Supply Chain Recruitment Strategies

Chanakya Kyatham December 2, 2021

With 2022 right around the corner, and the recovery still happening from the pandemic, obtaining supply chain talent has never been more difficult than now. The competition is high, which means you may need to rethink some of your supply chain recruitments strategies.

It doesn’t matter if your company is looking for seasoned professionals, or entry-level candidates, to attract the brightest and the best you will need several different practices to stand apart from your competitors. Strong job candidates are examining your overall brand and leadership development before joining your team. Here are 11 of the best practices to implement into your recruiting strategies.

Omnichannel Thinking

Go beyond the traditional methods of interviewing and career fairs with the omnichannel approach. There have been recommendations to keep your job descriptions more open with “preferred” certifications and requirements instead of “required”. Any classifications that are marked as “required” in the job description, should be a weighted requirement.

There is only a fraction of supply chain companies that have resources that are dedicated to only building and managing supply chain talent. Too many recruitment strategies are focused on filling the hole, and not so much as the omnichannel thinking approach.

Give Your Brand A Facelift

As mentioned above, many strong job candidates are looking at your brand and all your branding assets which include your website, social media channels, etc. If your website needs a bit of a facelift, it’s important to get that done to stand out from the crowd and attract supply chain talent to your business. A simple “Jobs” page with a generic link won’t cut it anymore. You need detailed job descriptions, company information, career growing and building plans, and even testimonials from past clients. All these assets help show the culture of your company and increase the chances of attracting the top supply chain professionals.

Develop Internships

Flexible internship programs give students the opportunity to learn in a professional setting and get to work alongside industry professionals. In today’s time, it is common for students to have multiple internships at a time, which means you need to offer flexible internships such as in the fall, spring, and summer. You can challenge internship students with projects and tasks, provide feedback, and help them better understand the industry in its entirety.

It’s also a great way to scout the talent, and even possibly bring students on for a part-time or full-time job when their internship is complete.

Career Fairs

Career fairs are not only common on university campuses, but also in the community for local companies. Either one is a great opportunity to showcase your business and get out in front of potential employees. On college campuses, you can meet different students and engage with them face-to-face about your business. Career fairs are fast-paced and have a “speed dating” feel to them. So be sure that you have the manpower on hand to be able to talk to as many students or people as possible.

Going back to how important your branding is, your materials and brochures should be visually appealing, engaging, and interactive for the audience. Have information on hand that makes it easy for them to find out more information such as where/how they can apply, what positions are available, what they need to know about the company and the job at hand, etc.

Hard Skills Versus Soft Skills

There are two things to consider when hiring a potential job candidate, which is their hard skills and soft skills. Hard skills are their grades, transcripts, resume, experience, etc. Soft skills are their ability to think on their feet, good communication, the ability to work with a team, etc.

While some companies may solely be focused on a candidate’s hard skills, soft skills are equally if not more important to other companies. Having carefully crafted interview questions can help you better understand a person’s interests and personality. A few of these questions include:

• How do you handle conflict at work?
  
• Give an example of a time you worked on and with a team.
  
• Tell us about a problem you’ve had and how you handled it.

All these questions can help you better understand their ability to handle conflict, their problem-solving skills, and how well they work within a team environment. The questions should be carefully crafted and tailored to the soft skills you would like to know more about. With hard skills, you have the evidence right in front of you, but with soft skills, it can take time to learn how they handle certain situations within the workplace and a professional environment.

Company Message

Your company message is not only important to your clients and customers, but also for potential job candidates. You should make sure your company’s message is clear, concise, consistent, and relatable. We are living in the age of social media and the internet, which means your company needs a digital presence to clearly communicate your company’s message and goals. Most of the top performing supply chain companies have implemented digital recruiting practices into their strategies in order to reach the younger generation on platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Google and more.

Hire A Professional Supply Chain Recruiter

If you don’t have the time or internal resources to delegate to your recruitment operations, hire a professional supply chain recruiter. Supply chain recruiters first take time to learn your organization and business and what your goals are as far as recruiting goes. They also have a wide inventory of networks that allow them to connect with top talent locally and nationwide. Custom search strategies are created for you, based on target candidates and qualifications that meet or exceed your expectations.

By working with a professional supply chain recruitment company, you can communicate your goals and targets, and let them handle the rest and deliver your highly qualified candidates.

These recruitment strategies can help your company attract the best talent and candidates in the area and are very important for the long-term success of your business.

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