Getting a Skilled Machinist Onsite Is Easier Than You Think
Most machine shops with an open seat make the same assumption. They figure the only way to fill it is to post the job, wait, and hope the right person shows up.
Here's what they don't understand. Getting a skilled machinist onsite is a lot easier than you think. Not in a few months. In a few weeks.
I talk to shop owners about this all the time, and it's almost always an eye opener. So here's how it works, and why I think more shops should be doing it.
The perfect hire takes a while
Every shop owner I talk to wants the same hire. A good machinist, at a fair rate, who stays for 10 years or more.
I get it. That's the dream. It's also rare, and it takes a long time to find. Landing a permanent machinist can take months. Sometimes longer. You post the job, sort through resumes, interview, make an offer, wait out a notice period.
Then there's the part nobody likes to talk about. What if they don't work out? You're back at the start, and the machine has been sitting the whole time.
Work keeps coming in. The seat stays empty.
What waiting actually costs
When shops think about a contract machinist, they think about the rate. A contractor costs more per hour than a full-timer, and I won't pretend otherwise. What they don't think about is what the empty seat is costing them. It feels free because nobody's getting a paycheck for it. It isn't.
Here's what's piling up while you wait:
Recruiting. Job ads, recruiter fees, the hours you and your team spend screening and interviewing. If the hire doesn't work out, you pay for all of it again.
Overtime. Somebody has to cover the work. Your best people end up working 50 and 60 hours a week at time and a half, and that gets old quick. Tired people make mistakes, and some of them start looking around.
Work you turn away. This one's the biggest. When you don't have the capacity, you quote long lead times or pass on jobs. Some of those customers don't come back.
Now stretch that out over three to six months. You don't have to put numbers on it for it to sink in. If you sit down and add it up honestly, I'd bet the cost of that open seat is more than the premium you'd pay a contract machinist, and a lot of the time it isn't close.
A contract machinist gets you running now
This is the option a lot of shops don't know is on the table.
With a contract machinist, hireCNC can usually get qualified talent onsite in a few weeks. We keep a network of skilled contract machinists who go where the work is. They know their way around a shop, and they keep production moving.
You're not training someone from scratch or waiting on a notice period. You're getting someone who can run the work.
Who carries the risk
Very little of it falls on you.
hireCNC handles the back office: pay, insurance, benefits and the rest. Your job is to give the contractor the work and keep production moving.
Most contracts run about three months. If the machinist is a great fit, you can extend. If it's not working, it's easy to exit. Compare that with a bad permanent hire.
Why machinists take these jobs
You might wonder who wants to do this. Plenty of machinists do.
Traveling machinists like the higher pay rate. They like the per diem. They like the flexibility to pick their next assignment and see different shops. Those are the people who show up on contract jobs, and they're good at it.
Use a contractor to buy yourself time
Here's the part that surprises most shops.
You don't have to choose between a contractor and a full-time hire. Do both. Put a contract machinist in the seat now, so production keeps moving, and take your time finding the right permanent person.
When you're not desperate, you make better hires. You can wait for the person who's actually worth 10 years.
When we explain this to shops, it's usually an eye opener.
Where to start
If you've got a seat that's been open too long, talk to us. We'll tell you what the market looks like for the role and how fast we could get someone onsite.
We asked machinists in our Facebook group what benefits actually matter, outside of pay. 199 comments and 14,000+ people later, here's what came up again and again.
What contract CNC machinists actually cost, why per diem should be paid seven days a week, and how to run a contract search that doesn't scare off good candidates.
Posting your CNC job on a job board is only half the battle. Learn why the MACHINIST Facebook group has become one of the most effective ways to get machining jobs in front of qualified CNC professionals—and why we believe it's one of the best hiring ads on the market.
