Reasons why successful manufacturers are adopting analytical skills in 2021

​Manufacturers who wish to keep up with their competition and future demands will inevitably need to invest their resources into technology and data.

One of the top five reasons why companies fail is due to their inability to grow and adapt to market changes. Manufacturers who failed to update their processes and operations during the COVID-19 outbreak are now either struggling to keep up with their competition or have been forced to shut down after unsuccessfully navigating new market circumstances.

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How have companies adapted?

Today, many of my clients are looking to fill more technical roles than they had before due to COVID-19 related upgrades in their processes. Some companies have almost doubled in size to meet demands. As a result, a range of roles have increased in demand, including Quality Managers, New Product Developers and Food Technologists. Now, even some non-technical roles I am hiring for require analytical skills.

For example, my client would usually look for candidates with excellent communication skills and maybe some relevant experience to fill their customer service roles. Now, candidates applying for customer service roles in this company will need to undergo mechanical aptitude testing and pass before they are deemed suitable.

For this electrical engineering manufacturer, having customer service consultants with analytical skills helped better communicate products to their customers and build better customer relationships.

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How can manufacturers adopt change if they haven’t already?

Here’s what you should consider:

• Current employees may have a tough time processing changes to procedures, and thus, managers should explain the benefits of these changes
• Are there recruitment processes in place to find appropriate employees who possess the skills and experience you need?
• Conduct appropriate training to upskill and retain staff
• Change will take time, and there will be blind spots along the way

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How has COVID-19 affected the manufacturing candidate market?

The uptake of technical roles and the requirement of employees possessing analytical skills have further intensified the candidate short market. Learn more about the candidate short market here . With more manufacturers fighting over top talent, attraction and retention are even more critical than before.

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Attracting and retaining candidates in the candidate short market

We’ve learned a few things over the last year where candidate shortages have created the most intense competition over talent we’ve ever seen. Candidate shortages affect all industries as people have become more cautious about leaving secure roles, and skilled migrants cannot enter the country due to hard border closures.

The businesses who have been most successful in maintaining and increasing tenure levels have implemented most, or all, of the following practices:

• Seeking candidates in alternative candidate pools: our insurance customers have found recruiting graduates cost-effective and beneficial. Read more about that here.
• Partnering with recruiters to expand reach and access more diverse candidate pools
• Learned what their ideal candidates wanted and showcased these in their job advertisements
• Training current employees to take on more responsibility and fill roles where there are gaps

Training current employees is a great way to retain your workforce. Learning and development are among the top three benefits that candidates seek when looking for a new role. It shows that you value your employee and are devoted to their best interests.

Regarding technology and data, training employees is vital to ensure they don’t feel left out of the process. Employees will also be more accepting of change. The key is to make training easy by delivering it in bite-sized pieces and having open lines of communication in case there are questions.

If you’re interested in implementing change and have talent management objectives you’d like to meet, contact us today, and one of our consultants will be in touch shortly.