For more than 20 years, we’ve referred to The JobLine as “Your Recruiter Down the Hall.” It isn’t just a slogan. It’s the philosophy that has guided how we’ve partnered with employers throughout the structural building components industry.
Think about it. When you have a production issue, you walk down the hall to your production manager. If engineering has a question, you stop by the design manager’s office. When accounting needs an answer, you know exactly where to go. So why should recruiting be any different?
When it’s time to hire a truss designer, wall panel designer, production manager, sales representative, estimator, or plant manager, you shouldn’t have to start from scratch with someone who knows nothing about your business. You should be able to walk down the hall and talk with someone who understands your products, your software, your customers, and the kind of people who thrive in your company. That’s exactly what we’ve worked to become for our clients for more than three decades.
After more than 30 years recruiting exclusively within the structural building components industry, and after spending years on the manufacturing side as a General Manager, Design Manager, Engineering Manager, Estimating Manager, and working my way up from the plant floor, I understand what employers are looking for because I’ve been the person making those hiring decisions.
I remember sitting behind the desk with a stack of resumes wondering which candidates were actually qualified and which simply knew how to write a good resume, if they wrote it at all. I tried to differentiate between those two types of candidates myself, but I often wished I had some extra insight into who looked good “on paper” and who was the “real deal.”
Anyone can list software names. Anyone can claim they have experience. Anyone can say they “learn quickly.” But can they independently design complex roof systems? Have they actually designed wall panels? How much production experience do they have? Have they supervised people? Have they worked in single-family production, multifamily, commercial, agricultural, or floor trusses? Were they the lead designer or simply helping someone else? Those are the questions that matter.
Today’s hiring managers don’t have the time — or the budget — to gamble on candidates who might work out. Every hiring decision affects productivity, customer satisfaction, training costs, and the morale of the entire department.
That’s why our job begins long before you ever see a candidate. Most applicants initially provide only enough information to create a basic resume. That’s where our work starts.
We interview candidates in detail, organize their experience, clarify their responsibilities, verify software knowledge, document the products they’ve designed, identify the markets they’ve served, and understand what they actually accomplished instead of simply listing where they worked.
The result isn’t just another resume. It’s a standardized candidate profile that allows employers to compare candidates quickly and accurately. Every profile follows the same format. You don’t have to interpret dozens of different resume styles or guess what a candidate really did.
Within seconds, Page One tells you what you need to know:
- How many years of experience do they have?
- Which software have they used?
- What products have they designed?
- What markets have they served?
- What management experience do they have?
The first page tells you if the candidate is worth your time, and then the remaining pages provide the detailed information needed to evaluate their technical background and determine whether they’re a fit for your organization.
We also recognize that experience and skill aren’t always the same thing. Someone may have 20 years in the industry yet still have significant gaps in their technical knowledge. Another designer with fewer years may consistently outperform peers because they’ve developed stronger engineering fundamentals and problem-solving skills.
Quantifying those differences is one reason we developed our Truss Design Skills Evaluation. Over the years, thousands of designers have completed our assessment, allowing us to compare candidates against an extensive industry benchmark. Rather than relying solely on years of experience, employers gain insight into a candidate’s strengths across multiple technical areas, including truss design principles, layout, mathematics, engineering concepts, speed, and overall proficiency. It doesn’t replace an interview, but it gives employers another valuable tool to help reduce hiring risk.
Perhaps the greatest advantage of having “Your Recruiter Down the Hall” isn’t filling today’s opening. It’s preparing for tomorrow’s.
The best recruiting relationships begin long before a position opens. We encourage employers to share anticipated hiring needs 6 to 12 months in advance. That lets us begin identifying potential candidates, building relationships, and understanding who may become available before the position becomes critical. When the right person appears, we already know who needs them. That’s how a trusted recruiter should work.
So before posting another opening on a national job board and sorting through hundreds of resumes from applicants you’ve never heard of — many of whom have little or no experience in our industry — take a walk down the hall instead.
Knock on the door marked The JobLine. Your recruiter has been expecting you.