Technical Recruitment
Recruitment is a key area of growth for manufacturers, and a highly critical, necessary process – a process that you can either execute proactively or experience reactively.
The Importance of Technical Recruitment
A reactive, uncontrolled hiring process leaves roles open for months, delaying projects and inflating overtime costs. It increases the difficulty of identifying good talent, moving candidates efficiently through your pipeline, and retaining the talent you worked so hard to source. All of this is exacerbated by the current hiring landscape seen in the manufacturing industry.
Due to the aging workforce and growing skills gap, the hiring landscape for technical talent in the United States has never been more competitive, and this isn’t showing signs of improving in the near future.
Over 400,000 manufacturing positions went unfilled in 2025
3.8 million manufacturing positions are projected to be open by 2033
Over 75% of manufacturers reported that they're struggling to fill technical roles
Recruitment Support @ Spark'd
Recruitment is directly tied to growth, and manufacturers who recruit and retain talent well are the ones who win. If the other areas of your organization are growing and you’re winning new business, you need to ensure that your workforce can keep up.
There are three key areas in recruitment that manufacturers need to get right: strategy, processes, and systems.
Strategy
Your strategy encompasses workforce planning, sourcing channels, candidate experience, technology, and compliance – all of which dictate and drive your processes and systems.
Processes
Your processes should address candidate sourcing, application management, interviewing, hiring, onboarding, and offboarding – essentially the entire employee lifecycle.
Systems
Your systems include your hiring channels, applicant tracking system (ATS), and CRM – this matrix of technology is how you will source and manage your candidates once they’re in your talent pipeline.