Sure the latest initiatives from the Teslas, Apples and Googles of the industry tend to dominate the tech news space — and with good reason. Still, the tech titans aren’t the only ones bringing innovation to the sector.
In an effort to highlight up-and-coming startups, Built In has launched The Future 5 across 11 major U.S. tech hubs. Each quarter, we will feature five tech startups, nonprofits or entrepreneurs in each of these hubs who just might be working on the next big thing. You can check out last quarter’s Chicago round-up here.
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The manufacturing industry, like many other industries, has experienced a labor shortage that was exasperated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Often overlooked for not being as flashy as the tech industry or making headlines like the medical worker shortage, manufacturing companies in recent months have struggled to recruit and keep talent.
A recent report from Forbes suggests that the shortage is in part caused by the inability to find the right talent and also due to employers not investing in their workforce.
To aid in the manufacturing workforce shortage Joel Calderon founded MFGWorx, a recruiting platform built specifically for companies in the manufacturing, warehouse or industrial sectors. Prior to starting the company, Calderon worked on the staffing side of the manufacturing industry where he realized that many of the recruiting solutions out there just weren’t cutting it.
“I recall how companies I’ve worked for would need three to four different subscriptions [or] agreements to different products just to get what they needed,” Calderon told Built in over email. “I have seen these facilities struggle to hire, struggle to encourage candidates to come into the industry and struggle to keep up with the price increases our competitors pushed during these difficult times which even led to facilities having to close their doors.”
With MFGWorx, Calderon created an all-in-one platform that emphasizes companies connecting personally with candidates through text instead of sending out generated emails and notifications telling a candidate to apply to new jobs or to update them on their application process.
We want to continue to promote these industries to encourage individuals to explore careers in these fields and educate employers so they’re better suited to compete in these labor tight markets.”
The platform’s other recruiting tools include a resume builder, a matching tool that recommends jobs to candidates based on their past experience and the ability to accept or decline job offers directly from the platform. All in all, the tools built into the MFGWorx platform are meant to streamline the hiring process and make it easier for candidates and employers to connect.
“Competitors use push notifications and email to update applicants. This is outdated because most individuals shut off push notifications and knowing our industry talent market, email isn’t used all that regularly. Our candidate engagement strategy is more instant, meaning connecting employers to candidates within seconds to open up a line of communication. Other platforms simply just over-complicate things,” Calderon said.
Setting up accounts both for candidates and employers is also simple and takes only a matter of minutes on the platform. For candidates, MFGWorx constantly engages with them to ensure that their information is up to date in order to get relevant communications and offers.
Currently, the platform is in its pilot stage where select companies are using it to recruit talent. MFGWorx is using this time to gather feedback before doing a full launch of the product.
MFGWorx is also looking at ways to provide training to candidates using the platform. According to Calderon, this would help give candidates a better advantage when looking for new opportunities and will also help them explore new career options.
“We want to continue to promote these industries to encourage individuals to explore careers in these fields and educate employers so they’re better suited to compete in these labor tight markets,” Calderon said.
