Thermoforming Report

Improving Strategic Hiring Approaches

Yes, the tariffs are the hot topic – and rightly so.  But I’m not going there! 

Though things are most certainly uncertain at the moment, there are still talent gaps you need to fill in your organization.  Company leaders, site leaders, hiring managers, and every HR professional out there with an opening is seeking to find and bring a great new person onto their team. 

Though I’m confident that every company has a way to go about this, in the spirit of continuous improvement, let’s consider a few ways to improve it!

Job Descriptions vs Job Postings

My intention is certainly NOT to throw our hardworking HR partners under the bus!  However, job descriptions are commonly not very good.  By their very nature, they need to be comprehensive yet somewhat general.  They need to provide guidance but rarely highlight the actual need in detail.  And as an official document, they must work to avoid the soft and squishy things that tend to make a huge difference in making that hiring decision!  

Curious about the soft & squishy? Read our blogs about Hiring Beyond Technical Abilities – Part 1 and Part 2!

Don’t get me wrong, a well-crafted JD is a huge asset to have!  I’ve used them many times and candidly, a couple quickly come to mind because of how well written and informative they were.  But… only a couple.  These documents are necessary for providing clear expectations and guidance performance evaluations and will be part of an employee’s file.  However, they are not compelling, and therefore should not be used to court top talent.

Let me say that again: do not post a JD for your opening! 

It will not generate interest from the right kinds of people you want to join your organization.  Instead, you need to craft a job posting that is succinct, powerful, and compelling. 

• Share a key challenge that needs to be overcome. 
• Highlight a bit about the culture and the impact the role will have on the larger organization. 
• Include a couple of ‘must-haves’ and ‘nice-to-haves’ in the Requirements section… but do not use the standard JD language if possible. 
• Be very deliberate with your word choice. 

Though job postings aren’t the best way to pull people, it is a common tool to leverage, so you may as well use it wisely.

Branding and Social Media

We’ve discussed improving your brand on a few different blogs, articles, and reports in recent history. 

Even so, it is important to reiterate briefly here: your hiring process reflects your brand and business. 

• Be strategic about how you talk about your company’s culture on your website and in social media. 
• Highlight your culture and your growth plans. 
• Share some pictures of a celebration you had at a plant that hit the 1-year safe mark. 
• Use video to emphasize those things that make it great to work there.

There are a lot of tools at your disposal, so use them!

Regarding social media, there are a number of platforms out there – too many to count.  LinkedIn is an obvious one, but don’t forget about leveraging others, especially for things that align on that specific type of platform. 

For the celebration above, having those pictures posted on your company’s Facebook page makes sense.  Not only does it up your branding, it bolsters it because your team members are more likely to see it and show it off at a backyard bbq.  Post a video of product being made on Insta or X.  All of that adds up and helps confirm and solidify prospective talent’s opinions before they even get an interview.

The Hiring Process

I’m a broken record here, but it needs to be repeated: do this well!  The hiring process can be messy and chaotic – trust me, I get it!  But with 10 years in the business and working with a variety of big and small companies, the common thread is that most companies do not do this well.  There are a lot of articles out there on this topic, but allow me to boil it down to two words: Decisiveness and Timeliness. 

Yes, we are all busy. 

No, hiring someone is not the only priority. 

However, if you are hiring someone, then you need to remember what it’s like to get caught in that waiting game.  Candidate applies… candidate is reviewed… candidate is contacted to schedule initial interview… interview happens and candidate waits for feedback and next steps.  At each point, time passes.  The focus needs to reduce the time it takes at each step.  The most important timing, though, is after the interview.  Don’t wait a week to provide feedback!  Gather up the info and share it and move on.  Make a decision, share the feedback, and go to the next step!

Need more info on this topic? Read our recent Thermoforming Report on Decisive Hiring!

Bringing It Home

We’ll wrap up our report with a sensitive topic: what are you going to pay your new hire? 

This is a tough topic given the variables: equity in the organization, location, scope, and so many more.  It is interesting to see how companies manage this crucial part of the process.  The differences are not as big as you may think, but some are more impactful than others. 

Bonus and profit-sharing programs are one such item.  Bonuses can vary in size and relative to who gets it.  Profit-sharing is a function of the ownership and usually are part of a private organization.  What I’ve found is that companies are at a disadvantage in the market if a bonus is not built into their pay structure and especially at certain pay levels.  This is not an easy or fast thing to adjust but your ability as an organization to compete in a candidate-driven market can sometimes come down to your variable incentive plan. Seriously consider doing some benchmarking and begin to put a strategy in place to address it.

Wrapping Up

Hiring’s never been easy — and it’s not getting any easier. But with a few tweaks to how you write job postings, show off your culture, move candidates through the process, and think about pay, you can make a big impact. It’s all about being clear, quick, and genuine. Do that, and you’ll have a much better shot at landing the kind of talent your team really needs — even when the market’s a bit all over the place.

As your Thermoforming Talent Partner, we represent clients AND candidates! We’re here to help in any and every way possible! We provide hiring strategies, priority candidate searches, job searches, client & candidate introductions, interview tips, résumé facelifts, resignation strategies, and much much more. LET’S STRENGTHEN YOUR SEARCH!