3 simple tips for machine shops to get better at hiring

hireCNC has been recruiting CNC Machinists for Machine Shops for almost a year now. It’s not challenging to find shops that want help with hiring. Many are willing to pay our 25% fee if we can land them a good machinist. It’s tough out there. Almost every shop needs more talent. And they ALL say hiring (machinists) is their #1 priority. But for some of them, their actions say otherwise.

Want to be better at hiring machinists? Here are 3 really simple recommendations.

1. MOVE FASTER. Yes you are busy. But if you want to land more hires, you need to respond quickly. Get a submission with a good resume? Respond that same day to schedule next steps. 48 hours to respond is the absolute max. Anything longer than that means hiring is not a priority for you. A good sales rep would never let a good lead sit and wait for a week. You need to be selling the career opportunity and your shop to the candidate. These machinists have endless options. They are in demand. You need to give them your full attention. Find a way to make this happen.

2. THEY NEED TO SEE THE SHOP. Seems obvious, but you’d be surprised. For example... we had an employer with a stellar candidate very interested. They had the candidate onsite for the interview. But nobody had time to show him the shop after the interview. Everyone was too busy (mostly just a disconnect between HR and the hiring Manager I think). They tried to have him back 3 weeks later to show him the shop. Too late, he signed with another company. This stuff happens far too often.

3. YOU NEED TO BE FLEXIBLE WITH INTERVIEW TIMES. It’s challenging for machinists to slip away for interviews. They are paid hourly and need to work. Many are working overtime as well. If hiring is a priority for you, then you will interview candidates early AM, late afternoon, evening, on weekends, whatever it takes. Easier said than done but this is what it takes. From our experience, when the owner is in charge of hiring, they get it. They always find a way to make time for the good candidate.

That’s it. And if you want help finding good CNC machinists/operators/programmer let us know. But, we only want to help if hiring is actually a top priority for you!