Tips For Effective Blue-Collar Recruiting

Recruitment is a serious business, and even more so in the blue-collar industry, where attrition is high. In this industry, it is not easy to attract quality employees.

As revealed in a study, 80 percent of contractors say blue-collared positions are difficult to fill. Hiring for these positions presents an extra challenge as older skilled employees are beginning to retire, and the younger generation is pursuing a 4-year degree.

With these challenges at stake, adjusting the recruitment strategy is a critical step. To help you navigate and achieve qualified blue-collar workers, here are a few tips you can take note of:

Expand Your Talent Pipeline

Targeting the right audience and getting the best-qualified employees means posting on the right channels and expanding your reach. It means widening your talent pool through posting on niche job websites.

Do not just post on sites like Indeed or LinkedIn. Blue-collar positions have dedicated job boards. You can either search for mechanical manpower supply or construction manpower. This way, you can target the right candidate of your choice without adding filters and help you save time and effort.

Utilize Employee Referrals

In the blue-collar industry, it is difficult to look for interested candidates. One way to combat this is to utilize employee referrals.

It is an effective recruiting method as referred employees tend to remain at the company and fit in better with the culture. You can start by asking current employees if they know of other qualified individuals who could fill your open positions.

Modify Evaluation Methods

In most labour supply companies, blue-collar jobs do not necessitate a college or university diploma. It could mean that integrating the traditional cognitive ability and personality tests won’t be an effective choice in determining a candidate’s level of competency. And this may lead qualified and interested candidates to back out at the start of the recruiting process.

What recruiters must do is modify the evaluation method by inviting candidates to have a trial work for a day to assess their skills and motivation. It also helps in making them feel how it is to work for the company which can also pique their interest in getting the job.

Redesign and Optimize Your Apprenticeship Programs

Recently, millennials have started to value blue-collar job positions, and you can use this realization to reintroduce and optimize your apprenticeship programs. Make use of this opportunity by forming partnerships with colleges and universities to provide apprenticeship programs and persuade young professionals to get started in this industry.

It’s like hitting two birds with one stone as providing apprenticeship programs allows you to highlight the opportunities and advantages of working in the blue-collar industry and at the same time assess their talent and skills to offer them a full-time position.

Make the Process Easier and be Mobile-Friendly

A complex and lengthy hiring process hinders attracting qualified individuals as it has been revealed that most blue-collar job seekers only use mobile phones to process their applications. With this, it is crucially important to streamline your hiring process and make the technology you use for sourcing and attracting all mobile-friendly.

It is indeed a challenging recruiting process when it comes to the blue-collar industry, but finding the best partner for manpower supply can help you overcome these challenges. For all your manpower needs, you can partner with us in World Star Manpower – we are an authorized manpower supplier in the UAE, providing quality manpower supply services from various sectors in the UAE.