When it comes to training the unskilled, companies basically have three options:

1. Hire them for attitude and then train them while on the job,
2. Don’t hire them at all and hire only those who already are skilled, or
3. Partner with local educational resources to train – and then hire – unskilled individuals.

Training of the unskilled is becoming ever more critical as the 21st century progresses. Deloitte in 2012 reported that as many as 600,000 jobs in the manufacturing sector were going unfilled each year due to skills mismatch.

So if your Ontario manufacturing company has been having a hard time finding skilled workers, you’re certainly not alone.

Which is why hiring for attitude and work ethic and training on the job could make sense for your situation, if your company has the funds, the time and the employees who can train others in the skills necessary.

So another option is to just keep looking for workers with the skills you need and skipping over enthusiastic but non-skilled job candidates when they apply to your company. You also can partner with an experienced staffing firm, one with years of experience in the area and therefore connections to “hidden” talent pools (a staffing firm such as Arrow Staffing, for example).

Yet deciding to forgo even looking at enthusiastic and hard-working – but unskilled – candidates could mean you truly could lose out on a productive, engaged worker.

So a third possibility is to partner with community colleges and trade schools to train individuals in the skills your company needs and then hire those folks when they receive certification.

This idea is a growing one in the Inland Empire. Chaffey College in Rancho Cucamonga has partnered with the Manufacturers’ Council of the Inland Empire and the Workforce Investment Board to train the unskilled within the region.

In addition, you and other Inland Empire companies could approach high schools in your city to look into technical training programs. Helping high school students learn valuable workplace skills can make them great employees, particularly for those who have no desire to go onto a two- or four-year college and would prefer to move into the workforce right after graduation.

As mentioned above, if you’re looking for the hard-to-find skilled manufacturing worker, contact the recruiters at Arrow Staffing. With more than 40 years of experience recruiting the talented and the reliable within the Inland Empire market, we know where “the good guys are” and we’d love to find them for your firm. If you are looking for staffing agencies in Redlands CA, contact us today.