Finding a Packaging Engineer Candidate

Human Resources (HR) representatives and Recruiters have difficulty when it comes to hiring a Packaging Professional. There are multiple reasons why many companies cannot set apart a great Packaging Professional hire from a lousy one. The main reasons are the focus and intent of the HR/Recruiter representative. Below are three tips for HR/Recruiters when looking for a Packaging Professional:

Tip #1: Do your research on what a packaging engineer actually does prior to contacting.

The primary issue with Human Resources in the packaging industry is an understanding of what a Packaging Engineer actually does. It amazes Packaging Professionals all the time when they are contacted for a position by HR, yet the representative contacting does not even know what they are looking for. For example; some colleagues commented they were contacted for an Electrical Engineer position working with PCBA’s because they have Packaging listed on their resume or Curriculum Vitae. In addition, numerous Packaging Professionals are contacted for Computer Packaging positions. Again, Packaging Professionals do not develop software programs.

Tip #2: Know what the company is looking for in a Packaging Professional.

Once comprehending what a packaging engineer does; the HR/Recruiter team tries to write a job description of what the position is composed of. Countless times, job descriptions have inaccurate job responsibilities for Packaging Professionals. A common misstep is not collaborating with the hiring manager. The hiring manager will know the details of the job more specifically. By not working together job descriptions become extremely vague and broad. It leaves a huge opening for candidates from other disciplines to apply to a Packaging Professional job they may not even be qualified for. By making the job description vast causes an outpouring of resumes for HR professionals to review.

It’s common for companies to try to make a Packaging Engineer be an expert in multiple fields such as Business, Engineering, Creative, Quality, Logistics, etc. Companies are going to be hard pressed to find a candidate who can legitimately be an expert in all disciplines.

Tip #3: Being too specific will either prevent qualified Packaging Professionals from applying to the position or limit the candidate pool to a finite number of 0 or 1 potential matches.

At times Recruiters/HR are too specific with the job responsibilities where only a candidate who has worked at the company would be able to understand what is required and needed. A great illustration of this is use of company acronyms in job descriptions. What professional is going to be able to grasp what is actually required without the definition of the acronyms? Furthermore; it would be wise not to list years or versions of software, standards, and specifications. If it is the year 2016 and the job requirement states X software 2012, nine times out of ten people with X software 2014 or X software 2003 are going to be capable of using the 2014 version. Why eliminate candidates because of a small discrepancy?