Lancaster University helps manufacturing SMEs recruit and keep top talent

Lancashire’s small and medium-sized manufacturing and engineering businesses will learn how to better maximise their recruitment strategies and keep talented employees in their companies through a special workshop.

Lancaster University Management School (LUMS) is hosting the event ‘How to get great people to join your manufacturing SME...and stay’, with leading recruitment experts as part at the EnginE programme.

The project is designed to open doors for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) to access effective workforce development opportunities and to futureproof their business.

EnginE is designed to signpost the possibilities and initiatives on the doorstep of local SMEs to help them tackle common workforce development and skills challenges such as recruiting and retaining great staff, delivering cost-effective training, upskilling and development for existing employees, and making apprenticeships work for their business.

The upcoming all-day workshop, to be held in LUMS on Thursday, November 7, is aimed at Lancashire manufacturing and engineering SME leaders interested in how to develop their organisation’s talent pool through recruitment and retention of the right individuals. 

Annette Suddes, EnginE project manager at Lancaster University Management School, said: “This is the perfect opportunity for any organisation that feels it is not reaching the right candidates, that it is attracting too many of the “wrong” candidates, or that it doesn’t get the desired outcome from their recruitment processes.

“We will provide an opportunity for businesses to assess themselves and their impact in the recruitment market, help them understand more about the availability of skills across manufacturing, and provide hacks to improve ‘pulling power’ versus the competition.

“Our experts will provide an insight into what works and what doesn’t in recruiting and keeping talent within a business, which can have a big impact on overall results and performance of any firm.”

The event will feature experts from Lancaster-based Forsberg, who will explain how they work to attract staff and high level skills to their precision navigation business, and from A&G Precision, in Preesall, on building their workforce through strong ties to the community. 

The session will be facilitated by Jenny Cridland, a LUMS Honorary Fellow, former head of HR with BAE Systems, and a talent management expert.

EnginE is part-funded by the European Social Fund, and delivered in partnership with Blackburn College, Blackpool & Fylde College, the Northern Automotive Alliance, and in collaboration with BOOST – Lancashire’s Business Growth Hub, which means the support and advice businesses receive is free, and the programmes, masterclasses and resources available are often heavily subsidised.

To find out more about the event, contact [email protected] or call Lancaster University Management School on 01524 510194.