Here’s why a good old-fashioned face-to-face meeting – WITH a factory tour – will give your business the edge when hiring in today’s talent-short market.
1. Speed and Convenience vs Experience and Impact
Online interviews are great for getting things moving quickly. Candidates can join from anywhere, you can get key decision-makers involved easily and it’s efficient for early-stage screening. No travel, minimal disruption.
But here’s the catch: a screen can only tell you and the candidate so much about each other. For manufacturing businesses in particular, the working environment is a huge part of the job – and your business. You’re not just selling a role, you’re selling the experience of being part of a team, a culture, and an operation that’s physical, practical and often impressive when seen in action.
2. The Power of the Factory Tour
Let’s be honest – many candidates don’t really know what to expect when they hear about a job that is in a different factory to where they work, and they are likely to make assumptions, right or wrong. A factory tour gives you the chance to showcase the scale, professionalism and quality of your operation, friendly team members and clear safety protocols. It can be a real “wow” moment for your potential hires.
More importantly, it helps the candidate visualise themselves in the role. It gives context to what the job actually involves, and how they’d fit into the bigger picture. In a market where many businesses are fishing in the same pool, that experience alone could be what makes someone choose you over a competitor.
3. Culture is King (and Harder to Show on a Screen)
People don’t just choose jobs – they choose people. Team dynamics, manager relationships, the general atmosphere – these things matter. And while a video call gives a flavour, it’s much easier to get a feel for personality and culture when you meet in person.
Casual pre-interview chats, seeing team interactions in real-time, even how someone is greeted at reception – it all paints a picture and it works both ways. You’ll also get a better read on the candidate: how they carry themselves, how they interact with others, and whether they’re the right fit for your environment.
4. Making the Right Call – Blended Interviewing Works Best
This isn’t about ditching online interviews entirely. They’re a brilliant tool, especially for first-stage interviews, relocating candidates, or where there is limited time in diaries for hiring managers. But if you’re serious about attracting top talent and standing out, face-to-face still has a powerful role to play, especially when it includes a factory tour.
You don’t need to make every stage in-person. Just make sure the candidate sees the company before any final decisions are made – and ideally, before they make theirs.
5.Site tours allow real time discussions and follow up
During the site tour there is opportunity to discuss machinery, experience, team culture and also sell the opportunity to candidates.
There is also then the opportunity to follow up face-to-face after the site tour and ask questions, confront reservations and also sell the opportunity to the candidate.
Site Tour Case Study: May 2025
One of our clients, a large FMCG manufacturer, needed to recruit several engineers quickly and recognised the high level of competition for talent in their area.
Their usual recruitment process involved a 30-minute Teams interview followed by an on-site face-to-face interview and a site tour. However, this extended process often led to delayed decisions and the loss of their preferred candidates to competitors who had moved quicker.
With our guidance, they streamlined their approach by combining the interviews into a single on-site visit. This included a face-to-face interview (covering everything usually done via Teams), followed by a site tour and a final sit-down debrief.
The feedback was overwhelmingly positive. The single onsite visit and site tour proved to be a valuable opportunity to:
- Observe how candidates interacted with the existing team;
- Assess their knowledge of the equipment;
- Allow candidates to bring their experience to life in a practical setting; and
- Most importantly, it gave the employer a chance to both visually and verbally sell the opportunity to candidates.
As a result, our client was able to make faster and better decisions, and secure their preferred candidates ahead of their competitors.
Final Thought
In a competitive market, your workplace is one of your biggest assets. So don’t just talk about your values, your team culture, or the brilliant kit you’ve invested in – show it off. A well-run factory tour and a genuine face-to-face meeting could be the thing that seals the deal, for both you and the candidate!