With industrial customers all over the globe who depend on Seal & Design’s huge inventory of essential goods, order fulfillment revolves around perfect products, correctly packed and delivered on time. A fast-growing manufacturer and distributor of sealant products like gaskets and o-rings, Seal & Design has facilities in Clarence, Rochester, Syracuse, and Toronto.
Getting orders out the door requires a large team of dedicated, detail-oriented people who take pride in a job well done — but the current industrial hiring landscape makes that tricky. Since COVID, most manufacturers’ job openings have more than doubled, and the quest for employees gets competitive.
With other employers offering things like sign-on bonuses, slightly higher pay, or simply a change of scenery, it’s not uncommon for workers to job jump every nine months or so. When teams on the floor are short-handed, mistakes and late orders increase while workmanship and morale plummet.
To combat this complex issue, Seal & Design has been proactive in creating a work environment where people don’t want to leave.
“We’ve done a lot of work to improve pay and are working with a consultant to handle annual reviews, raises, and such to be competitive,” explains Chief Financial Officer Adam Mikols. “But if someone doesn’t like something, they leave, and they can because there are so many openings. As a result, we’re constantly recruiting.”
A year ago, Seal & Design hired an experienced recruiter whose sole focus is finding the right candidates, hiring and onboarding. While traditional recruitment platforms like ads, Indeed and job fairs do fill positions, the company was looking for a more sustainable recruitment pipeline that identified team members intent on staying in the job.
“That’s why Joblio makes sense,” says Mikols. “Someone is coming to establish themselves in the U.S., wants to be here and work, stay here, and then bring friends or family who have the same mindset. It’s stability for us and reduces turnover. That’s the biggest thing.”
Miklos and his team found the recruitment process through Joblio to be flexible and streamlined. Joblio was willing to follow Seal & Design’s recruitment process when it came to interviewing and testing — and provided several candidates who met the company’s requirements for math and reading, some English, skillsets, work history and job goals.
Because Seal & Design handles government contracts, the company requires certain visas, which Joblio helped candidates secure. Throughout the process, translation services eased Mikols’s concerns about language barriers. So far, Seal & Design has welcomed a few new team members to their Clarence location and is looking at staffing their Syracuse facility, too.
“Our new employees have fit right in and mesh well with our team,” says Mikols. “It’s really working out.”
