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Location: Ocala, FL

Employment Type: Contract

Work Arrangement: Hybrid

The Opportunity

We are seeking an experienced Contract Manufacturing Recruiter to join our manufacturing client onsite at our Ocala, Florida manufacturing facility.

This is a hands-on recruiting role for someone who knows how to recruit in a manufacturing environment and, ideally, learned their craft in the staffing or recruiting agency world.

We need someone who understands that recruiting production talent requires more than posting jobs and waiting for applications. You know how to build a local candidate pipeline, source proactively, move candidates quickly through the process, maintain consistent follow-up, and develop relationships that keep candidates engaged.

You will support hiring across a range of manufacturing positions—from general and entry-level production labor to skilled manufacturing and technical talent—while partnering directly with HR and plant leadership to understand workforce needs and translate them into an effective recruiting strategy.

What You'll Do

You will own the day-to-day recruiting effort for the Ocala facility, including:

• Recruit for high-volume general labor, production, manufacturing and skilled-trades positions.
• Build and continuously maintain candidate pipelines rather than relying exclusively on incoming applicants.
• Proactively source candidates through job boards, databases, referrals, community outreach, social platforms and other creative recruiting channels.
• Screen candidates for relevant skills, work history, reliability, schedule requirements and overall fit.
• Coordinate interviews and maintain consistent communication with candidates throughout the hiring process.
• Partner closely with HR, supervisors and plant leadership to understand current and upcoming workforce needs.
• Develop a strong understanding of the jobs being recruited for—including the actual work performed on the manufacturing floor.
• Help managers clarify hiring requirements and distinguish true job requirements from preferences.
• Maintain urgency around open positions and proactively identify recruiting bottlenecks.
• Track candidate pipelines, recruiting activity, conversion rates, time-to-fill and other meaningful recruiting metrics.
• Identify recurring reasons candidates are lost during the recruiting and hiring process and recommend improvements.
• Develop relationships with local workforce organizations, trade programs, technical schools and other potential sources of manufacturing talent.
• Help strengthen UPF's employment presence within the Ocala-area labor market.
• Provide candidates with a realistic understanding of the work environment, expectations and opportunities at UPF.

What We're Looking For

The strongest candidate will bring significant agency recruiting experience combined with manufacturing recruiting experience.

You should be comfortable operating in an environment where recruiting needs can change quickly and where success requires persistence, organization and personal accountability.

Required Experience

• 5+ years of recruiting experience, with significant experience in a staffing agency or third-party recruiting environment strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated experience recruiting within manufacturing, industrial, distribution or similar operational environments.
• Experience recruiting both general/entry-level production labor and skilled manufacturing talent.
• Proven ability to manage multiple open requisitions and candidate pipelines simultaneously.
• Strong sourcing skills and experience finding candidates beyond inbound job-board applications.
• Ability to communicate effectively with hourly candidates, skilled tradespeople, supervisors, managers and senior leaders.
• Comfortable working onsite and spending time in the manufacturing environment to understand the positions being recruited.
• Strong follow-through and candidate-management skills.
• Ability to work independently, prioritize changing needs and maintain recruiting momentum without requiring constant direction.

Particularly Valuable Experience

Experience recruiting positions such as:

Production & General Labor

Production Associates • Assemblers • Material Handlers • Machine Operators • Warehouse/Shipping & Receiving • General Manufacturing Labor

Skilled Manufacturing

Fabricators • Welders/Plastic Welders • CNC Operators • Maintenance Technicians • Industrial Maintenance • Electrical/Mechanical Technicians • Quality Technicians • Manufacturing Leads and Supervisors

Experience developing relationships with vocational schools, workforce-development organizations, community organizations or other local talent sources is also highly valued.

The Kind of Recruiter Who Will Succeed Here

We're looking for someone who is:

A Recruiter, Not an Order Taker

You don't wait for applicants. You find people, engage them and build relationships.

Comfortable on the Manufacturing Floor

You want to understand what employees actually do so you can accurately represent the opportunity and identify the right candidates.

Fast Without Being Careless

Manufacturing recruiting requires urgency, but you understand that sending the wrong candidates faster doesn't solve the problem.

Persistent

Candidates don't always answer the first call. Hiring managers get busy. Priorities change. You keep the process moving.

Curious

You ask questions until you understand the position, the skill requirements and what actually makes someone successful.

A Doer

When you see a recruiting problem, your instinct is to help solve it—not simply report it.