5 common mistakes to avoid in your recruitment process

Manufacturing and engineering recruitment can be challenging. But certain things that can make it much harder than it needs to be.

Here are some of the most common mistakes to avoid in your recruitment process if you want to find the perfect fit for your team:

Common mistakes in engineering and manufacturing recruitment

1) No give in your requirements

Not being flexible with the requirements you’ve listed on your job specification can result in you overlooking otherwise excellent candidates.

Especially when it comes to the age-old “are hard skills more important than soft skills?” question (answer: soft skills and team fit are almost always more important).

Try to have a little bit of give in what you’re asking for if a candidate has other qualities that could make them a great choice

2) Not being informed about the jobs market

There’s often a bit of a disconnect between media-driven perceptions of a job market that’s loaded with perfectly-skilled talent and the reality.

The UK is currently experiencing something of a skills gap. This means finding the right person for certain manufacturing and engineering jobs can be tricky.

Of course, that’s why it’s always a good idea to have a specialist manufacturing and engineering recruitment agency on your side. They have access to a wide pool of relevant talent.

But it’s always good to be aware of the larger situation if you’re going to be realistic about how long a recruitment process might take or the kind of candidate you might aim to find.

3) Being unrealistic about salaries

Another area where it’s good to get a healthy dose of realism is the salary you want your ideal candidate to work for.

If you want to attract the right talent, you want to pay them like they’re talent. If you aim at the lowest possible salary, don’t be surprised if you attract candidates that may not have quite the skills you’re looking for.

Again, a bit of specialist industry knowledge goes a long way here. If your staffing budget is a concern, speak to your recruiter and get some knowledgeable advice about your options.

4) Rushing the recruitment process

You might have gotten lucky in the past and located the ideal candidate after only a brief search.

More usually though, if you want to find the right puzzle piece for your staffing jigsaw, you should expect the process to take some degree of time. It’s usually much faster with a recruiter handling it for you. But the engineering and manufacturing recruitment process isn’t – and shouldn’t be, if you want all variables considered – instantaneous.

Equally, it’s usually a mistake to jump on the first half-decent candidate that comes along. There are bound to be excellent candidates out there. A little patience, if business conditions allow it, goes a long way.

5) Looking for the absolute “perfect” candidate

On the other side of the coin, while there might be some truly excellent candidates out there waiting to be found, you’re probably doing yourself a disservice if you’re waiting for someone who fulfils every idle thought you’ve had about the person you want to hire.

This is linked to several of the points above – about being unrealistic and not being flexible with your requirements to avoid missing out on some great talent. But there are other factors too.

In general, it’s a good idea to strive to find excellent talent with priority placed on them being a good fit for your team dynamics and company culture than it is to drag out your recruitment process for years looking for that one “perfect” choice.

How to avoid mistakes in your recruitment process

Be realistic with your salary, informed about the jobs market, have some flexibility in your requirements, and allow for a certain amount of time for the process to happen without waiting forever to find the mythical perfect candidate.

If you do only these five things, you’ll be avoiding the most common mistakes in the recruitment process. And well on the road to finding the ideal candidates to fill any engineering or manufacturing jobs you might have available.

Want to work with specialists who understand how a good recruitment process works?

Let’s talk. Ernest Gordon is a specialist manufacturing and engineering recruitment agency. We help businesses up and down the country find talent that matches their needs.

Have a chat with us today. Discuss what sets the candidate you’re looking for apart from the others.