Manufacturing Industry Archives

Manufacturing Recruiting in 2026: Key Stats and Trends

Posted on February 2, 2026February 2, 2026 by Jake Link

Editor’s note: The article below is an excerpt from GoodTime’s 2026 Hiring Insights Report. The entire report is available to view online for free here.

Manufacturing hiring teams enter 2026 with improved outcomes but rising operational strain. Hiring goal achievement increased in 2025, reaching the strongest level shown in the multi-year trend. However, this improvement occurred alongside mounting execution challenges that threaten sustainability.

The most prominent pressure point is recruitment team turnover, which leads all reported changes affecting candidate flow. At the same time, manufacturing leaders describe a fragmented talent market, with some roles becoming more competitive while others see increased availability. This split environment makes consistency harder to maintain and places greater demand on hiring systems and recruiter capacity.

Across the process, leaders report higher candidate demands, more required touchpoints, and increased dropout, signaling that speed and coordination now play a larger role in conversion. In response, manufacturing organizations are prioritizing efficiency, personalization, and technology upgrades as foundational capabilities for 2026.

Unlock 2026’s top hiring strategies: Insights from 500+ TA leaders

Be the first to uncover deep hiring insights specific to your sector — straight from the highest-performing TA teams.

Get the report

Executive summary: Key manufacturing recruiting trends

2025 performance review

Manufacturing hiring performance strengthened in 2025. The data shows a clear year-over-year increase in hiring goal achievement, reversing the prior year’s decline and marking the strongest result in the period shown.

This improvement is notable, but it does not signal reduced complexity. Instead, the performance gains appear to have been achieved under more demanding conditions, with teams absorbing higher workload, more variability in candidate quality, and greater internal disruption.

The takeaway is not that manufacturing hiring became easier, but that teams pushed harder and adapted, even as the operating environment grew more fragile.

Manufacturing hiring became harder to run, even as conditions diverged

Over the past year, manufacturing hiring has been shaped less by a single market shift and more by internal instability and rising execution demands. The most widely reported change is increased recruitment team turnover, which has directly affected teams’ ability to manage candidate flow. This stands above all other shifts and signals a loss of continuity at the exact moment hiring processes require more coordination and speed.

At the same time, the talent market itself has fractured. Nearly as many leaders say hiring became more competitive due to increased demand as those who say it became less competitive because more talent is available. Rather than moving in one direction, manufacturing hiring conditions now vary by role, location, and skill set, forcing teams to operate in multiple modes at once.

Candidate-side expectations have risen in parallel. Building meaningful relationships and connecting with candidates quickly both increased in importance, alongside growing candidate demands and the need for more touchpoints throughout the process. These pressures point to higher engagement requirements rather than easier access to committed talent.

The cumulative effect is visible in hiring speed. Time-to-hire lengthened for most manufacturing organizations, while only a small minority saw improvement. This slowdown aligns with the broader picture the data paints: manufacturing teams are managing more complexity with less stability, and even incremental delays now have outsized impact on outcomes.

Together, these signals describe a hiring environment where process resilience matters more than market timing. Manufacturing hiring has not simply become more competitive or less competitive. It has become harder to execute consistently under mixed conditions, higher expectations, and ongoing internal disruption.

Coordination breakdowns, not sourcing alone, slow manufacturing hiring

Manufacturing hiring bottlenecks concentrate in the interview and decision stages, where coordination breaks down most often. Interview cancellations and reschedules lead the list, followed closely by delays in hiring-manager decisions and a limited pool of available interviewers. These signals point to fragile handoffs and heavy reliance on busy stakeholders.

Lack of qualified candidates remains a meaningful constraint, but it sits alongside conversion issues such as candidate withdrawals and delayed scorecard completion. This indicates that hiring slows not only at the top of the funnel, but as candidates move through the process.

Scheduling delays, high application volume, and poor communication with candidates further compound these issues, increasing the risk of disengagement. Taken together, the data shows a hiring system strained by multiple dependencies, where improving reliability and follow-through is as important as expanding access to talent.

Upgrade your hiring journey with AI

GoodTime’s AI agents orchestrate the entire hiring journey — screening, scheduling, messaging, and more — so talent teams hire faster with a better candidate experience.

Learn more

Manufacturing teams apply AI where it reduces coordination and manual work

Automation and AI use in manufacturing centers on improving visibility, coordination, and consistency, rather than fully automating hiring decisions. Analytics and reporting lead all use cases, signaling a focus on understanding where hiring slows and how work is distributed.

Interview scheduling sits near the top, reflecting the operational pressure to reduce back-and-forth coordination. Content-related tasks follow closely, including writing job descriptions and creating interview questions, suggesting teams are using automation to standardize inputs and reduce preparation time.

Screening and sourcing applications form a broad middle tier. These uses help manage volume, but they do not dominate adoption in the same way operational tasks do. Interview intelligence and analysis also appear at similar levels, indicating growing interest in extracting insight from interviews, even if adoption is still uneven.

Candidate-facing automation and drafting candidate communications trail the rest, while screener interviews appear lowest. Overall, the pattern shows manufacturing teams using AI as workflow infrastructure, prioritizing time savings and process stability over high-risk automation of candidate interactions.

Manufacturing teams measure outcomes that reflect durability and conversion

Manufacturing hiring teams focus measurement on whether hires stick and offers convert, rather than on early-stage activity alone. Quality of hire leads all tracked metrics, indicating a strong emphasis on long-term fit and performance. Cost-per-hire, offer acceptance rate, and time-to-hire form the next tier, reflecting the dual pressure to control cost while moving quickly in a competitive environment. These measures sit at the intersection of efficiency and effectiveness, reinforcing that speed without conversion is not sufficient.

Diversity of candidates and employee turnover also appear prominently, signaling attention to workforce stability and composition beyond immediate hiring volume. Time-to-fill and application completion follow, suggesting growing but secondary interest in funnel mechanics.

Candidate interview experience and applicants per role trail the core outcome metrics, while source of hire appears lowest. Overall, the pattern shows manufacturing teams prioritizing results and sustainability over activity tracking, using metrics to evaluate whether hiring efforts produce durable outcomes rather than just throughput.

Manufacturing leaders expect volume, verification, and retention pressure in 2026

Looking ahead to 2026, manufacturing leaders anticipate a hiring environment defined by volume and complexity rather than pure scarcity. The most frequently expected challenge is an overwhelming number of applicants, signaling continued pressure on screening capacity and funnel management.

Just behind that top concern is a cluster of risk and retention issues. Retaining top talent and managing fake or fraudulent candidates rank at the same level, alongside skills that do not match resumes. Together, these responses point to growing concern about signal quality and trust in the hiring process.

Execution challenges remain prominent. New hires failing to show up, candidates dropping out mid-process, and limitations of current hiring technology all feature strongly, reinforcing that conversion and follow-through are expected to remain fragile.

A lack of qualified candidates appears, but it no longer stands alone as the dominant expected issue. Instead, it sits among a broader set of operational and verification challenges. Hybrid work complexity, recruiter workload, and internal policy changes round out the list, suggesting that 2026 risk is distributed across many points in the system, rather than concentrated in a single bottleneck.

Overall, manufacturing leaders appear to be preparing for a year where managing volume, validating candidates, and retaining talent will require as much attention as sourcing itself.

Priorities for 2026 center on conversion, automation, and technology investment

Manufacturing leaders are entering 2026 with a clear improvement agenda focused on converting candidates more reliably and reducing friction across the hiring process. The top area of focus is increasing offer acceptance, signaling that getting candidates across the finish line is a bigger concern than generating initial interest.

Automation and technology upgrades sit immediately behind that top priority. Optimizing automation, upgrading hiring technology, and using AI to improve efficiency all rank near the top, indicating that manufacturing teams view tooling as a necessary lever to handle volume, speed, and coordination challenges.

Candidate experience and time-to-hire also feature prominently, reinforcing that engagement and speed are tightly linked. Standardizing the hiring process and increasing personalization follow, suggesting a push toward consistency without fully sacrificing flexibility.

Cost reduction and scheduling-specific improvements appear lower, indicating that manufacturing teams are prioritizing effectiveness before efficiency gains at the margins.

That prioritization is reinforced by investment intent. Most manufacturing organizations indicate they are likely or very likely to invest in additional hiring technology to increase efficiency in 2026. Neutral or negative sentiment is minimal, underscoring a broad consensus that existing systems are insufficient for the demands ahead.

Together, these signals point to a sector that is not experimenting cautiously, but actively preparing to modernize hiring operations to support higher expectations, heavier volume, and more complex decision-making.

Final thoughts and key takeaways for manufacturing hiring leaders

Stability matters as much as talent access.
Recruitment team turnover is the most disruptive force shaping manufacturing hiring today. Even as hiring outcomes improved in 2025, instability inside TA teams makes it harder to sustain progress. Process reliability and knowledge continuity are now strategic assets.

Fragmented markets demand flexible execution.
Manufacturing hiring is no longer uniformly competitive or relaxed. Leaders report both increased competition and increased talent availability, depending on role and location. Teams that rely on a single hiring motion struggle; those that can adapt speed, screening rigor, and engagement by role are better positioned to convert candidates.

Coordination failures are the biggest drag on speed.
Interview cancellations, limited interviewer availability, and delayed decisions outweigh sourcing alone as bottlenecks. Improving follow-through in the interview stage unlocks more value than expanding the top of the funnel.

Engagement is about momentum, not messaging.
Candidates require faster connection, more touchpoints, and clearer progress signals. Dropout rises when coordination falters. Manufacturing teams see better engagement when they remove delays rather than add personalization.

Use AI to harden workflows, not replace judgment.
Manufacturing teams are applying AI most effectively where it improves visibility, scheduling, preparation, and consistency. These uses reduce recruiter load and stabilize execution without introducing risk into candidate-facing decisions.

Measure what holds up over time.
Quality of hire, offer acceptance, time-to-hire, and turnover dominate manufacturing measurement for a reason. These metrics reveal whether hiring decisions convert and endure, not just whether activity occurred.

Modernization is no longer optional.
Manufacturing leaders are prioritizing automation, technology upgrades, and efficiency improvements because existing systems cannot absorb higher volume, verification risk, and execution complexity. Investment intent is strong because operational strain is real.

The path forward

Manufacturing hiring success in 2026 will depend less on market relief and more on system design. Teams that protect recruiter continuity, stabilize interview coordination, deploy AI as workflow infrastructure, and align metrics with durable outcomes will be best positioned to hire consistently in a fragmented, high-pressure environment.

Navigating the Manufacturing Labor Shortage: 5 Ways to Hit Your Recruitment Goals

Posted on October 19, 2023September 3, 2025 by Jake Link

It’s no secret that the manufacturing industry has been through the wringer in recent years. Despite efforts to bounce back after the pandemic, the industry has faced an uphill battle in refilling vacancies. The numbers don’t lie: as of August 2023, a staggering 616,000 manufacturing jobs remained wide open, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Our most recent Manufacturing Hiring Insights Report found that manufacturing companies, on average, are attaining only 44.3% of their hiring goals. If alarms aren’t going off in your head, they should be — these stats paint a concerning picture of the labor shortages and talent acquisition and retention struggles towering over the industry.

But still, not every manufacturing organization is struggling to stay afloat — some talent teams have learned how to navigate the turbulent waters. So, the question remains: what manufacturing recruitment strategies can still drive results?

We sat down with Craig Pyke, Director of Talent Acquisition at Rivian, and Michael Case, Head of Partnerships at Meshd, to shed light on manufacturing’s ongoing labor shortage and discuss adaptive recruitment strategies to power through these difficulties and start hitting your hiring goals again. We leveraged their combined 35+ years of recruitment experience to examine how software plays a pivotal role in addressing the ongoing manufacturing labor shortage.

Let’s dive in.

Unlock manufacturing’s top hiring strategies in 2024

Our study of 105 manufacturing TA leaders reveals how to hit your hiring goals in a challenging market.

Get the report

Understanding the manufacturing labor shortage

You’re likely all too familiar with “The Great Reshuffle,” where the US labor market saw more than 50 million workers quit their jobs in 2022. Despite this mass exodus, hiring rates have consistently outpaced quit rates since November 2020, indicating that workers are transitioning to new opportunities rather than leaving the workforce altogether.

Stat: Even if every unemployed person with experience in the durable goods manufacturing industry were employed, the industry would fill 65% of the vacant jobs.

In addition to employees transitioning from manufacturing jobs to other careers, young people’s interest in learning trades or manufacturing skills has decreased.

“We’ve been focused on educating a whole generation that college is the answer,” says Michael. “That has come with a certain cost now that we’re trying to bring back manufacturing to the US.”

But that’s not the full story for manufacturing. After losing 1.4 million jobs at the onset of the pandemic, the sector has consistently struggled to attract and retain candidates for these job vacancies, with over 600,000 positions still unfilled.

There’s no straightforward solution. Even if every unemployed person with experience in durable goods manufacturing were employed, the industry would fill just 65% of the vacant jobs. As companies strive to attract skilled workers from the same shallow candidate pool, the talent competition shows no sign of cooling off.

And unfortunately, it’s not the kind of problem that time alone can solve. The National Association of Manufacturers anticipates that as many as 2.1 million manufacturing roles could go unfilled by 2031.

Graphic: Showing the growth in unfilled manufacturing roles — from 600k in 2023 to 2.1 million in 2031.

In this ultra-competitive environment, manufacturing recruitment needs to be faster and more proactive than ever. Recruiting leaders affirm that the teams that operate swiftly and communicate proactively are most likely to secure top candidates.

In response, manufacturing companies are evolving to adapt to the labor crunch. Let’s take a look at some game-changing strategies the experts have adopted to drive effective manufacturing recruiting in the face of labor shortages.

5 ways to improve manufacturing recruiting amid labor shortages

When you’re grappling with a shortage of skilled talent, traditional recruitment methods just won’t cut it. Here are a few strategies that can transform your manufacturing recruiting efforts:

1. Leverage technology to streamline recruitment

As competition for manufacturing talent continues to increase, speed and efficiency are critical in securing top candidates. This is where leveraging technology comes in. High-volume hiring platforms like GoodTime can help speed up the recruitment process by automating interview scheduling, allowing teams to connect with candidates instantly via text, and even scheduling interviews at scale.

The simple truth is that an ATS alone isn’t enough. You need to build from your ATS and supercharge it with additional tech built to solve the unique challenges of the manufacturing industry.

“If we start with the ATS as our most basic tool, there’s an entire tech stack on either side: outreach, sourcing, and interview scheduling platforms like GoodTime.” Says Michael. “There are so many tools. What do I really need, and what is nice to have? That’s what I think about when I design a system end-to-end.”

On-demand session: Manufacturing Recruitment in the Face of Labor Shortages — Click here to watch our full conversation with TA leaders from Rivian and Meshd.

2. Prioritize candidate experience

Providing a positive and engaging candidate experience can set you apart from other companies. This includes clear and timely communication, a smooth application process, and showing respect for the candidate’s time.

Technology can also be a huge asset here — for example, you’ll want to be able to easily send 1:1 messages to candidates via email and SMS, and even bulk message groups of candidates for faster interview scheduling.

So, how do you make the process more fun and engaging for candidates? Craig says it’s all about who’s running the show: “What it comes down to is hiring the right person to do those different recruiting events. And sometimes, they may not have a traditional recruiting resume. People that are really fun and can work a room and bring people together to do different activities are the best fit, even if they don’t have a traditional recruiting profile.”

3. Optimize and streamline your interview process

To improve your time-to-hire, streamline your interview process as much as possible. That might also mean reducing the number of rounds a candidate completes.

Reducing time to hire doesn’t mean you need to eliminate important candidate assessments or rush through the process. It means streamlining or condensing the steps when it makes sense to do so.

“One of the ways to reduce that amount of assessment time is to have candidates do an activity where you can observe some of their behaviors and skills,” says Craig. “If you have them do an activity, oftentimes with other candidates, you can assess their ability to assemble a project, follow instructions, and work as a team. That way, you’ll be evaluating multiple skills at once rather than individually, which can save a ton of time.”

4. Make use of screening tools

To ensure that you’re focusing on the most qualified candidates, make use of basic screening questionnaires and knockout questions as part of your interview process.

For deeper screening, we recommend tools like SmartAssistant and Checkr that can quickly remove unqualified candidates and help you find the right match for each position more efficiently.

Additionally, as more manufacturing jobs are starting to involve robotic technology and utilize computer and coding skills, consider a tool like HackerRank that can assess candidates’ programming skills.

5. Integrate with existing tools and processes

To avoid disrupting your existing workflow, choose technology that integrates with your current processes and systems. GoodTime, for instance, allows you to text candidates directly from your ATS, send messages from any website right from your browser, and sync data back to your ATS or other databases. When considering a new tool, make sure it seamlessly integrates with your existing tech stack so that it actually helps you, rather than causing more headaches.

By adopting these strategies, you can turn the current labor shortage into an opportunity to boost your recruitment process and attract the talent your manufacturing company needs to thrive in 2024 and beyond.

How recruiting tools can revolutionize your manufacturing recruiting strategy

While there are a ton of strategies out there to improve your recruitment process, the biggest opportunity to make progress on your hiring goals is by leveraging the latest recruitment technology. Consider using recruiting and interview scheduling software that’s built specifically for high-volume roles. Look for a solution that provides a comprehensive solution designed to meet the unique needs of the manufacturing sector.

Let’s break down a few features of recruiting technology that can help you ramp up your manufacturing recruiting process:

High-volume recruiting

The key to overcoming labor shortages is making your recruiting process as efficient as possible. Use a platform that enables high-volume recruiting via text and email messaging, allowing you to connect with candidates instantly and schedule interviews faster. Getting in front of in-demand candidates before other companies can make a big difference.

Check out GoodTime’s high-volume recruiting software.

Automated interview scheduling

Automation is the future of recruitment. A great recruiting tool should help you schedule multiple candidates at once with the click of a button, view the current scheduling status of all candidates, and automatically send calendar invites, agendas, and reminders. This streamlines the process, cuts down on paperwork, and ensures a seamless candidate experience.

Hiring automation built for manufacturing

Re-ignite your interview process and schedule candidates up to 67% faster.

Learn More

Configurable workflow automation

Recruitment tech lets you set up all sorts of automation, from simple to complex, based on various criteria. You can auto-send messages to job seekers and hiring folks, like invites, reminders, and friendly pokes, which makes your hiring process smoother and more personal.

Effective screening

Pre-built screening questionnaires and knockout questions help you quickly screen out unqualified candidates and focus on those who are right for the job. This leads to a more efficient hiring process and better matches between candidates and job roles.

Integration with existing processes

Ideally, any new recruiting technology in your tech stack should integrate seamlessly into your existing processes, allowing you to send messages to candidates from any website, send interview requests, view conversations, and get notifications.

Connection to your ATS

A great platform should bring candidate and job data from out-of-the-box integrations to your ATS when needed. This ensures a smooth flow of data and maintains the integrity of your recruitment process.

See all of this in action: GoodTime’s high-volume hiring features were built specifically with the manufacturing sector in mind. You can see them for yourself in our on-demand product tour.

Looking ahead: A brighter future for manufacturing recruitment in 2024 and beyond

As manufacturing recruiters roll with the punches of the post-pandemic world, it’s clear that the industry’s destiny hinges on how good they are at tackling today’s hurdles. As they continue to grapple with labor shortages, the focus of recruitment leaders in 2024 will be on improving time-to-hire in their interview process. This means a shift towards more efficient and streamlined recruitment strategies.

Innovative recruitment technologies are pivotal players in this transformation. By automating and optimizing the recruitment process, these platforms can help manufacturing companies effectively combat labor shortages and meet their hiring goals. The effective use of technology can provide a crucial competitive edge against companies that are stuck in the past.

The current labor shortage is a chance for manufacturing companies to revamp their recruitment strategies, innovate, and come out stronger on the other side. It’s time to seize this opportunity and revolutionize manufacturing recruitment for the future.

FAQs about recruiting in a manufacturing labor shortage

What tools and strategies can be used to source candidates during a manufacturing labor shortage?

While traditional recruiting platforms are great tools, in an extremely competitive hiring landscape like manufacturing, talent acquisition teams need to think outside the box.

“I actually posted on a billboard recently,” says Craig. You have to get your company and your jobs in front of people, and sometimes just doing a simple thing like getting back to basics and physically getting in front of folks is one good way to go about it.”

Consider what platforms and mediums are going to most widely reach ideal candidates, and make sure your team has a presence there. That might also mean doing in-person presentations to high school students or other groups that are considering career options.

How can you make the hiring process more engaging for candidates?

During the hiring process, it’s important to make candidates feel comfortable and valued. They won’t want to work for your organization if they aren’t excited about potential opportunities. For manufacturing companies, that might look like interactive tours, gamified skill assessments, panel discussions, team assessments, and more.

How will manufacturing hiring change in 2024 compared to 2023?

Both Craig and Michael predict that manufacturing hiring will increase in 2024 compared to 2023. “I think there’s a big push to bring manufacturing back to the United States,” says Michael. “There are US startups that we haven’t even heard of yet that are raising money to build and do more things. And then, you know, sitting here in East Asia, I can guarantee that in Taiwan, in Seoul, in Tokyo, everyone is talking about moving more of their stuff to the US, so I think we’re going to see a lot of that.”

A New World: How Manufacturing Recruiters Must Evolve Their Processes

Posted on May 15, 2023October 23, 2023 by Rachel Heller

Let’s cut to the chase: manufacturing isn’t known for being on the cutting edge. The sector is typically slower to adapt to changes in the world of hiring. And these days, hiring seems to evolve at the speed of light—leaving most manufacturing recruiters in the dust.

Recruiters must contend with new work structures, hiring policy standards, and expectations from candidates. AKA: your hiring team’s current way of doing things probably isn’t up to snuff. But don’t stress yet; we’re here to show you the way forward.

After surveying 531 talent acquisition leaders across sectors for our 2023 Hiring Insights Report, we’ve released the report’s manufacturing edition. Based on responses from 106 talent leaders in manufacturing, the report shows how they’re winning talent in the modern world (and much, much more hiring insights).

What challenges will define manufacturing? How will hiring change? And most importantly: how can manufacturing recruiters evolve their processes to overcome whatever is thrown their way?

We’ve rounded up all of those crucial insights. Read on.

The Difficult Future for Manufacturing Recruiters

Another year, another set of obstacles. According to our survey, respondents expect to get hit by new challenges and shifts in the landscape this year.

If manufacturing recruiters want to overcome these forces, they’ll have to reassess their current processes. But first, what can teams expect in the evolving world of hiring?

Manufacturing’s Biggest Challenges

Limitations of Hiring Technology

Talent leaders in the manufacturing sector anticipate a major challenge in the coming year:
“limitations of current hiring technology” (27%). This ranked as their top concern.

Talent teams within manufacturing and beyond have faced considerable turnover and budget cuts. In the aftermath, teams recognize that without the assistance of an airtight tech stack, they will struggle to meet their goals.

Slow, outdated technology acts as a massive roadblock for a high-volume hiring sector like manufacturing, where speed is the name of the game. But with purpose-built manufacturing recruiting software that enables efficiency and productivity, teams can keep candidates engaged and win them over in record time.

Bar chart showing what challenges manufacturing talent teams expect in the future.

Changes in Company Hiring Policies

In today’s shifting hiring landscape, manufacturing companies need to stay agile and adjust their hiring policies accordingly. Talent leaders are well aware of this; they ranked “changes in company hiring policies” as their second biggest upcoming challenge (26%).

It’s only natural for hiring policies to evolve in response to a transforming landscape, especially in a sector that has already undergone significant changes. Manufacturing no longer resembles what it was years ago. Traditionally viewed as an “in-person sector,” companies are slowly but surely embracing remote and hybrid work models.

This newfound flexibility in work structures gives manufacturers a competitive edge in attracting candidates and aligning with the values of emerging talent in the market. Yet to effectively support remote and hybrid work, hiring and HR teams must establish the right policies.

Does interview scheduling automation make sense for my team?

ROI is key. This is not a time to invest in software that won’t bring you immediate value. So let’s eliminate the guesswork with our free ROI calculator.

Calculate Your ROI

Manufacturing’s Biggest Shifts

Competitive or Uncompetitive Landscape? It’s Up for Debate

When it comes to upcoming changes in the hiring landscape, talent leaders have mixed opinions that really highlight the divide.

On one hand, 44% believe that the landscape will become less competitive because of the increase in available remote talent. On the other hand, 43% believe that the landscape will actually become more competitive due to the rising demand for talent as a whole amdist a manufacturing labor shortage.

With new challenges looming, the future feels quite uncertain to today’s teams.

Bar chart showing how hiring teams expect the landscape to change.

Directors and the C-Suite Say…

When we look at the data broken down by seniority level, we see an intriguing split. Let’s analyze.

Most directors believe that the landscape will become more competitive because of the growing demand for talent (50%). However, most C-suite executives think that the landscape will become less competitive as remote talent becomes more available (46%).

It’s worth noting that directors have good reason to anticipate increased demand for talent. They understand the ongoing impact of the current skills shortage and the increase in job vacancies resulting from retirements and the sector’s rapid expansion.

C-suite executives are banking on the surge in remote talent to alleviate competition. But here’s the question: Are they ready to embrace remote work within their own organizations? Manufacturing is still new to the concept of flexible work; the C-suite might be more optimistic than directors about their progress in establishing remote structures.

Bar chart showing how directors and the C-suite expect the landscape to change.

How Manufacturing Recruiters Must Respond

We now have a feeling for what’s ahead in the hiring world. So, what’s a recruiter to do? To help inform your strategies moving forward, here’s how talent teams from our report plan on conquering recruitment.

Emphasize Time-to-Hire and Candidate Relationships

Topping the list at 36% each, talent leaders believe that reducing time-to-hire and fostering candidate relationships are the key areas that they must prioritize in the coming months. By improving these aspects, teams can establish a well-rounded hiring process.

Candidates want a process that moves swiftly, signaling that they are a priority and their time is valued. But speed alone isn’t everything. Candidates also crave the opportunity to establish a genuine connection with the hiring team and get a glimpse into the company’s work culture and its people.

Bar chart showing what TA leaders plan on improving in the future.

Don’t Forget About the Tech Stack

To create this comprehensive candidate experience, teams have another priority in mind: upgrading their tech solutions, which comes in at 31%. Utilizing advanced tech tools would actually help teams improve all of the top five areas they plan to focus on.

An upgraded hiring tech stack streamlines the hiring process for candidates and boosts the efficiency of hiring teams. As a result, teams can dedicate more time to building meaningful connections with potential hires.

And the big payoff? Ultimately, this effectively addresses talent leaders’ biggest anticipated challenge: the limitations of their current hiring technology.

Manufacturing Recruiters: Want More Insights?

2022 brought a shaky economy, sweeping reductions in force, and a challenging hiring landscape. The pressure is on to attract qualified candidates, deliver an efficient hiring process, and leverage hiring tools that drive success. Are you ready to succeed in 2023?
To dive deeper into these insights and much, much more, get the manufacturing report today.

5 Reasons Why High-Volume Hiring Teams Miss Their Goals

Posted on May 8, 2023May 8, 2024 by Rachel Heller

Ah, high-volume hiring; your inbox is overflowing with resumes, your calendar is jam-packed with interviews, and your stress levels are off the charts. Or, maybe you’re on the opposite end of the spectrum and can’t seem to find enough applicants to fill your endless vacancies.

Hitting hiring goals amid all of this chaos can quickly become a real challenge—especially with limited time and resources. But luckily, we’re here to help make sense of it all.

Here are five common reasons why high-volume hiring teams miss their goals, along with key solutions to help you improve your recruitment process.

Reason 1: Slow, Inefficient Communication With Candidates

Let’s face it—maintaining consistent communication is hard. And when you’re trying to coordinate interviews with countless candidates, things can quickly spiral out of control.

Gaps in communication and slow response times are bad, bad news for a high-volume hiring process. This can cause delays in scheduling interviews, lower response rates from candidates, and missed opportunities with stellar talent.

Pro-Tip: Leverage Email/SMS Templates and Automation

Templatizing your communication—whether that’s through email or text message—and utilizing a healthy dose of automation is the recipe for success. This way, candidates stay informed and engaged throughout the process.

Communication templates eliminate the manual work involved in drafting up a whole new message for every candidate in your pipeline. Even better, tech tools that enable automation reduce the time and effort required to send messages and coordinate with applicants, all while ensuring consistent communication.

Human-centric AI to crush your high-volume hiring goals

Engage candidates immediately via SMS and WhatsApp, harness instant bulk scheduling, and automate hiring workflows.

Learn More

Reason 2: Limited Time and Resources

Time is of the essence and helpful resources are essential when you’re a high-volume recruiter. Yet of course, these are the two elements that today’s teams lack the most.

The current hectic economic landscape has dealt a heavy blow to many recruiting teams, slashing budgets in half and reducing headcount in one fell swoop. High-volume hiring was hard before, and it’s even harder now. Teams must manage multiple candidates and coordinate a variety of interviews with less bandwidth and support to do so.

Pro-Tip: Streamline the Screening and Scheduling Process

To improve your efficiency and make the most of your resources, consider using technology to fast-track some of the most tedious, manual parts of the hiring process. For many recruiters, this means the resume screening and interview scheduling process.

That’s where your applicant tracking system (ATS) comes in. And if you don’t already have one, it’s time to change things. Here are our ATS recommendations. An ATS helps recruiters quickly filter through large volumes of resumes and identify the most qualified candidates.

But an ATS can’t do it all on its own. An advanced interview scheduling software automates the entire process of getting interviews on the books, from gathering a candidate’s availability to finding the best available interviewers. That way, recruiters have more bandwidth for the most high-value tasks.

Reason 3: Lack of Organizational Planning

High-volume hiring is oftentimes chaotic. And when you’re dealing with hundreds of candidates, it can feel hard to stay organized and on top of everything. But without a solid plan in place, you’re already setting yourself up for failure.

That’s why effective organizational planning is absolutely essential for successful high-volume hiring. Without a well-defined hiring process in place, recruiters may struggle to manage their time effectively, communicate with stakeholders, and make informed hiring decisions.

Pro-Tip: Align and Define the Stages of the Hiring Process

If you want to amp up your organizational planning, consider creating detailed hiring plans that outline each stage of the hiring process and the specific roles and responsibilities of each stakeholder.

For example, a hiring plan might include a timeline of each hiring stage, from candidate sourcing to final offer acceptance, as well as the specific actions and tasks required for each stage. By having a clear plan in place, recruiters can manage their time and resources more efficiently, communicate more effectively with stakeholders, and make better hiring decisions.

Reason 4: Candidates Dropping Out

When you’re managing such a large talent pool, many—or most—applicants that you come across just aren’t going to be the right fit. Yet even if you get a dazzling resume, there’s so many opportunities throughout the hiring process for qualified talent to become disengaged and drop out altogether.

Having candidates occasionally drop out is expected when you’re a high-volume recruiter. The quick, simple application process sometimes means candidates aren’t as invested in moving forward. However, failing to address the faults in your process makes it that much harder to win qualified talent.

Pro-Tip: Simplify the Hiring Process

We could go on and on about the variety of ways that recruiters can prevent candidates from dropping out. In fact, implementing all of our previously mentioned pro-tips amounts to a better candidate experience and a higher likelihood of securing the best candidates.

However, there’s one tip that we haven’t mentioned yet, and it’s an important one: simplify the hiring process. High-volume recruiting isn’t the place for an overly-complicated process. You want to get talent in the door fast, and candidates want to get to work ASAP.

Simplifying the hiring process can take many shapes. For instance, recruiting via SMS or WhatsApp allows candidates to quickly go through the hiring process via the device that they have on them at all times: their phone.

Reason 5: Not Enough Leads in the Funnel

When it comes to high-volume hiring, having a strong recruitment funnel with a pipeline of potential candidates is essential to success. But for some high-volume recruiting teams, generating a consistent flow of leads is a major challenge.

Without a steady stream of qualified candidates, recruiting efforts can quickly become stalled, and positions may remain unfilled for longer periods of time.

Pro-Tip: Improve Employer Branding

Investing in your employer brand proves that sometimes it’s worth it to play the long game. When candidates have a positive perception of your employer brand, they’re more likely to apply for open positions and recommend your company to their networks.

So, how do you build up your employer brand? To start, conduct a brand audit to assess your company’s current reputation and identify areas for improvement. This could involve gathering feedback from current and past employees, analyzing online reviews and ratings, and researching how your company is perceived in the job market.

Once you have a better understanding of your company’s brand perception, you can start taking steps to improve it. This could involve investing in employee engagement initiatives, such as offering professional development opportunities or creating a more flexible work environment.

Transform Your High-Volume Hiring Today

Leveraging advanced hiring technology gives talent teams the best chance to hit their hiring goals and fill high-volume roles faster and more efficiently than ever before.

GoodTime Hire is the high-volume recruiting software that provides talent teams with advanced automated interview scheduling for high-volume roles through SMS, WhatsApp, and email messaging. Quickly reach out to candidates, schedule interviews effortlessly, and let automation take care of the rest.