The Staffing & Mfr Connection: Varied Professions, Common Experiences

Four Ways the Staffing and Manufacturing Industries are Alike

While they work together to build and employ strong workforces, on the surface manufacturing companies and staffing firms operate in very different worlds. Manufacturers are process-oriented and deadline-driven, and staffing firms are focused on people and assessing cultural fit. As for their physical footprints, manufacturing plants have assembly lines and loading docks, while staffing offices contain interview spaces and cubicles.

All of this is true, but there are also some important ways in which the two industries are similar.

1. Talent shortage.

With the unemployment rate at a record low, it seems no industry has escaped the talent shortage – and neither manufacturing nor staffing is the exception here. Both industries have been affected by the lack of qualified talent available. Coincidentally, the talent shortage also brings these two industries closer together. Manufacturers rely more heavily on temporary labor in absence of available workers and turn to staffing firms to access them.

Both industries are combatting the shortage by widening the talent pool. More staffing firms are looking at candidates with two-year degrees for internal positions. Manufacturers are accessing new workers who are developed via workforce development initiatives – the LIFT the TriState program and BelFlex Junior Mentoring Program are great examples of how BelFlex is leading the charge on this.

2. Education

Raise your hand if you grew up dreaming of working in the staffing industry. How about working in a manufacturing plant? Neither are typically careers that are introduced to us at a young age, or even through the school-age years. So then how did we all end up here? In both cases, professionals in this space often enter the field by accident or circumstance.

3. Rewarding professions.

While one might take a bit of a winding road to get there, both are very rewarding careers. Staffing employees get to help people find career opportunities and, in fact, our COO Andrew Deutsch talked about why he loves the industry on our blog. Giving back to the community is often part of a staffing firm’s mission, such as our own, which we call Succeeding Together. Those who work in manufacturing find it rewarding to contribute in some way to bringing something to life that people want or need.

4. Experience counts

Professionals in both industries increase their value most by gaining experience. The best recruiters are those who have honed their ability to evaluate individuals in a variety of ways in order to best assess employer-candidate fit and achieve a higher placement success rate. Similarly, sought-after industrial workers are those who know how to react in many different scenarios and have worked in a variety of plant environments and can bring best practices to each new role. To gain experience, manufacturing workers can attend trade school, participate in mentoring programs, or obtain skills training.

Call a local BelFlex office near you to learn about other ways manufacturing and staffing are more alike than different – and how that helps us do our jobs even better.