When the world was turned upside down at the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in March of 2020, there weren’t many companies, organizations, or individuals who were unaffected. At the business level, employers had to lay off thousands of workers and we saw unemployment rates skyrocket, in turn, taking its toll on the economy. The good news is, we are now past the one-year mark of when Covid reared its ugly head and things are starting to look up. As the economy continues to open up, we can expect to see thousands of job postings popping up for open positions, on top of the hundreds of thousands of jobs created this past March alone. While this is all fantastic news, employers are facing new challenges, and let’s not forget, the world of Recruitment Marketing has plenty of obstacles and challenges to overcome, pandemic or not. Here’s a look at the Manufacturing industry.
The New Normal
Anyone who has gone on the internet or seen any TV commercials over the past year is probably very tired of hearing the phrase, “new normal,” especially because it can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. What we mean in this case, is people are used to working from home, and in large part, have no desire to go back to the office. As mentioned before, the good, or great news, is that our country’s economy is opening up and people are starting to go back to work. The challenge, as always, lies in recruiting qualified talent. Working from home being the new normal just adds another layer of difficulty, especially in an industry such as Manufacturing, whose positions often require a hands-on, in-person, work schedule.
Many of us worked in a traditional office setting 5 days a week prior to everything shutting down, and were able to make the seamless transition to 100% remote work due to being able to hold meetings and communicate virtually. But as mentioned before, if you’re hiring for manufacturing jobs, chances are your candidates would be working in person. For many, in-person work just isn’t an option due to susceptibility to the coronavirus, and being around co-workers every day would be a health risk. For others, they’ve been watching with envy as their friends and family members made the 30-second commute from their bedrooms to their desks. No matter what the rationale is, the result stays the same, people want to work remotely, making it harder than ever for manufacturing companies to get people hired and out on the factory floors.
For many, the threat and fear of Covid go beyond the day-to-day demands of these positions, and many don’t even feel comfortable going to an in-person interview or receiving job training/getting certifications in-person. What if we told you that we can take your hiring process virtual while attracting candidates, many of who are pre-qualified for your manufacturing positions? Veterans bring a wealth of knowledge and experience with them as they transition out of the military. The values of teamwork, discipline, and leadership have been engrained and they know what it means to put in a hard day’s work. Welcome to the G.I. Jobs Virtual Hiring Expo.
Meet your Next Great hire
Tap into the military community at the next G.I. Jobs Career Expo and meet with hundreds of qualified veterans, active duty service members, and military spouses at this virtual hiring event. Using the first-party data that we’ve collected for almost 2 decades, paired with the advanced targeting of our military audience, we bring the candidates right to you. Exhibitors have the ability to access the hundreds of candidate resumes prior to the event so that they can screen individuals as well as schedule meeting times in advance, ensuring that you make the most of your time during our event. You can search through the candidate resumes and find the perfect fit for your organization based on military experience, civilian experience, degree level, and more.
Once you’ve found the attendees that spark your interest, you can then schedule one-on-one chats that can be either text-based or a video format based on your preference. We’ve had tremendous success with our past events and look forward to the continued growth of this series. We think the numbers speak for themselves:
– 81% of candidates move on in the talent acquisition process
– Over 60% have a Bachelor’s Degree
– 73% have junior to mid-level experience
The Value of A veteran
The talent acquisition process is one that can often be arduous and expensive, especially when we’re talking about manufacturing jobs. These positions, even before the covid pandemic, typically had a long time to hire because so many of them are labor-intensive and require certifications before work can begin. That’s where you start to lose time and money and that’s where we come in.
Translating a military resume in terms of how those skills and experiences translate isn’t nearly as difficult as people think. If your organization is looking to fill its manufacturing positions with candidates who are both qualified and certified, tap into the military community. Every branch of the military has enlisted positions from Welders and Metalworkers, to Radar and Sonar Repairers, and there are over 230,000 service members who transition out of the military each year, not to mention all of the current veterans and military spouses actively seeking employment.
Now that we’ve locked down our target audience, how do you find them? As previously mentioned, if you are interested in our G.I. Jobs Virtual Career Expo, we can bring the candidates directly to you. If you’re more interested in pushing your messaging directly to the digital devices of your desired audience, we have a number of different digital targeting tactics we can use to help build brand awareness within the military community. And if you’re interested in more traditional means of marketing, our G.I. Jobs and Military Spouse publications are distributed to military bases and military-centric organizations around the globe in both digital and print formats.
If you are like most of our clients, you’ve realized by now that what would best fit your organization is some sort of blend of these different marketing options. Don’t worry, we’ve got it covered. If you’re interested in how we can blend these tactics to form a marketing campaign that best fits your needs, fill out the Strategy Call Form below, and somebody from our team will reach out with more information.