Finding the right talent has always been a challenge, but recruiting skilled technicians has been particularly difficult in recent years thanks to a shrinking technical workforce. This underscores the importance of optimizing your organization’s technician recruitment strategies.
“In the world of recruiting, everyone tends to follow the same pattern — posting the same job listings to the same job sites,” says Tamara Joiner, Senior Vice President of People & Safety at City US with over 30 years of experience in the field. “But while our approach may be similar to other industries, there are key strategies that can make technician recruitment more effective.”
By implementing these strategies, Tamara’s team has maintained staffing at 95%+ in a market known for its competitiveness, and they’ve reduced costs by 65% using internal, specialized talent acquisition and development teams. Keep reading to learn what they’ve been doing to drive their exceptional results.
4 Technician Recruitment Best Practices
1. Know your market
To attract strong talent, make sure you’re offering a competitive compensation package by completing the following steps:
- Conduct a thorough compensation evaluation by metro market.
- Decide on a pay strategy — whether you want to lag the market, be the market, or lead the market.
- If you’re not leading the market, boost your compensation package with other benefits and perks, such as:
- Health insurance options
- Retirement plans with company matching
- Paid time off
- Wellness initiatives
- Growth and development paths
- Bonuses
But knowing your market goes beyond benchmarking salaries and benefits. While most facilities management teams are acutely aware of the labor shortage in the technical trades, it’s also critical for hiring teams to understand they’re operating in a candidate-driven market.
“There are few positions as aggressively recruited as those in the trades,” says Tamara. She notes that she’s seen job ads offering sign-on bonuses of $10,000 and more. This approach can negatively impact your existing workforce, who may feel slighted by the investment in new hires rather than them. Not only that — the offers aren’t even effective and are likely to attract only one application at best. “Technicians aren’t actively searching for jobs on job boards and traditional platforms because they don’t have to. They aren’t looking for us — we need to go after them.”
Technicians aren’t actively searching for jobs on job boards and traditional platforms because they don’t have to. They aren’t looking for us — we need to go after them. Tamara Joiner, SVP of People & Safety at City US
In other words, recruitment teams must adopt a more proactive approach. While posting job ads remains important for visibility, the primary strategy should be to actively seek out and engage potential recruits.
“By going directly to candidates and creating relationships, you markedly increase your chances of attracting top talent,” says Tamara.
2. Nurture relationships
“One of the most common challenges for recruiters is building strong networks of technicians,” says Tamara. “During the recruitment process, recruiters will find a lot of candidates who aren’t a match today but could be in the future. These should be assigned to a future-fit candidate database and nurtured.”
Tamara advises checking in periodically with prospects, about every six months, to assess their availability and interest.
Building relationships also involves understanding individual technician needs. For instance, a technician might be content with their current job but interested in moving to a better school district. When a position opens in a desirable area, you can then reach out to that technician with an opportunity that aligns with both their professional and personal goals.
3. Stay connected to operations
Whether recruiting internally or outsourcing, ensure talent acquisition personnel are well-connected to operations and technical teams.
“Without a true understanding of the department’s operation and the candidates’ fit, HR may inadvertently forward candidates to managers without properly verifying or determining they are qualified,” says Tamara.
As a result, organizations are more likely to hire technicians who don’t align with the team’s requirements or the company culture.
When seeking talent acquisition help, opt for recruiters who have an intimate understanding of the industry as well as the market. If such expertise isn’t readily available, break down silos and gain a comprehensive understanding of operational roles, expectations, and necessary skills.
4. Grow your own talent
With competition for experienced technicians fierce, developing your own talent in-house can give your organization the upper hand. “One of the most effective ways to find top-tier talent is by growing your own,” says Tamara.
One of the most effective ways to find top-tier talent is by growing your own. Tamara, SVP of People & Safety at City US
For many teams, hiring green technicians is challenging due to limited training resources and internal training infrastructure. However, investing in continuous training is critical for both new and seasoned technicians.
Hiring less experienced technicians at a lower cost can provide savings that can be reinvested into comprehensive training programs. This approach not only builds a skilled workforce trained to your specific environment, but it can also lead to higher productivity and uptime as well as other efficiencies.
This all leads to higher retention. “There’s a link between retention and job satisfaction growth and development opportunities”, says Tamara.
When hiring less experienced technicians, high-quality technician training is key. This involves customized training programs tailored to the specific equipment the technicians will be using, incorporating hands-on exercises.
Additionally, Tamara suggests establishing a “bench” of technicians who receive ongoing training and the opportunity to shadow experienced technicians while on standby. This ensures a ready pool of talent when positions open, minimizing downtime and maintaining smooth operations.
Take Your Technical Recruitment to the Next Level
Adopting the best practices above can significantly enhance your technician recruitment efforts in a market that seems to defy conventional strategies.
Looking for technician recruitment help? With our 40 years of global facilities management experience, City Consulting Services (CCS) offers unparalleled technical workforce strategies. Our people experts have recruited and trained thousands of technical staff in competitive markets, and they possess the know-how to ensure your workforce grows alongside your organization’s needs. Plus, we can even help you with put these strategies into practice.
2016: City US is established in North America, in partnership with Southeastern Grocers (SEG), servicing over 750 supermarkets across 7 southern states.
1985: Willie and Susan Haughey establish City Refrigeration Holdings (UK) Ltd in Glasgow, UK.
2009: City Australia launches in Melbourne, in partnership with Coles, servicing over 700 supermarkets across the country.
2015: City Asia launches in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in partnership with Dairy Farm, servicing over 205 supermarkets across the region.