Written by Richard Bourne 16th September 2026

Winning a significant new contracts and new work should be a moment to celebrate.

Months of conversations, quotations, revisions and negotiations have finally paid off. The customer has said yes, the order book looks healthier and there is a genuine opportunity to grow. Then someone asks the practical question.

Who is going to do the work?

The machines may be available and the materials can be ordered, but people are not as easy to switch on when production needs to increase. An experienced welder, CNC setter, maintenance engineer, production supervisor or forklift driver cannot always be recruited and made fully productive within a few days.

This is where a commercial opportunity can quickly become a workforce challenge.

Why can a new contract create recruitment pressure?

A new contract rarely arrives at the perfect time.

The existing workforce may already be covering overtime. An experienced employee might be approaching retirement. Holidays may be booked, absence levels can change and the people who normally train new starters may already be working at full capacity.

On paper, the business may need five additional production employees. In practice, it could need a much more complicated mixture of skills.

Perhaps the work requires two experienced welders, a machine setter, additional assembly staff and somebody capable of carrying out final quality checks. The company may also need more people in the warehouse, additional forklift coverage and administrative support to manage purchasing, production paperwork and deliveries.

Recruitment is therefore not separate from winning and delivering new business. It is part of the same commercial plan.

What happens when recruitment starts too late?

The first reaction is often to ask existing employees to work additional hours.

That can be a sensible short-term response. Experienced people already understand the products, machinery, standards and customers. However, overtime cannot always provide a complete or sustainable answer.

Employees become tired, absence can increase and quality may suffer. Supervisors spend more time covering operational gaps and less time managing production. Maintenance gets postponed because keeping machinery running takes priority over preventative work.

Recruitment then becomes urgent.

Urgency can reduce the amount of time available to consider whether somebody is right for the business. Interviews are arranged around production pressures, job offers are made quickly and new starters are expected to become productive almost immediately.

If the first appointment does not work out, the pressure increases further.

Starting the conversation earlier gives an employer more control. It provides time to understand the market, set an appropriate pay rate and decide which skills genuinely need to be recruited.

Are more available candidates always the right candidates?

The number of vacancies across the UK has fallen from its post-pandemic peak. The Office for National Statistics estimated that there were 2.5 unemployed people for every vacancy during February to April 2026. At first glance, that might suggest recruitment should be easier. Source: Office for National Statistics

However, general candidate availability is not the same as having the right skills in the right location.

A manufacturer in the West Midlands may receive plenty of applications for a production vacancy but still struggle to find somebody who can set a particular machine, interpret engineering drawings or work a rotating shift pattern.

A skilled welder may be available but have experience with a different process. An experienced forklift driver may not hold the licence required for the site. A maintenance engineer may be technically capable but live too far away to provide reliable breakdown cover.

Skills England reports that more than a quarter of vacancies are difficult to fill because of skills shortages. It also expects employment across occupations supporting priority industries to grow by almost a quarter between 2025 and 2035. Advanced manufacturing could require approximately 47,000 additional workers over that period. Source: Skills England Annual Skills Report 2026

That means employers cannot assume that every skill will be readily available when demand increases.

Which roles could restrict production?

Not every vacancy has the same effect on output.

A business may need ten production operatives, but production could still be restricted by one missing machine setter. Additional welders may increase fabrication capacity, but completed work cannot leave the factory if there is nobody qualified to inspect it.

The most important workforce question is not always, “How many people do we need?”

It may be, “Which missing person could prevent everybody else from doing their job?”

Every manufacturing and logistics operation has potential bottlenecks. It could be the only maintenance engineer who understands an older machine. It might be the supervisor who knows the customer’s quality requirements or the forklift driver responsible for loading finished products.

Identifying these roles before a new contract begins makes recruitment much more focused.

It also highlights where internal training could help. If only one employee can complete a critical task, the business may need a second person trained before increasing production.

When should workforce planning begin?

Workforce planning should begin while the contract is being discussed, not after the customer places the order.

This does not mean recruiting permanent employees before work is guaranteed. It means understanding the likely requirement and checking whether the plan is realistic.

If production needs to increase in six weeks, how long will recruitment take? Does the role require a notice period? How much training will a new employee need? Who will provide that training? Are the proposed pay rate and working hours competitive?

These questions can reveal problems before they affect the customer.

For example, a business might plan to recruit three experienced CNC setters within a month. A conversation with a specialist recruiter may show that the local candidate pool is extremely limited at the proposed rate.

The employer can then make an informed decision. It could increase the rate, recruit operators who can be developed, move an existing employee into setting or change the production plan.

The important thing is that the decision is made before the vacancy becomes an emergency.

Should the business recruit temporary or permanent employees?

The right choice depends on the contract, the skills required and the level of confidence in future demand.

Permanent recruitment can be suitable when the contract creates a long-term requirement or when the company needs to retain specialist knowledge. A permanent employee can become part of the business, develop additional skills and provide capacity beyond the immediate project.

Temporary recruitment can provide flexibility when demand is seasonal, the production increase has a defined end date or the business needs people to start quickly.

Temporary-to-permanent recruitment can work well when the requirement is expected to continue but the employer wants to see how demand develops. It also gives the employee and employer an opportunity to decide whether the position is right for both sides.

There is no single answer for every vacancy. A sensible workforce plan may use a combination of all three.

A business might recruit a skilled supervisor permanently, bring in experienced temporary employees for the initial production increase and offer longer-term opportunities to the strongest performers.

Can the existing workforce provide part of the answer?

Recruitment does not always mean finding every skill externally.

The person already working in assembly may be capable of becoming a team leader. A machine operator could learn setting. A general welder may be ready to develop fabrication and drawing-reading skills.

Internal progression can protect company knowledge and give employees a reason to remain with the business.

However, moving somebody into a new position creates another gap. Promoting an experienced production operative may solve the supervisory vacancy, but the business will still need somebody to cover their previous work.

This is why workforce planning needs to look at the whole operation rather than one vacancy at a time.

The best solution may be to recruit at a more accessible level and develop the person internally. In other situations, the business may need an experienced employee who can contribute immediately.

The decision should be based on available time, internal training capacity and the demands of the contract.

What should employers discuss with a recruiter before the work starts?

An early recruitment conversation does not have to involve an immediate commitment to hire.

It can be used to test assumptions.

Is the proposed rate realistic? Are people with the required skills available locally? How long are their notice periods? Are competitors recruiting similar employees? Could transferable experience widen the candidate pool? Would the shift pattern make the vacancy more difficult to fill?

These conversations can influence decisions about quoting, production schedules, overtime and delivery dates.

A recruiter who understands the role can also begin speaking with suitable candidates discreetly. This creates a potential pipeline without promising jobs that do not yet exist.

When the contract is confirmed, the business is then starting with market knowledge and possible candidates, rather than a blank sheet of paper.

How can Bespoke Career Solutions help?

Bespoke Career Solutions takes a consultative approach to recruitment across engineering, manufacturing, logistics and commercial sectors.

We discuss the work in detail, including the reason for the vacancy, the skills required, the production environment, the shift pattern and how quickly somebody needs to become productive.

This helps separate the essential requirements from the skills that could be trained.

Because we speak with employers and candidates every day, we can provide a practical view of local availability and pay expectations. If the proposed recruitment plan is likely to be difficult, we can explain why and discuss realistic alternatives.

Sometimes the solution is a higher rate for a genuinely skilled appointment. Sometimes it is removing an unnecessary requirement, considering transferable experience or recruiting somebody with the foundations to develop.

Bespoke Career Solutions can support permanent, temporary and temporary-to-permanent recruitment. This allows the staffing approach to reflect the contract, the timescale and the level of certainty around future demand.

Growth is easier when the people plan comes first

Winning work is only the beginning.

The real success comes from producing the order safely, maintaining quality and delivering it when promised. That depends on machinery, materials, systems and, most importantly, people.

Employers do not need to predict every vacancy months in advance. They do need to know which skills could restrict growth and where those skills are likely to come from.

A conversation before the contract is signed can prevent a recruitment emergency after it begins.

If your business is quoting for new work, increasing production or reviewing its future skills requirements, speak with Bespoke Career Solutions.

Telephone: 0121 818 5188
Email: jobs@bespokecareersolutions.com
Website: www.bespokecareersolutions.com

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