2.

Recruitment Challenges
Obviously, successfully recruiting new, skilled talent into the
workplace is critical in effectively addressing the current workforce
shortages in manufacturing. To that point, 80% of
manufacturers recognize the absolute importance of meeting
workforce demands over the next five years.

Unfortunately, the issues posed to recruiting within the

manufacturing sector are deeply rooted and, in some ways,
systemic from a societal perspective. Given the specificity of
many manufacturing positions – for instance, highly specialized
civil engineers with specific skill sets and abilities – the nature of
many of the vacant positions inherently limits the number of
potential qualified candidates.

Stagnant recruiting budgets and a lack of emphasis on college

recruitment has only further emphasized the issue, where
manufacturing simply hasn't been competitive enough with other
industries to consistently fill its proverbial workforce coffers,
particularly in light of a significant shift in college curriculums and
graduate expectations. As a result of these recruitment
challenges, a recent report found 55% of manufacturers
acknowledging a substantial shortage of people with the right skill
sets in their R&D departments, finding similar numbers in
marketing as well.

To successfully address these recruitment challenges,

manufacturing HR departments must learn to compete with other
industries – startups in particular – to start filling their talent gaps.
In other words, more manufacturing corporations must adopt a
market research driven strategy – or a comparable set of tools –
to successfully communicate and appeal to graduates that place a
high value in a startup mentality that concentrates on innovation
and stimulating work.