14 MiMfg Magazine January / February 2022
KCS Advanced Machining Services leverages their small size and highly specialized work to attract people who enjoy working on high-performance machinery .
For Mann , it ’ s not only the volume of new applicants coming in — or lack thereof — it ’ s how HR professionals and recruiters are engaging with talent prospects .
“ We ’ ve had to be pretty innovative with our recruiting practices ,” says Mann . “ There are only so many virtual job fairs you can attend before you have to try something different . We have to make sure that we are appealing to what is important to workers and finding people who understand our mission and goals .”
For NEOGEN , the ever-present challenge of recruiting talent hasn ’ t altered the company ’ s growth plans . What it has done , says Mann , is placed more strain on the existing infrastructure .
“ Continued growth is a great problem to have ,” adds Mann . “ We just need to be sure that we aren ’ t putting unnecessary tension on our processes and workers with the number of open positions we have .”
This is even more so the case for small manufacturers working in a niche field such as KCS which has a total staff of fewer than 20 employees .
“ We seek a particular skill set : high level competent machinists but with strong programming skills and / or the interest and initiative to learn ,” says Gordon Cole , VP of Strategy & Business Development with KCS . “ The work we do is challenging and it ’ s complex . It calls on creativity and some people thrive on that . Those are the people we like .”
“ Additionally , as a small company , we ’ ve got to be careful . We can ’ t expand too rapidly ,” he adds . “ The big fellas , they can roll with stuff a lot more readily than we can . I liken it to a stormy sea and a large ship , as opposed to a small ship . We notice the waves a lot more than the big boys .”
Ideally for KCS , they would like to let their customers and business acquisition drive the growth . But Cole admits that being in the low volume / high
mix space of five-axis machining can be a doubleedged sword whenfa it comes to recruitment and strategic business growth .
“ It ’ s hard to find good people . At the same time , we ’ re a small company and sometimes folks like not only aspects of the work that we do , the challenges and the opportunity to learn new things , but also working in a smaller shop has its advantages ,” says Cole . “ Part of what I think we do is work to make the environment of our shop one that our employees want to be in . And that helps with retention .”
Sometimes , the right audience is right in your backyard . That ’ s precisely why manufacturers like Lear Corporation , Stellantis and Dakkota have incorporated community-first hiring strategies to support major facilities investments within Detroit . What is a community-first hiring strategy ? Essentially , these companies are giving priority for open positions to Detroit residents . By collaborating with Detroit at Work , all three of these organizations are creating jobs for Detroiters , as well as giving them the resources they need to qualify for these jobs .
Just in a marketing sense , video is really the growing and preferred way a lot of folks are getting their information . So , I suspect that people who are just surfing around and looking at shops and seeing new things , they ’ d be positively impressed by what they see of us .
— Gordon Cole • KCS Advanced Machining Services
For Stellantis , this has already resulted in the hiring of more than 2,100 Detroiters at the new Jeep assembly plant on Mack Avenue . The Lear Corporation deal , resulting in the creation of “ Factory Zero ,” is expected to bring 450 new jobs to the area when the assembly plant opens in mid-2022 . All of these organizations have agreed to give Detroiters the first shot at these jobs , and residents can sign up for training classes , resume workshops and more to prepare for these jobs on Detroit at Work ’ s website .
Innovative Solutions to Recruitment and Retention
As an HR veteran , NEOGEN ’ s Mann understands the value of marketing when it comes to talent recruitment . When Mann and her team started to see the effects of COVID-19 on recruitment , such