Why Recruiting Is Crucial to the Trades

There’s a moment a lot of tradeswomen describe when they finally land in their field. A kind of recognition, like “this is exactly where I was supposed to be.” The problem is how long it took them to get there. Not because they weren’t capable. Not because the opportunity didn’t exist. But because nobody told them it did.

That’s the recruiting gap. And it’s costing the trades more than we talk about.

The Pipeline Doesn’t Fill Itself

One shipfitter put it plainly: “Recruiting into trades wasn’t something I ever heard or saw, even up through high school when it mattered.”

That last part is the sting — when it mattered. High school is exactly the window where a well-timed conversation, a job shadow, a single teacher who said “have you thought about this?” could have changed everything. For most of the tradeswomen in our community, that conversation never happened.

A 42-year-old CNC machinist tells a version of this story that’s almost painfully common: pushed toward college because that’s what her generation was told to do, she earned two associate degrees, a bachelor’s, and is now working on a master’s - all before she ever encountered a CNC machine. “Now that I’m here, I know this is exactly what I’m meant to be doing.” The talent was always there. The direction just wasn’t.

When we don’t actively recruit, we don’t end up with a neutral outcome. We end up with the wrong people in the wrong places, and the right people somewhere they don’t belong yet - racking up debt, chasing credentials, looking for work that actually feels like work. The pipeline doesn’t fill itself. It fills because someone made the effort to fill it.

Honest Recruiting Is the Only Recruiting That Works

Here’s where a lot of trades outreach goes wrong: it either oversells or undersells, and both are disqualifying.

The oversell is obvious: glossy brochures, promises of “good money,” none of the real talk about what the job actually demands. One welder describes it directly: “Be honest that it’s not an easy job. It’s not free money, it’s hard on your body and it can be hard on your mind.” When new hires show up and reality doesn’t match the pitch, you lose them, and worse, you’ve burned their trust in the whole industry.

But the undersell is just as damaging, and it doesn’t get called out enough. Telling people the trades are too hard, or steering them toward college as the safer bet, writes off an entire category of people who would have thrived if someone had believed in them. “If those people think they don’t have another option, they get stuck just as badly as the ones who thought it wouldn’t be as hard as it is.”

Good recruiting holds both truths at once: this is hard, and you can do it. There are people who will help you. The path is real.

Show the Work. Show the Result.

One of the most underused recruiting tools we have is the finished product.

Our shipfitter describes the things that gets people interested in the industry: “Show me a finished aircraft carrier, or tell me how a huge part of why that ship floats is shipfitting.” Not a diagram. Not a job description. The real thing - massive, impressive, undeniable - and then the connective thoughts: “people built that. You could be one of them.”

This is the recruiting pitch the trades rarely make, and it’s the most compelling one available. We spend so much time explaining what the job is that we forget to show what the job does. The final product is proof of concept. It’s the answer to “why would I want to do this?”

The one thing to hold on to is that the goal is to get people excited, not intimidated. Make it sound as cool as it is, without making it sound out of reach.

Send the Right Messenger

A job recruiter reading from a pamphlet is one thing. Someone who’s actually done the work, who can talk about a real setback, a real win, a real moment where the job demanded everything they had - is something else entirely.

The consensus from our members is consistent: 

Send someone who is passionate about the work, not just the paycheck. Someone who can say “I do this every day, and here’s what it actually looks like” is infinitely more credible than someone who knows how it’s supposed to sound. Just like a job interview, the recruiter should be able to talk about a major challenge the trade has faced and what it took to get through it. That kind of honesty builds trust. Trust is what gets people to show up.

Start Earlier. Go Wider.

The other lever we’re not pulling hard enough: age of exposure.

By the time most trades recruiting happens - at job fairs, in community college programs, at career transition centers, a lot of people have already made decisions that are hard to undo. The machinist working on her master’s in instructional design says it directly: “We need to start earlier. Middle school and high school exposure would make a huge difference. Even short, hands-on classes could change how people see this as a real option.”

Hands-on is the key word. Reading about machining and standing at a lathe are different experiences. Programs that put tools in students’ hands before they’ve ruled anything out are the ones that actually stick.

Recruiting Is a Personal Act

There’s a thread running through everything our members shared: the best recruiting happens one-on-one, when someone who genuinely gives a damn decides to say something.

One welder watches for it - she pays attention to how people are wired, whether they seem like they’d thrive in the environment, and if it looks like a match, she says something. Two people she pointed toward welding school ended up working at the same company she does.

Another machinist describes it as loud and ongoing: “I tell anyone who will listen.” She pulled her own sister into the field, convinced her to relocate, and watched her thrive. “Once you see what this path can do for someone, it’s hard not to push others toward it.”

That’s the energy. Not a campaign. Not a brochure. A person who loves what they do, paying attention, and speaking up when they see someone who might love it too.

We Can’t Afford to Keep Quiet

The skilled trades are facing a generational shortage. We know this. But the answer isn’t just training programs and apprenticeship slots, it’s getting the right people in the door in the first place. That means being honest about the work, showing what it produces, sending messengers who mean it, and starting those conversations earlier than feels natural.

The talent is out there. It always has been. We just have to go find it, and actually say something when we do. 

Wondering where you can find some outstanding tradespeople? Check out our podcasts:

Next Gen MFG, Two Bolts Short of a Flange, and the Sisterhood Takes the Mic