Introduction
Welcome back to Hire We Go!, your go-to podcast for navigating the ever-evolving world of talent acquisition. Today, we’re diving into the challenges of manufacturing recruitment and the potential game-changer that is programmatic job advertising. Joining us is Michelle Sumrall, talent acquisition leader at PAC Worldwide, a global name in protective packaging solutions. From solving the skilled labor shortage to optimizing recruitment ROI, Michelle shares how innovation and strategy are shaping the future of hiring in manufacturing.
Ashlie Collins: Hello and welcome to this episode of Hire We Go!. I’m Ashlie Collins, your host and director of solutions at Joveo, where we are transforming talent acquisition into a more precise, efficient, and downright strategic process. Whether you’re an HR vet or someone who’s simply fascinated by how to find, attract and engage talent, you are most certainly in the right place. Joining me today is Michelle from PAC Worldwide.
Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me and with the audience. Why don’t you go ahead and tell us a little bit more about yourself and PAC Worldwide.
Michelle Sumrall: Thanks, Ashlie. It’s so nice to be here, and I appreciate you taking time out to talk with me. I’m Michelle Sumrall, I lead the talent acquisition function for PAC Worldwide. We are a global manufacturer of protective packaging solutions. We provide various types of packaging, mainly mailer-style envelopes, like plastic bubble mailers, those types of things, servicing large e-commerce customers, as well as all the various carriers throughout the world. I started my career in recruiting as a sales rep for a temporary staffing service many, many moons ago, worked my way into an RPO type setting and then ultimately into in-house TA over 10 years ago.
Michelle Sumrall: I love working in the manufacturing space. I love seeing how things are made and the people we hire to actually make them and get the products out the door. I really enjoy what I’m doing today and working in manufacturing.
Ashlie Collins: Absolutely. Thank you so much for breaking that down. And I know you’ve been learning a lot about programmatic job advertising and I’m curious to better understand how you see it being particularly relevant in your industry and what has you exploring it as an option.
Michelle Sumrall: Yeah, so working in manufacturing, as I was looking into programmatic and ways that we can face some of the challenges and what they are is a critical talent shortage coming up, especially for skilled and manufacturing labor. We’re looking at about 2.1 million unfilled positions projected by 2030. And we already experienced this in our space where we have trouble finding skilled labor, especially with specific engineering roles as well as maintenance style roles, industrial maintenance and so on. So with programmatic, we can look at increasing the ROI where we’re able to pay per qualified applicant versus per click, and also to expand where we’re advertising, not just directing out to job boards, but to direct out to Google, social, all different types of media so that we’re drawing in some of those candidates who may not be actively looking on job boards.
Ashlie Collins: That makes complete sense. And I think you’ll see a lot of folks are in that boat, especially when you’ve got this really daunting supply challenge. How do you find people where they are, where they’re spending their time and then get in front of them with a compelling message? So that said, Michelle, if you had a magic wand, what would you change about talent sourcing in 2025?
Michelle Sumrall: Well, I happen to have a magic wand right here. And I have thought about it and I would love to see a holistic tech solution for all of TA that would encompass everything from advertising to candidate apply to onboarding, employee experience, really just the whole cycle of what we have to do in one customizable form.
Michelle Sumrall: Let’s face it, everyone’s usage is not the same. I think that’s what makes it so challenging today to find that exact fit. No one loves their ATS. There’s always some issue. So if we could find something that could solve everyone’s problems in a full-service solution where we’re not going to all different sites for data or looking where we can look. So I’m going to a bippity-boppity-boo that right into the world.
Ashlie Collins: I love it. That is a dream I can get on board with. Well, thank you again for joining us today and thank you all for tuning in to Hire We Go!. I’m Ashlie Collins and remember when it comes to hiring, we are just getting started. See you next time.
Conclusion
As Michelle highlights, it’s all about finding smarter ways to connect with the right talent – whether that’s through programmatic advertising or a magical, all-in-one TA solution (bippity-boppity-boo, anyone?). Thanks for tuning in to Hire We Go! – where the conversation around hiring is just getting started. Until next time, keep thinking bold, innovating big, and, most importantly, hiring smart.
