Deloitte projects that in the next decade, 3.5 million manufacturing jobs will need to be filled.
However, if youβre like many manufacturers, youβre struggling to fill the employment vacancies you have right now. To address these job vacancies, you might be:
- Working with a third-party company, like an employment agency, to help you fill open positions; or
- Partnering with nonprofit organizations in your area to help increase awareness of your companyβs vacancies.
While these methods are effective for some, there are other recruitment tactics you can use that leverage your website and search engines like Google. To leverage these tactics, youβll need to start by making improvements to your companyβs website.
With these five website enhancements, you can improve your chances of recruiting talented and experienced millennials.
1. Create A βCareersβ Page For Your Website And Make It Easy To Locate.
Potential applicants in the job market will go straight to a companyβs βCareersβ page to locate open positions.
Ensure that you have a βCareersβ page and that itβs easy to locate. You donβt have to have the page in the main navigation at the top of the website, but at the very least, the βCareersβ page should be listed prominently in the footer to make it easy for applicants to locate.
2. Refresh Your βCareersβ Page On A Regular Basis And Provide The Ability To Subscribe To Updates.
If your βCareersβ page isnβt kept up to date, potential applicants wonβt know of the jobs you have available.
Ensure that this page has a list of the current positions available and include βDate Last Updatedβ at the top of the page to let potential applicants know you are regularly updating the page. You may also consider adding an RSS feed to your βCareersβ page so that potential applicants can get notified by email of positions as they come available.
3. Put The Most Critical Positions On Your βCareersβ Page In Plain Text.
If youβre using an applicant tracking system to manage openings and applications, you might be missing out on the opportunity to leverage search engines.
Recently, Google added functionality to its search engine that makes it the worldβs largest job search engine. Potential applicants can use Google to search for βmanufacturing jobs near meβ or βPlant Manager jobsβ and generate a list of open positions. Because not all applicant tracking systems are search friendly, your job postings may or may not appear in these results. Consider putting a list of the most critical openings in plain text on your βCareersβ page and have a web developer add JobPosting schema to each job listing.
4. List All Of Your Companyβs Benefits On The βCareersβ Page.
If youβre trying to attract millennials, prominently listing all of your companyβs benefits on the βCareersβ page will make it clear that you care about your employees. Applicants want to know exactly what benefits you offer; benefits could make or break oneβs decision to apply.
On your βCareersβ page, list an overview of your companyβs benefits above those critical vacancies and include a link to another webpage or a PDF that provides more detail about all the ways in which you support your employees. Include every benefit, every perk your company offers.
5. Embed A Video Of Your Company And Photos From Your Events On Your βCareersβ Page.
Millennials want to know what it could be like to work for a particular company, so the βCareersβ page is the prime location for high-quality video and photos. With media, you can show who works for your company, what their roles are, and some of the activities or events that employees enjoy.
If you have company potlucks every season, show photos from these events or a funny video with outtakes. If your company volunteers locally a couple of times each year, use a supercut to show highlights from recent outings. If youβre going the extra mile to invest in your employees and the surrounding community, using media on a βCareersβ page is a great place for βshow and tell.β
When it comes to filling the open positions you have today, you have to put your best foot forward to attract experienced millennials. In your recruitment and retention plan, ensure that updates to the βCareersβ page are at the top of your priority list -- it might be the only page that a millennial visits before leaving to apply for a position elsewhere.
Claudia Pennington is Co-Founder and CEO of DIY Marketing.