Tap into the Potential of Mid-Career Job Candidates

Many manufacturers continue to face challenges in their quest to recruit employees. If you are struggling with acquiring talent, consider doing more to attract mid-career workers – individuals in their thirties, forties and fifties who seek new employment opportunities. Armed with experience and skills acquired during years of working, they can be hired to fill critical roles and help propel your company forward.

Here are some helpful tips:

Determine Whom You Are Targeting
When you think of “mid-career employees,” what comes to mind? How experienced are they? What skills and traits do they have? Which roles can they fill? Exploratory questions like these can help you recognize the right talent for your business.

Showcase Your Company as a Great Workplace
Shape and promote this narrative through multiple channels, including your website, marketing materials, and YouTube channel.

Communicate How Your Company Values Mid-Career Workers
On your website Careers page and within specific job descriptions, state that mid-career workers (including military veterans) are encouraged to apply. You could even create a landing page dedicated to mid-career employment. Be sure to mention sought-after benefits, on-the-job training, plant safety, meaningful work, advanced technology, career-advancement opportunities, and other aspects that will attract individuals who have been in the workforce for a while. These attributes will make your company more magnetic, to help attract high-potential applicants.

Create Engagement with Social Media
Having an active presence on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram allows you to interact with potential mid-career hires. Posting frequently can help these individuals learn about your company’s values and culture, and see how it employs people of all ages.

Develop an Attractive Compensation Package
Make it competitive with what others offer in your industry. Also, highlight what makes your package appealing to mid-career candidates.

Prioritize Professional Development
Many mid-career workers desire professional growth just as much as younger employees. Therefore, make professional development an important component of your workforce-retainment strategy, and communicate it to job candidates.

Promote Open Positions on Job Boards
Job boards provide a quick way to advertise open positions for mid-career workers. www.ThomasNet.com, in particular, fills a critical need in the manufacturing sector with its job board, labeled as an “Industrial Employer Resource Hub.” It is designed to help industrial/manufacturing leaders who are looking for accomplished, mid-career employment candidates. Of course, you also can post job descriptions on other, more general job boards, such as Career Builder, Glassdoor, Indeed, LinkedIn, Monster, Simply Hired, and ZipRecruiter.

TIP: LinkedIn has job description templates that you can edit and use to fill certain positions, including Machine Operator, Plant Manager, Quality Control Specialist, and Warehouse Manager.

Motivate Employees to Help Recruit
They already know your company is a great place to work. Plus, they may know mid-career workers who could fill open positions. The key is to incentivize them to refer promising applicants. You can do this by offering a reward for every new referral who is hired and remains on the job for at least three months. The reward could be a generous cash bonus, a week of vacation time, or some other enticement with perceived high value.

Promote from Within
Developing a future manufacturing workforce requires leaving no stone unturned. That means looking inward, in addition to outward, when searching for talent. Begin by examining your efforts to advance mid-career employees to higher-level positions. Are those efforts working well, or do you find the results are less than adequate? If you deem that more can be done, explore what else you can do to prepare workers with the knowledge and skills they need to be promoted. By providing enhanced training, certification programs, and other learning opportunities, you can ensure that they are ready and qualified to move into new positions.

GET MORE IDEAS – watch the recorded EXPAND YOUR SEARCH: Recruitment Marketing in a Digital World Webinar to learn digital marketing strategies that can help your company to recruit talent more effectively, connecting you the employees you need - NOW.

Related articles: 9 Ways to Build Up Your High-School Talent Pipeline, 9 Tips for Attracting College Talent, and Hiring Tech-Minded Millennials.