How to Find Manufacturing Workers When LocalRecruiting Isn’t Working

Finding manufacturing workers has become increasingly difficult for employers across the United States.

Manufacturers need production workers, assembly workers, machine operators, forklift drivers, warehouse employees, maintenance technicians, CNC operators, welders, and other skilled trades to keep their operations running.

But many companies are discovering that the traditional recruiting playbook isn't producing enough workers.

You post jobs on Indeed. You increase wages. You offer referral bonuses. You attend job fairs. You hire another recruiting company. And yet the same positions remain open.

If this sounds familiar, your company may not have a recruiting problem. You may have a labor-pool problem.

When there simply aren't enough available workers within commuting distance of your manufacturing facility, spending more money recruiting the same local population can only accomplish so much.

The solution may be to expand where you're looking.

Why Is It So Difficult to Find Manufacturing Workers?

Manufacturing companies face several recruiting challenges at the same time.

An aging workforce is creating openings in skilled positions. Manufacturers are competing with warehouses, construction companies, logistics operations, and other employers for many of the same blue-collar workers.

Second and third shifts can be particularly difficult to staff.

Rural manufacturers face another problem: geography.

A manufacturing facility may have competitive wages, good benefits, overtime opportunities, and stable employment but still struggle to hire enough people because the surrounding population simply isn't large enough.

If your problem is the number of available workers in your local market, you need a different strategy.

1. Determine Whether You Have a Recruiting Problem or a Labor-Pool Problem

Before increasing your recruiting budget again, look at what has happened during the previous six to twelve months.

• How many qualified applicants are we receiving?

• How many candidates actually show up for interviews?

• Are we repeatedly seeing the same applicants?

• Are nearby manufacturers competing for the same workers?

• Are we constantly losing employees for relatively small wage increases?

• Are second and third shifts significantly harder to fill?

• Have some positions remained open for months?

• Are we relying heavily on overtime because we cannot maintain headcount?

If these problems persist despite competitive wages and active recruiting, your local workforce may simply be exhausted.

Instead of trying harder to recruit locally, you may need to recruit somewhere else.

2. Stop Limiting Your Manufacturing Recruiting to Commuting Distance

Companies routinely recruit engineers, executives, nurses, and other professionals nationally. Manufacturers can take a similar approach to recruiting blue-collar workers.

If you need 20 production workers, why limit your search to people who already live within 30 miles of your facility?

There are qualified workers elsewhere who may be willing to relocate for the right opportunity.

That means changing the recruiting question from “How do we get more local applicants?” to “Where can we find dependable workers willing to relocate?”

That one change can dramatically expand your potential labor pool.

3. Recruit Manufacturing Workers From Puerto Rico

One workforce market many U.S. manufacturers overlook is Puerto Rico.

Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens. They can accept employment with mainland U.S. manufacturers without requiring an H-2B visa or another employment visa.

Puerto Rico also has a substantial manufacturing economy and workers with experience in production environments.

• Production workers

• Assembly workers

• Machine operators

• CNC operators

• Forklift operators

• Warehouse employees

• Packaging workers

• Quality-control employees

• Maintenance technicians

• Welders

• Fabricators

• Skilled trades

For manufacturers that have exhausted their local recruiting market, recruiting manufacturing workers from Puerto Rico can create an entirely new talent pipeline.

Instead of competing with the factory down the road for the same ten applicants, you're expanding the geographic boundaries of your recruiting.

4. Understand Why Puerto Rico Is Different From International Recruiting

Employers sometimes assume recruiting from Puerto Rico is essentially the same as recruiting foreign workers. It isn't.

Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens. That means employers do not need to sponsor Puerto Rican employees for an H-2B visa simply for them to work in the mainland United States.

For manufacturers, this removes one of the major complications associated with international recruiting.

Employers considering this strategy can read our complete guide to hiring workers from Puerto Rico for more information about recruiting, relocation, onboarding, housing, transportation, and retention.

5. Make Your Manufacturing Job Worth Relocating For

Expanding your recruiting geography doesn't mean candidates will automatically relocate. You still need a compelling employment opportunity.

• Hourly wage

• Guaranteed or expected hours

• Overtime opportunities

• Shift

• Benefits

• Housing costs

• Transportation

• Career advancement

• Training

• Cost of living

• Relocation assistance

The strongest manufacturing recruiting campaigns don't simply sell the position. They sell the opportunity.

6. Housing Can Determine Whether Your Recruiting Strategy Works

Housing is one of the most important considerations when recruiting manufacturing workers from outside your local area, especially for rural manufacturing facilities.

• What does an apartment cost?

• Are short-term rentals available?

• Will employees need roommates initially?

• How much money is required for a security deposit?

• Can your company help identify housing?

• How far is housing from the facility?

You don't necessarily have to provide permanent housing. But telling someone to relocate and “figure it out when you get here” is a recipe for unnecessary turnover.

7. Solve Transportation Before Workers Arrive

Transportation is equally important. Many manufacturing facilities are located in industrial parks or rural areas with little or no public transportation.

• Employer transportation

• Van programs

• Carpools

• Temporary rental vehicles

• Housing within walking distance

• Helping employees obtain vehicles after they become established

A worker you successfully recruit but who cannot reliably get to your facility isn't a successful hire.

8. Recruit for Reliability, Not Just Manufacturing Experience

Manufacturing experience matters, but it shouldn't always be the only consideration.

Depending on the position, a dependable candidate with a strong work history may be more valuable than an experienced candidate with poor attendance or frequent job changes.

• Construction

• Warehousing

• Landscaping

• Logistics

• Food production

• Automotive

• Skilled trades

• Equipment operation

These workers may already understand physical work, safety requirements, early schedules, productivity expectations, and working as part of a team.

You can teach someone how your production process works. Reliability is much harder to teach.

9. Don't Ignore Your Shift Structure

Sometimes a company believes it has a recruiting problem when the real problem is the shift.

A first-shift manufacturing position may receive plenty of applicants while an identical third-shift position remains vacant for months.

If one particular shift is consistently understaffed, consider whether the compensation reflects the difficulty of filling it.

When recruiting workers who will relocate, be extremely clear about shift expectations before they accept the position.

10. Think About the Cost of Vacancies, Not Just the Cost of Recruiting

Manufacturers sometimes focus heavily on recruiting costs while overlooking the much larger cost of remaining understaffed.

• Lost production

• Missed orders

• Excessive overtime

• Supervisor overtime

• Employee burnout

• Increased turnover

• Quality issues

• Delayed expansion

• Temporary labor

• Lost customers

The question shouldn’t simply be “How much does recruiting cost?” It should also be “How much is being understaffed costing us?”

11. Retention Starts During Recruiting

One of the biggest mistakes employers make is thinking about retention after employees start.

For relocated workers, retention starts before they leave home.

Candidates should understand the work, shift, overtime, weather, housing, transportation, and community before accepting.

Setting realistic expectations may cause some candidates to decline. That's a good thing. It is much better for someone to decline while still living in Puerto Rico than to relocate and discover the position isn't what they expected.

12. Build Multiple Manufacturing Recruiting Pipelines

Manufacturers shouldn't necessarily abandon local recruiting. The strongest workforce strategy may involve several sources of employees.

• Local recruiting

• Employee referrals

• Trade schools

• Community colleges

• Workforce-development organizations

• National recruiting

• Relocation recruiting

• Puerto Rico recruiting

Think of recruiting like a supply chain. Relying on one supplier creates risk. Relying on one labor source does the same thing.

A Real Manufacturing Example

In one Isla Talent recruiting project, a Wisconsin manufacturer hired ten factory workers recruited from Puerto Rico.

According to results reported by the company, the additional workforce helped increase production by approximately 40% while improving employee retention by approximately 60%.

The important lesson isn't that every company will produce identical results. It's that expanding the recruiting geography can directly affect operations when labor availability is preventing a manufacturing facility from reaching capacity.

The manufacturing industry's labor challenges and Isla Talent's approach were also discussed in IndustryWeek's Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast.

When Local Manufacturing Recruiting Isn't Enough

If your company has competitive wages, good benefits, stable employment, and an active recruiting program but still cannot maintain the workforce it needs, continuing to advertise to the same local population may not solve the problem.

There may simply not be enough available workers.

For companies looking for a largely untapped pool of U.S. workers, it can mean recruiting from Puerto Rico.

How Isla Talent Helps Manufacturers Recruit Workers From Puerto Rico

Isla Talent specializes in connecting U.S. manufacturers with workers recruited from Puerto Rico.

We recruit for manufacturing positions including production, assembly, machine operation, warehouse, forklift operation, maintenance, and skilled trades.

Our role goes beyond finding applicants. We work with employers to identify their workforce needs, recruit candidates in Puerto Rico, screen applicants, coordinate interviews, set realistic expectations, and help companies think through the relocation process.

The objective is straightforward: Help manufacturers build the workforce they cannot find locally.

If your manufacturing facility is struggling to fill positions and local recruiting isn't producing enough qualified candidates, contact Isla Talent to discuss whether recruiting workers from Puerto Rico makes sense for your operation.