An aero-parts supplier needs a five-axis prover. The owner asks around, posts on a job board and interviews three people who describe themselves as experienced CNC programmers. The one hired turns out to have run only three-axis aluminium work. Two titanium blanks later, the owner is searching again, and the original order is late.
Scarce trades and small batches make hiring in this sector unforgiving. Our briefing on aero-component workforce pressures explains why. What follows is a starting order that spares the most grief.
Begin with the role, not the advert
Settle three things before drafting any advert. What must the hire run unaided on day one? What may they pick up within months? What can wait? A prover for titanium housings is a different person from a setter of proven aluminium jobs. A fine-pitch rework specialist differs from a harness crimper. Putting this on paper beats every other early step. Our post on skill-based role descriptions shows how.
- Must bring: the core skill you cannot teach quickly, such as five-axis proving, thin-gauge TIG, CMM programming or fine-pitch rework.
- Can learn here: your part families, your customer's paperwork, your fixtures and your controls.
- Must accept: controlled drawing rules, record discipline and the order-wave rhythm of the business.
Write the trade test before you search
Nothing sifts candidates in this trade like a practical. Have it prepared before anyone walks in. Use material that is not a live customer job: a retired drawing, an offcut bar, a scrap board, an old fixture. Cap it at a couple of hours. Mark it against criteria the cell lead has signed.
- Setter or prover: plan the set-up from a retired drawing and justify the datum and probing choices. Then set a simple job on an idle machine.
- CMM inspector: inspect a retired part against a ballooned drawing and fill in a dimensional report.
- Rework solderer: remove and replace fine-pitch parts on a scrap board, inspected under the microscope.
- Former or welder: form or weld a test piece from offcut sheet to a stated check.
- Toolmaker: fit a bush or scrape a small surface to a feel the master will judge.
Choose channels that reach the right people
Job boards bring volume but rarely the scarce trades. Richer seams exist. Your own skilled staff know who is good and restless. Polytechnic and training institute faculty remember their sharpest students. Some people want to move home from a big plant elsewhere. Supplier technicians already know your parts. For senior posts, or trades with almost nobody nearby, a structured search for scarce aero trades earns its cost.
Reading a CV from this trade
CVs in precision manufacturing compress very different jobs into the same words. 'CNC programmer' can mean someone who edits offsets on a three-axis mill or someone who builds five-axis toolpaths and post-processor tweaks. Probe gently.
- Ask which materials they cut most: aluminium only, or titanium, nickel alloys and hardened steel too.
- Ask which machines and axes they set personally, not which the shop owned.
- For solderers, ask about component pitch, area-array rework and whether they inspected their own joints.
- For inspectors, ask whether they wrote CMM programmes or only ran them, and how they handled a concession request.
- For welders, ask which processes and thicknesses they held test coupons for, and when last retested.
Vague answers are not disqualifying. They simply tell you where the practical must probe hardest.
Interview for judgement, not just experience
- 1
Ask about a job that went wrong
Listen for how the candidate noticed, what they did and what they changed afterwards. Ownership matters more than a perfect record.
- 2
Test revision and record habits
Show a traveller with a revision mismatch and see if they spot it. Ask how they correct a wrong entry.
- 3
Ask when they would stop a job
Think thin-wall chatter, an expired gauge tag or a board failing functional test. Good candidates name stop points readily.
- 4
Discuss controlled information
Ask how they handled drawings in their last role. Watch for casual answers about photos and copies.
- 5
Score on a common sheet
Use one scorecard for every candidate, with the trade test, interview and references side by side. A blank candidate scoring sheet can be adapted to your trade.
Plan the first weeks before the offer
An early leaver throws away months of searching. So map the opening weeks ahead of time. Decide which drawings open to the joiner, and when. Name the mentor. List the record habits to learn first and book the first supervised job. Make the offer letter consistent with the role sheet so expectations match from day one.
The CNC aero-parts hiring page covers recruitment for setters and programmers in more depth. Bench electronics hiring is handled in finding flight-electronics rework hands. Want us to run a search? Outline the vacancy on the GullyHR brief form.
