Recruitment process consulting for Aerospace CNC Parts Makers: hiring programmers, setters and inspectors
Recruiting a five-axis programmer or inspector takes weeks, and a wrong hire costs scrap. A tested hiring process helps you define the role, test fairly and pick people who stay.
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Share your requirementsWhy recruitment process consulting matters in aerospace CNC parts makers
Without a process, hiring is by contact and gut. An advert asks for five years of CNC and gets candidates who have run simple parts. The interview is a chat, and the new setter is placed on a five-axis machine only to reveal gaps on the third job. A good inspector is found by a rival first because your offer took a month. After each wrong hire the owner tightens the advert but never changes how people are tested, so the same thing repeats.
Good looks like a role description in plain terms: machines, materials, drawings, shifts, record duties. A short trade test with your own senior watching, on a representative job, shows real skill. Candidates meet the shop head and see the floor. Offers go out quickly, with a clear pay band and a probation plan. You track where hires came from and how long they lasted to improve the next round.
How to set it up
1. Define the role in plain terms
List machines, materials, programmes, drawing types, record duties and shift. Say what the person will do alone in the first three months. See role design and job descriptions.
2. Choose sources for each role
Programmers from tooling vendors and training institutes, setters from nearby units, inspectors from quality and metrology backgrounds. Ask staff for referrals and note who recommended whom.
3. Run a short trade test
A task from your own work, watched by a senior, with a written list of what to observe. Use the same test for every candidate so results can be compared.
4. Meet the floor before the offer
Let finalists see the shop and talk to the team they would join. Many leave in the first month because the job was not as described.
5. Move fast and check the hire
Make an offer within days of a good test, with a written role and probation plan. After six months, record how each hire is doing and which source worked. Our recruitment process consulting page describes how we would help.
Check these first
Before changing anything, find out what is true today. These take an afternoon and use your own records.
- Look at your last three advertisements and note whether they name machines and materials.
- Count days from first interview to offer for the last programmer or setter hired.
- List hires in the last two years who left in six months and what they said at exit.
- Ask your senior setter what he would watch in a trade test and write it down.
GullyHR can do this with you. Read how we approach recruitment process consulting in general, or share your requirements and we will tell you where to start.
Questions owners ask
Yes, if it is short, respectful and on realistic work. Experienced people often welcome it because it shows their skill. Avoid tests that waste material or take a full shift.
Sometimes. Pair them with a senior and give a written ladder. Do not place them on exotic alloy parts early. Hire freshers for growth and experienced hands for immediate gaps, and keep a balance.
Offer clear grading, interesting work and respect for their independence from production. Pay as well as you can, and move fast. Many inspectors choose where they are heard over a small pay gap.