First Class Recruiting

You can’t fill 2026 roles with 2010 hiring strategies. The market has changed. The candidates have changed. But most companies? Haven’t. They’re still posting jobs and waiting. Still dragging candidates through 6 rounds of interviews. Still believing resumes tell the full story. That used to work… when there were more people than jobs. When engineers had to chase opportunities instead of choosing them. When a “competitive salary” and a bullet-point job description were enough. That world is gone. In aerospace, automotive, and advanced manufacturing, the talent gap is real: → Baby Boomers are retiring faster than they can be replaced. → Fewer young professionals are entering technical fields. → Expansion across the U.S. has created more openings than available expertise. And yet, too many companies are using the same tools, the same timelines, and the same playbook. The ones still waiting for applicants are falling behind. The ones building pipelines, relationships, and brand credibility are winning. Because the best candidates aren’t applying. They’re being approached. They’re talking to companies that move fast, communicate clearly, and treat hiring like a mission-critical operation, not an afterthought. Old playbooks don’t win new markets. Speed. Clarity. Credibility. That’s the new competitive edge.

Every company faces urgent hiring moments: A leader resigns. A project scales overnight. A backlog starts building. But if your hiring process breaks the moment the pressure hits, it was never strong enough to begin with. We see it all the time: → No clear alignment on what the role actually owns → Decision-makers who aren’t calibrated → Zero candidate pipeline before the need arises → Weeks wasted waiting for feedback By the time the team’s ready to move, top candidates are long gone, and the problem that caused the vacancy has already grown. The fix isn’t to “hire faster.” It’s to build a process that’s ready before the fire starts. Define the mission before the title. Align stakeholders early. Keep a pre-vetted pipeline on standby. Because in high-stakes environments, urgent hiring isn’t the problem. It’s the stress test that tells you whether your hiring system actually works.

Your interview process may be costing you better hires than bad resumes ever could. I recently saw a technical candidate drop out after 5 interview rounds. Not because they weren’t qualified. Not because they lost interest in the work. Because another company moved faster. Here’s the reality: Every extra round = higher odds you’ll lose top talent Slow feedback = instant signal of internal indecision Endless consensus-building = competitor’s closing opportunity In high-stakes environments, interview processes should be sharp and decisive. Not marathons. What works instead? 1. Define the outcome the role owns before you ever interview 2. Align decision-makers up front so you don’t backtrack 3. Run one structured challenge instead of 5 generic conversations The result: Speed + clarity + precision. The companies that hire A-players aren’t the ones with the longest process. They’re the ones with the cleanest. Leaders: What’s the longest interview process you’ve ever seen? Candidates: At what point do you walk away?

It usually starts with one critical hire. A senior engineer walks out. A plant manager gives notice. A high-priority role opens, one you absolutely can’t afford to get wrong. So you post the job. You review resumes. You interview. And still, weeks later, you haven’t found someone who fits. Someone who not just fits the role, but fits the reality of your business. Because you’re not just filling a title. You’re hiring for a mission-critical function in a complex, specialized environment where precision matters and timelines can’t flex. And if your recruiting process doesn’t reflect that complexity? You’re not just falling behind. You’re hiring blind. Find out why generic hiring breaks down in specialized industries, and how top industry recruiters deliver results beyond your competitors’ reach: https://lnkd.in/eJXvG9aS

When do you start planning your next hire? If the first time you think about hiring is when a role opens... you’re already behind. Here’s how smart companies build magnetism before they ever post a role: Show your work ↳ Share how your teams solve problems, innovate, and grow. Engineers want impact, not fluff. Highlight real people ↳ Profiles, stories, and spotlights of your best performers show candidates who they’ll be working with. Be where talent is ↳ Niche groups, industry events, and technical communities > generic mass marketing. Keep your brand fresh ↳ Outdated careers pages and silent LinkedIn feeds send the wrong message. Signal growth ↳ Top talent wants momentum. Make sure your messaging reflects the opportunities inside your walls. When you get this right, roles don’t sit open. The right candidates are already paying attention. And in today’s market, if you’re not building magnetism before the role opens, you’re already losing to the companies that are.

A plant operator once told me, “We only hire when we’re out of options.” It wasn’t a complaint. It was a confession. And it’s the exact reason their growth kept stalling. The fastest-growing plants all have one thing in common: They hire before they’re desperate. Think about production. You don’t wait for a machine to fail before you maintain it. You don’t wait for a supply shortage before you place the order. You plan ahead because you can’t afford the downtime. Hiring works the same way. The plants that thrive are the ones that see talent as part of operational continuity. They know every expansion, every launch, every shift addition depends on the right people already being in place. So they stay close to the market. They build relationships early. They talk to engineers before the project kicks off. They review leadership gaps before the gaps show up on the floor. When the moment comes, they aren’t scrambling. They’re ready. Momentum belongs to the teams who act early, not the ones who react late. If this resonates, I’d love to learn more about what you’re building. Reach out anytime—my team and I are here to help you scale with the right people.

Here’s something most leaders don’t realize until it’s too late: Your next expansion succeeds or fails based on who you meet this quarter. I’ve watched plants spend millions on new lines, automation, and footprint… only to stall because they didn’t have the right people in place. The equipment was ready. The contracts were ready. The market was ready. But the talent wasn’t. Why? Because hiring started after the expansion began instead of before it. The companies that win make one simple shift. They pipeline talent before they need it. They start meeting engineers and leaders early. They build relationships months before the first job posting goes live. That’s the work we do every day, building the technical and leadership bench that keeps expansions on schedule and operations stable. If growth is on your roadmap, your hiring strategy has to start now. If you’re a leader who needs to hire smarter and faster in 2026, let’s connect. I’m happy to share what’s working across the aerospace and manufacturing industry. P.S. I break down topics like this biweekly in my newsletter, The Talent Blueprint. If hiring is part of your growth strategy in 2026, you’ll want to be reading it.

A GM told me recently, “We want top-tier engineers… but they never choose us.” So I asked, “Where does hiring sit on your priority list?” He paused. Here’s the real issue: Companies say talent is critical. But they treat hiring like an afterthought. Production gets priority. Customer demands get priority. Expansion projects get priority. Everything gets priority… until the moment a role opens and suddenly hiring becomes “urgent.” By then, urgency is already working against you. The companies' winning talent right now aren’t louder. They’re earlier. They’re treating recruiting as part of their operating rhythm, not a fire drill every quarter. Because top engineers don’t choose the company that shouts the loudest. They choose the company that shows up early, clearly, and consistently. Hiring isn’t broken. The priorities are. If this reflects what you’re seeing inside your operation, reach out. I’m always open to discussing your growth plans and the talent you’ll need to support them.

Wishing you a festive season filled with joy, happiness, and cherished memories!

“You’re not short on talent. You’re long on unrealistic expectations.” I wasn’t trying to be harsh. I was stating the reality. They were convinced their open engineering role was impossible to fill. But when I reviewed the requirements, here’s what I found: They wanted someone with 15+ years of experience. And someone early-career enough to be “moldable.” Someone who knew legacy systems. And someone who had deep EV experience. Someone who was hands-on. And someone who was highly strategic. That’s not a job profile. That’s a wish list for a candidate who doesn’t exist. Once we narrowed the scope to what the role actually required, we filled it in under two weeks. Not because we found a unicorn. But because we stopped looking for one. Great teams aren’t built by chasing perfect resumes. They’re built by knowing what really matters. Need a recruiting partner who can help you define what the role truly requires? Reach out. Let’s talk through your goals and build a strategy that works.