Manufacturers are hiring into a tight market, and the pressure is clear in the data. Skills shortages sit at the top of the list, with 75% of manufacturers naming them as a barrier to growth, followed by recruitment at 36% and talent retention at 32% Barclays Corporate's 2024 analysis of the skills shortage in UK manufacturing.
That gap is holding back more than headcount. Over 50% of manufacturers cite skills shortages as the main barrier to adopting AI, and only 2% say AI is widely embedded across their operations The Manufacturer and Make UK's 2026 report on AI, skills and the future of UK manufacturing. The people you hire now shape whether the technology you buy next actually pays off.
The stakes are big. The UK ranks just 24th in global robotics density, and targeted innovation and digital investment could add £150 billion to the UK's GDP by 2035 Make UK's 2025 Making it Smarter report. Getting hiring right is part of closing that gap.
The roles are shifting as the factory floor goes digital. Six in ten (59%) manufacturers cite automation and half (50%) cite wider digitalisation as the trends changing jobs and skills needs, and 74% expect demand for cognitive and meta-cognitive skills to increase by 2030 Make UK's 2024 report, 2030 Skills: Closing the Gap. In plain terms, employers increasingly need people who can solve problems, learn fast and work alongside machines.
This is reshaping how firms think about their current teams too. 40% of manufacturers are looking to upskill their existing workforce, specifically for redeployment as a result of automation and digitalisation, and that figure rises for firms with more than 1,000 employees the Make UK Executive Survey 2026. Hiring and upskilling now work as two sides of the same plan.
Start with evidence, not assumptions. When 74% of manufacturers expect demand for cognitive and meta-cognitive skills to rise by 2030 Make UK's 2030 skills research, the job description has to name the real capabilities the role needs: the certifications, the machine experience, the problem-solving, the willingness to learn new systems.
Then review candidates against that evidence consistently. A structured, like-for-like review of each person's skills and experience beats a quick scan of a CV, and it keeps your decisions fair and defensible. With recruitment named a barrier by 36% of manufacturers Barclays Corporate's manufacturing skills research, speed matters too: the longer a vacancy stays open, the more production and projects wait.
This is where we help. Our AI agent searches 15 million candidates, reviews each person's skills and experience against the role and returns a ranked shortlist in under 30 seconds, so you spend your time on the people who genuinely match. It contacts matched candidates in under a minute and can book an interview in under three minutes, which keeps good people from drifting to another employer while you wait.
Our recruitment agent manages recruitment end to end for 8% on a successful hire, with no monthly fee and no upfront cost, through Reed.ai. You pay for the value of finding the right person and having the whole process managed for you. Tell us the role and the skills that matter, and we'll surface evidence-based matches ready to interview today.
