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Hiring for attitude while hunting for skilled labor in manufacturing
How the metal fabrication sector can turn the unskilled workers into untapped talent
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There’s an old saying that employers hire for skills and fire for attitude. Many fabricators would agree. After all, you can teach a technical skill, but changing a person’s poor attitude is a harder nut to crack.
Even with the COVID-19 recession, many fab shops only dream of being able to “hire for skill.” Fewer and fewer applicants have relevant experience. This only increases the hiring manager’s challenge: They can’t find people with skill, so they hire mainly on attitude, which often means relying on gut reaction. Still, they sometimes hire such people only to find later that the relationship sours and attitudes change when the new hires can’t grasp even the basics of metal fabrication. Everyone thought the new hire would be a good fit. As it turns out, not so much.