The Human Side Of Recruiting In The Packaging Industry

It is easy to forget the human side of moving someone, often an entire family, from one job to another job. Pulling up one’s roots is no small decision. It’s a big decision. It’s an emotional decision. It’s a profoundly personal decision.

How skilled is your packaging company at helping potential hires during these vulnerable moments of transition?

Your ability to attract and retain the best and brightest is as much about your culture as it is your HR department. Your company culture can become one of your greatest competitive assets, or not.

Let’s revisit the idea of vulnerable moments.

When a brand values their Best Place To Work awards as much as they value the bottom line, the bottom line grows. Retention soars. People plug into something bigger than themselves.

Take, for example, Brigade – a creative agency with serious chops in package design. When Ad Age deemed Brigade one of the best places to work in 2017, Ad Age said something about the leadership of Brigade.

Back to those vulnerable moments – the sequel.

If you’re thinking about uprooting your family to join Team Brigade, you’re probably thinking those Brigade people get it. They get the fact that uprooting your family is a tough, vulnerable decision to make.

Beyond Brigade’s award is the tone they set on their website. In particular, they are showcasing how Brigade treats their interns. Seriously? Interns? How you treat interns says a ton about how you view people in general.

In their post, We Are BRIGADE: A Conversation with Jackie Saucier, Creative Intern– they write the following: “At BRIGADE, we foster the next generation of creative talent by offering competitive paid internships to young designers from all over the country.”

Ok, cool, but what does that have to do with a packaging executive uprooting his or her family for a new job? Everything! Brigade treating their interns like gold makes a statement to the world. It demonstrates how they view people, which gives a potential hire what he or she most craves, peace of mind.

Interns. New hires. Long-term employees. When it’s all for one, everybody wins.

Does your packaging brand give new hires peace of mind? If not, how can you change that? The recruiting and hiring process is a human process.

Sonderen Packaging: A Case Study In Excellence

Excellence is a decision. It’s the choice to rise above the crowd in the areas that matter the most; value, customer service, company culture, to mention a few. To this end, Sonderen sets the standard as evidenced by the many awards they have won.

But it goes deeper than awards. Much deeper.

When you’re building a packaging brand, the tone is everything. The same is true when you are trying to attract top-tier talent. Tone, in this context, is defined as the “general character or attitude of a brand and company culture.”

The best way to experience the tone of the Sonderen brand is the (6)-minute video found on their About Page. To be clear, we have no affiliation with Sonderen. They don’t even know we’re writing about them!

After viewing the Sonderen About Page video, what words would you use to describe their brand? What words would you use to describe their company culture? It’s easy to see why they have won so many awards.

“All of us out here (plant floor) take pride in what the finished product looks like.”

In the name of full disclosure, many agencies can make an excellent video for your brand. Getting an employee to deliver the perfect line is also easy to craft. But is it real? And what does that have to do with recruiting? The answer is on their website.

In their post, “Empowering Employees and a Great Company Culture Lead to Excellent Employee Retention”, this packaging firm plants their flag. The Sonderen Way is crystal clear. People matter. Excellence matters — values matter.

When you’re a recruiter talking to someone about turning their life upside down, such cultures are pure gold. Companies like Sonderen tell a potential hire that yes, change can be tough, but the ROI will be worth it in the end.

And who doesn’t want to join a company passionate about excellence?

Tone matters. Excellence matters. Such brand qualities play to our base need to do meaningful work. When we feel a potential employer offers us those things, we naturally attract to the impact that could have on our lives.

Will Trinity Ever Host Saturday Night Live?

If you’re like me, such a question melts your brain a little.

Pop culture, ugh. Who is Trinity? Pop star? Actor? Comedian? Influencer?

The thing is, it’s a valid question, and we think one of Trinity’s employees was in Game Of Thrones. We’ll let their YouTube video fill in the blanks.

The Trinity YouTube Video

Yep, Trinity is a packaging company. Wow! But did all that tomfoolery translate to the bottom line? We’ll let Inc Magazine answer that question in their piece, “How Relationships–Both With Customers and Employees–Form the Core of a Fast-Growth Culture.”

Ok, so the article title stretches from sea to shining sea but the takeaway is clear. We want to drink beer with these Trinity people! Virgin America was famous for taking a similar approach to their marketing.

When we want to drink beer with a brand’s persona, we are far more likely to join their team. How so? Trust. Trinity Packaging is a brand people can trust. And when it comes to recruiting top talent, trust is the name of the game.  

Trinity only produced a small amount of YouTube content. Same on the blogging platform, Medium. But the content they did produce (let’s hope they provide more), backed by awards and recognition, put them on our radar.

Meaning, their brand rose well above the noise to capture our attention. Do you think that might matter to a potential hire? Absolutely!

Retaining top talent is about a whole lot more than a fun brand. But it’s a great place to start, especially if you back it up with exceptional leadership.

Recruiting for the packaging industry is a very human process filled with real fears and stress points. Companies like Brigade, Sonderen, and Trinity calm those nerves by bringing a lot to the table. We have no affiliation with any of these brands, but their stories touched us, so we wanted to share them with you.

Chase & Associates – We Have Your Back