There are two main approaches you can take: improve your internal hiring process, or hire an external staffing and recruiting service to gain access to a wider pool of candidates.
Enlist the Help of a Recruiting or Staffing Service
Want to improve your hiring process but don’t have time to manage it yourself? When working with a professional recruiting or staffing service, you’ll gain access to a wider pool of candidates and get the support you need to succeed. Recruiting or staffing services, such as those provided by Allied, provide many advantages to companies, which include:
Active Recruitment
Instead of waiting for the right candidates to appear, companies who offer staffing and recruiting services seek out qualified workers so you can find exactly who you need.
Attracting More Qualified Candidates
These days, candidates are more difficult to find. In fact, many aren’t even actively looking for jobs; they may already be employed elsewhere. Staffing services can connect you with workers who have the skills you desire.
Better Resources
Recruiting services often have resources that individual companies may not, which they can use to connect candidates with employers who need specific roles in specific settings.
Cultivating Success in the Future
To be successful, your recruitment and staffing efforts should be a full-time priority. Having a dedicated person for the task is ideal. Remember that the hiring manager and HR team need to be on the same page to ensure there’s not a disconnect. Communication and flexibility are key, especially when it comes to expectations about candidates and the current market.
Most importantly, take the time to actively engage your current workforce. Nothing spreads the word about a great place to work better than a happy team.
Are you considering working with a professional staffing service? With a network of 60,000 employees, along with their expertise in the maintenance and reliability field, Allied Reliability can connect you with the qualified workers you need.
Improve Your Hiring Process, From Start to Finish
Want to streamline your hiring process for better results? The following steps can help you get there.
- Perform an audit: Take a close look at your current operations to decide what your organization needs.
- Make a plan: Once you have outlined your needs, it’s time to determine how you can get there (for example, to fill certain positions, will you need to refine job qualifications?)
- Assess your procedures: Make sure your interview/hiring procedures are comprehensive. Enlist a dedicated person to be there for candidates to make sure they don’t lose interest.
- Establish support: The process shouldn’t end with a job offer. After hiring, ensure your team has the proper support from management to be successful in their roles.
- Invest in your workforce: Make training and continuing professional education a priority to maintain a strong, reliable workforce.
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