Hiring Millwrights is hard and the toughest part is finding the Millwrights to hire. In this post we will discuss 5 different sources you can use that will make recruiting millwrights a little easier.
The fastest, easiest and most effective way to Hire Millwrights is to enlist Rockstar Millwrights - The Best Millwright Recruiter in North America.
1. Job Boards
The easiest and first step should be posting a job ad on a job board. There are a ton of boards out there many of which are free to post on.
Free Job Boards
Indeed - If you only use one job board use Indeed. It is the largest board, is on Google first page for almost any job search, has the most users and is free for a regular post. You can sponsor your post which will generate more exposure but that can get expensive. If you do sponsor your ad make sure you put a max that you can afford. It will be maxed out way quicker than you think.
Google Careers - Google's career page is newer, only about a year old and most are not yet conditioned to use it but that could change quickly. Before too long it is likely to be the go to job board.
Local Job Boards - Do a quick google search to see what boards are available to you. There are a ton of governments that sponsor free job boards for example in Canada you can post on Job Bank (https://www.jobbank.gc.ca A lot of States have their own job boards as well, if the job is in that State they will post your job for free. These can be valuable because they often get picked up by additional job boards. Also if anyone is using a government sponsored job placement service the first source they use is the Government job board.
Paid Job Boards
There are also a lot of paid job boards out there which you pay per posting. The prices vary and can be up to $500 per post for some of the boards. I do not recommend going this route. For a long time they brought back great results but that was when there were no free boards. The free boards get way more jobs posted on them and job seekers tend to hang out where there are the most jobs so the paid boards do not get near as much traffic as they used to.
While Job Boards might be the easiest way to find applicants the people that are on Job Boards are not usually the best candidates to choose from. People on job boards are looking for work and usually for a reason i.e. they just got fired. You ideally want to try and find Millwrights that are employed but open to a new opportunity if it was better, for these candidates you need to go beyond the job board.
2. Referrals
Every Millwright knows other Millwrights. The longer they have been working in the trade the more they know. They have connections from trade school and places they previously worked. If you can get them to do your recruiting for you it will save a ton of money and should net you good hires. Typically people will only refer people that are good, no one wants to work with people that are going to bring them down.
Offer an incentive to your staff for referring Millwrights, Many companies will offer cash i.e. $500/referral. This is somewhat helpful but as soon as you attach money to something it sounds like work so you may have better success if you offer something that is valuable but isn't cash. For example offer extra vacation time for every successful referral or some new tools or even a case of beer. Something that your techs will value.
3. Networking
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This is the least favorite for most but can be helpful. 2 ways to network, online and in person.
Online networking - get your Linked In, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest etc. accounts working for you. Always be trying to build your following, engage with the people that follow you and when you need techs reach out to that network. Don't just reach out saying "Who Wants a Job" Instead come at it a bit sideways try to be less direct. Something like "We have a new opening for a Millwright on our day shift, we offer leading pay rates, good benefits and have recently updated our shop, if you know anyone that could be a fit please refer them to us." If you specifically ask who is interested no one will think about others. If you ask them for referrals if they are interested they will refer themselves, if they are not a tech they might bring it up to their nephew who is a mechanic.
In Person Networking - This one is tough but if you are attending trade shows, conferences etc. make the most of that time. Don't just go to look at what is new make sure to make acquaintances with people, swap information, stay in touch. You never know how these connections can help in the future, they could help you find mechanics or even build your business. It takes work and involves going out of your comfort zone but networking can work.
4. Trade Schools
Contact your local trade school, most have programs where they help their graduates find jobs. They will advertise your opening for you and can send you recent graduates. This of course will not help you get experienced mechanics but you can start them at a lower pay rate, provide training along the way and have them work alongside your experienced techs eventually they will gain that experience. If you are hiring a couple of jr. techs every year you will eventually have a shop of technicians at all skill levels. You don't need everyone in your shop to be stars, you just can't have anyone who is bad.
5. Use a Recruiting Firm
When you have exhausted your other options try using an Employment Agency (Head Hunter.) I am obviously biased here - Use Rockstar Millwrights - but using a firm that specializes in Millwrights is what you want. We spend all day every day doing everything listed above constantly building our network of candidates. We also have a bigger reach than most companies can get, we represent many companies and can give candidates options.
A recruiting firm can be expensive but also very effective. Most companies feel that the expense is worth it, a recruiting fee usually pays for itself very quickly. Just think of how much overtime you have to pay out if you are understaffed or the lost production if a machine goes down and you don't have a Millwright on staff to fix it.
I hope these tips help, recruiting Millwrights is not easy which is why so many companies now are leaving it in the hands of a recruiter. Do what you do best and outsource the rest. Let one of our Rockstar Recruiters handle the hiring of Millwrights for you. Give us a call at 1-833-937-3546.
