You may think it’s impossible to know whether a particular manufacturing company is right for you until after you’ve landed the job. However, with a bit of research – and asking some important questions – you can actually determine whether a company is the right fit for you before you accept an offer.
Here are five ways to find the right fit for your next manufacturing role.
1. Identify Your Career Goals, Both Short-Term And Long-Term
The first step, of course, is knowing what you want from a career in manufacturing. Be honest with yourself; what is it that you wish for, going forward in your career? Are you looking for a certain level of compensation, or is there a specific role – i.e., mechanical fitter or sales engineer – that you want? Perhaps it’s more about the title, and your goal is to become a manager or even start your own manufacturing company one day.
You’ll also want to consider what work-life balance you’re looking for; do you want to work to live or live to work? While some people merge their careers and personal lives well, others are perfectly fine using their career as a means to an end; carefully consider which is best for you.
While long-term goals create a vision that you can aspire towards, short-term goals create traction. Without long-term goals, you may find yourself hopping from one short-term goal to another with no real plan or gain. That said, pick your goal and move ahead; you can always make adjustments as necessary. Life may be short, but it’s still long enough to make a few tweaks, mistakes and even transformations along the way.
2. Do Your Research
To find out whether a particular manufacturing company is right for you, you will need to do some research. The good news is that it’s easier than ever before to learn about an employer before the job interview. Take some time, in advance, to learn as much as you can online.
Start by visiting the company website, which will allow you to see the organisation’s mission statement and history, products and services, and management, as well as information about the company culture. Next, you’ll want to check the company’s social media accounts. Visiting their Facebook, Google+, Instagram, and Twitter pages will give you a good sense of the image the company wants to project, which can give you some insight into company culture and values. By liking or following a company, you’ll be able to get updates and find information you may not have found otherwise.
3. Ask The Right Questions In Your Interview
An interview isn’t just about trying to impress a hiring manager; it’s also a chance to find out whether the company is the right fit for you. After you’ve answered the interviewer’s questions, it’s time to ask your own—questions that will help you determine whether this is a company you really want to work for. Your questions should reveal things like how content employees are, what the company culture is really like and whether managers will help foster career development. Here are some critical questions you should consider asking during an interview:
- Can you tell me more about the day-to-day responsibilities of this job?
- What do you think are the most important qualities for someone to excel in this role?
- What are your expectations for this role during the first 30 days, 60 days, year?
- What is the typical career path for someone in this role?
- Where do you think the company is headed in the next 5 years?
- What are the biggest challenges facing the company/department right now?
- What do you like best about working for this company?
- What opportunities are there for professional development/career advancement?
- How long have you been with the company?
- Would you be willing to show me around the premises?
4. Learn To Identify Red Flags
If you listen to your gut—and look for certain warning signs—you can avoid the wrong manufacturing company in favour of the right fit by looking for some common red flags before, during or after an interview.
If you feel like your calls or emails are going unanswered, or it takes the hiring manager ages to get back to you, that’s never a good sign. Poor communication can signal much bigger issues, such as disorganisation in the company or overworked employees. While it’s not uncommon to correspond with multiple people throughout an interview process, if you find yourself answering the same questions more than three times, this could be another sign of disorganisation.
The hiring manager should dedicate their full attention to your interview. If they’re checking email, answering the phone, or getting distracted by people coming in during the interview, these are signs of disorganisation within the company. It can also be indicative of a negative company culture; after all, if they’re truly so busy that they can’t stop multi-tasking long enough to conduct one interview, there’s usually a reason behind it.
No job application will list every single job responsibility, but if you find your interviewer listing many responsibilities that weren’t mentioned in the job posting, be cautious. For example, if you’re interviewing for a position as a graduate engineer, the interviewer should not only be able to provide you with a specific list of responsibilities for the role but should also give you some detailed examples of your day-to–day duties.
There’s no reason for ambiguity when describing a position unless there’s something they don’t want to disclose, which is often a sign that you’ll be asked and expected to do additional work that falls outside of your job responsibilities.
5. Use a Specialist Recruitment Consultant
If you’ve tried all of the above steps and still aren’t finding the right company, or if you simply don’t have the time to spend on doing the legwork yourself, then it’s definitely time to start working with manufacturing recruitment company.
Aside from saving you valuable time, recruitment consultants can offer a lot of benefits for applicants. First of all, recruitment companies are free of charge for candidates, as they are working for companies. This also means, of course, that recruitment consultants have a thorough understanding of the market, and manufacturing recruitment consultants like Sigma Recruitment know which companies are offering exciting opportunities for people with your knowledge and expertise, and which expectations are realistic.
In addition to having a large network and the ability to get you in contact with interesting clients and projects, recruitment consultants often have access to jobs that you as a job seeker often cannot see. Through many years of partnership with clients, recruiters are often the first to hear about specific vacancies and the profiles that are needed.
How Sigma Recruitment Can Help
We are a South Wales Recruitment Specialist based in Cardiff, Wales.
We offer a full range of permanent recruitment solutions to many of South Wales’ and the South Wests’ leading manufacturing, technical, automotive and life science organisations. This includes companies in Cardiff, Swansea, Newport, Ebbw Vale, Port Talbot, Bridgend and the surrounding areas in South Wales.
Sigma Recruitment has one of the largest and most comprehensive recruitment candidate databases in the area. To get in touch with our team call us now on 02920 450 100. Alternatively, contact us here.
