Our Client

An Amazon distribution facility serving the Lansing, Michigan area.

The Challenge

In October 2022, WIT Logistics was preparing to launch its first distribution facility in the Lansing area. To meet the demands of the upcoming holiday season and ensure 100% order fulfillment from the start, they needed to launch with 200 fully trained and onboarded employees, including forklift operators and production workers. With only three weeks to reach the required headcount, WIT Logistics brought in the recruitment experts at ResourceMFG^* to develop a strategy and make it happen.

* ResourceMFG is a division of EmployBridge, America’s largest industrial staffing firm.

The Solution

With no time to spare, ResourceMFG immediately launched a robust and strategic advertising campaign leveraging both traditional and digital tactics.

• Digital Marketing: To maximize the campaign’s reach, ResourceMFG began with an aggressive Indeed campaign targeting prospective hires in and around the Lansing area. To combat the project’s timeline, the typical Indeed budget was more than doubled for this campaign. Multiple positions were listed, and each ad was optimized to boost conversions.
• Client-Specific Yard Signs: Yard signs had been proven to be exceptionally effective for driving interview traffic in this area. To boost their impact, ResourceMFG leveraged client-specific signs across the city that included starting pay, the start date, and both company logos.
• Additional Tactics: To further drive interview traffic, ResourceMFG used other tactics that had previously been effective in the area, including referral and mass-text campaigns.
• Starting Pay: At the time of launch, the average placement pay rate in Lansing hovered between $15 and $15.50. Based on our recommendation, WIT Logistics chose to start their pay at $17.50, roughly 10% higher than the local average. This likely played a crucial role in driving interview traffic during the three-week period.
• Interviews: Within three days of the ad campaign’s launch, ResourceMFG was conducting no fewer than 40 in-person interviews per day. The volume of these interviews required special considerations due to COVID-19, but the ResourceMFG team was well-equipped to ensure a safe and efficient interview process for all parties involved.
• Onboarding: To streamline the onboarding process for WIT Logistics, candidates that were selected for hire left the interview with detailed onboarding information and clear instructions for the next steps.

The Outcome

• Headcount: ResourceMFG achieved the goal of hiring 200 new employees for WIT Logistics within the three-week timeframe. A buffer was created in anticipation of no-shows, and WIT Logistics launched with just over 200 employees.
• Retention and Fill Rate: Since launching in October 2020, WIT Logistics has maintained an overall fill ratio of 100%, as well as its ideal headcount. The distribution center ramps up its hiring efforts prior to each holiday season, then allows the headcount to naturally decrease to the desired number of roughly 110 during the remainder of the year.