CorrExpo Panel (CONT’D FROM PAGE 16)
out there in a 35-, 50-mile range outside our communities. Then we just told our people that everyone has to be a recruiter. Those people that you work with or go to church with, family members, friends, neighbors. We can’t stop at those traditional methods of recruiting that we have in the past. Ouradnik: We’re partnering with one of the local colleges — we’re onsite doing lunch and learns, we’re there for job fairs constantly, we’re always talking to people even if they’re in their first year in their technical program. We’re already bringing them in as interns or starting that pool of candidates before they have any experience at all. Also, we’re doing things with high schools, letting them know what technical careers are out there within our local area. We partner with an organization that does a lot of outreach getting manufacturing positions in front of the lo- cal community. They partner with the radio stations to put live ads out there for us to show what positions are avail- able. We’ve had a lot of success with at least getting out in front of young people early on even if they don’t have a lot of experience. Rather than focusing on the work experience they have, it’s important to hire the right people and then train them, so that’s what our main focus is. Case: We really had to focus on finding people who are already at work. With a 3.5 percent unemployment rate, the people who are in that pool are people who can’t show
reers there’s great opportunity. We all know there’s good compensation and there’s great growth opportunities down the road. Some of the things we’re doing at SMC as we’ve evolved from the typical application and interview process to what we call hiring events, promoted through so- cial media, is make connections with tech schools. One of our local tech- nical schools in Springfield, Missouri, has just created an advanced center for manufacturing, so again we’re getting those kids in and we’re getting them passionate about manufacturing careers. We’ve worked with our Chamber — they started a pro- gram where we bring in 500 or 600 juniors and seniors across a 11-county area to experience what automation looks like, what advanced manufacturing looks like and what a career opportunity might be like. Through the Chamber we also have a program called 7th and 8th Grad- ers Go To Work, and it’s getting them connected early on about what the opportunities might be. Partnerships with schools is a big thing we’re pushing now. Through our Partners in Education Program, we’re reaching out to some of our regional schools and one of the things that we’ve found is there is a basket of talent Mark McNay
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