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As of January 2024, nearly 622,000 manufacturing job openings in the U.S. remain unfilled.
Anytime a position remains unfilled, there’s a reason—and more importantly, there’s a solution.
This post directed towards positions that remain unfilled for 90+days and are not getting any real traction.
I’ve spent over 17 years recruiting Maintenance and Engineering professionals in the Food Processing and Cold Storage industry. I’ve learned that if a position isn’t filled in reasonable amount of time, there’s always an underlying issue. But every challenge has its root cause, and therefore my mission is to uncover that cause and create a tailored solution.
When you review your recruitment process from start to finish, you’ll find that every step matters. But the single most important step is crafting an alignment strategy that unites all stakeholders: the hiring manager, HR, the candidate, and even the channels through which you source talent. Therefore, the first challenge is understanding exactly what skills and background is needed—and how much flexibility exists in your requirements and the search strategy. This initial conversation will have a direct impact on how quickly you are able to close that position.
Consider this: many food manufacturing facilities around the country have open positions that are simply going unfilled, or they fill one role only to have another open up. If your position remains vacant it’s likely because what’s being offered is not in alignment with what’s available. Over the past 3 years we have seen wages for Maintenance Techs skyrocket, especially when speaking about specialized skill sets such as Ammonia Refrigeration and Industrial Maintenance.
When I embarked on my career in this industry roughly 17 years ago, I made a deliberate choice to focus on recruiting Ammonia Refrigeration Technicians. At the time, there was a noticeable scarcity of skilled professionals in this field, which translated into a consistent demand for talent and a steady stream of job opportunities. Fast forward to the present, and that initial shortage has evolved into a broader challenge: an aging workforce, with a sea of gray-haired workers nearing retirement and only a trickle of younger talent stepping in to replace them.
Today, the skilled trades sector faces a profound shortage across nearly all disciplines. This scarcity has driven wages beyond what many might have anticipated, necessitating more sophisticated recruitment strategies and highly competitive offerings to attract talent. It’s critical that we fully grasp the gravity of this situation—the skilled trades shortage is not only real, but it’s intensifying with each passing day.
Wage often trumps everything, and if wage was no issue many jobs would be filled within a few days. But if for most of us, strict hiring budgets and skill requirements have little to no flexibility and tools and services we use to connect with candidates usually have huge limitations as well.
So where do we go from here? With any troubled position the hiring process begins with a joint discussion between the hiring manager and HR to pinpoint the exact skills needed for day-to-day operations. We must weigh the impact of those requirements on wages, relocation costs, and even internal equity issues and work to find a balance that will actually work based on all of the critical hiring criteria.
For example, we worked with a cold storage facility that had been without an Ammonia Refrigeration Technician for over two years. The facility had increased its wage offers, but market wage requirements had risen even faster. Therefore, without flexibility in wages or other hiring criteria, the position continues to languish unfilled to this day. Not developing a clear path forward means you are relying on chance rather than a well-defined plan.
Any good hiring manager aspires to find the best possible candidate. But not understanding how those requirements impact the hiring process can create a hiring target that’s nearly impossible to meet, prolonging the search. Therefore, it’s essential to find a balanced approach between actual facility needs, market availability, wage and benefits package along with the search strategy. Many times, small changes in the requirements can result in amazing hires at or below market value.
In our experience as a third-party service provider, we have successfully driven these conversations forward. But the art of the alignment process lies in getting all stakeholders on board and truly understanding the challenges at hand. Therefore, a comprehensive, flexible plan is your best bet to finally fill those critical positions.
If you have an important Maintenance or Engineering role that has yet to be filled, you might be a great candidate for an alignment call with our team. To learn more about our services and how we can help, please visit www.nh3jobs.com or reach out directly at jim@nh3jobs.com.
I sincerely hope this insight proves useful, and I wish you a wonderful rest of your week.
Ready, Set, HIRE!
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