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Author:

Greg Thorpe

Greg is a seasoned recruitment advertising professional who brings more than a decade of hands-on experience helping companies overcome challenges in today’s workforce landscape. Since joining WorkRocket in 2013, he has grown into a trusted partner for employers, guiding key accounts while continually delivering exceptional results for organizations in skilled trade environments. Known for his strategic problem solving and deep commitment to client success, Greg blends industry insight with practical solutions that help businesses attract and retain the talent they need to thrive.
Front of semi truck driving down highway and crossing bridge
Uncategorized

Reach Qualified CDL Drivers Before the Competition Does

The world of logistics doesn’t stop moving, even when a CDL driver leaves. Routes still have to run, customers still expect service, and trucks still need trained drivers.  In industries like waste and recycling, turnover is common and the cost of replacing drivers isn’t cheap. A 2025 presentation from the National Waste & Recycling Association put turnover rates at about 18% to 25% and the cost to recruit and replace a worker was estimated to be around $25,000 per hire.  Searches like these can become even more complicated and expensive when you add additional requirements like tanker or hazmat endorsement or experience with flatbeds, vacuum trucks, and other specialized equipment. Add in physical labor requirements, customer interaction, night work or long trips and the search

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September 8, 2026
Holographic analytic symbols overlaying scene of man tracking employer brand KPIs on laptop
Employer Branding

The Employer Branding KPIs Hiring Teams Should Track

Employer branding is often viewed as reputation management. Companies can talk about visibility, social content, employee stories, and career pages but what good does that do if you don’t know how to measure success from these efforts?  The question that really matters is: does your employer brand make qualified candidates more likely to trust the company, move through the process, and accept the job? If it doesn’t and trust weakens, hiring usually gets worse before leadership notices. The damage often starts as lower conversion, weaker referrals, more candidate hesitation, and heavier dependence on paid channels long before roles become obviously hard to fill.  So how do you assess your employer brand before it

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July 16, 2026
Machinist training new machinist as part of replacement demand strategy
Recruitment Strategy

Your Next Machinist Vacancy Is Already Forming… How to Get Ahead of Replacement Demand 

Machinist Replacement Demand Requires a Different Recruiting System  You can have flat headcount and still face a machinist hiring problem. Replacement demand comes from retirements, transfers, turnover, shift changes, burnout, and people leaving the trade. For machine shops, that demand isn’t just a staffing issue. When an experienced machinist leaves, you may lose setup judgment, machine familiarity, part history, fixture knowledge, inspection habits, and the quiet problem-solving ability that keeps work moving.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects about 34,200 openings for machinists and tool and die makers each year from 2024 to 2034, even though overall employment is projected to decline. BLS

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July 9, 2026
Multiple location markers scattered on map to represent multi-location hiring needs
Recruitment Strategy

Multi-Location Hiring Needs Controlled Variation. Here’s Why.  

Multi-location hiring puts pressure on more than your recruiting capacity. It tests whether every location is using the same standards and moving candidates through a process that protects quality instead of reacting to local urgency.  Sometimes the issue is local labor supply. Wages, employment levels, and occupational availability differ by geography, as shown in BLS occupational wage data. But in many companies, the deeper problem is internal: each location gradually develops its own version of what a “qualified” candidate is.  That creates variance in the quality of candidates. A strong RPO model helps create consistency by creating standardized expectations, local calibration, and a central feedback loop. You still adapt recruiting efforts to

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June 18, 2026
Rolled of dollar bills representing the costs of recurring hiring
Recruitment Costs

Stop Letting Recurring Hiring Drain Your Budget

Recurring hiring is predictable: people leave, roles reopen, and operations still have to run.  Most companies budget recruiting like it’s a variable expense.  In reality, replacement hiring is more like maintenance.  BLS JOLTS data shows quit rates in the millions each month. In December 2025, 3.2 million employees quit, with a 2.0% quit rate across industries.  That turnover is not random. It follows patterns. In any organization with a meaningful headcount, departures can be modeled with reasonable accuracy.  If hiring demand is predictable, the financial model around it should be predictable too.  Replacement Hiring Creates a Repeatable Cost Pattern  Replacement demand is often discussed vaguely, as if it is weather. It is closer to depreciation. It can be estimated, planned for, and modeled. BLS reports

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June 4, 2026
Skilled trades worker walking up a parking garage ramp
Employer Branding

Skilled Trades Candidates Have the Leverage Now. Employers Need to Act Like It. 

The skilled trades have been treated as a fallback or last resort option for years now and it’s resulted in something more than a labor shortage. It resulted in a complete shift of power in the hiring market for skilled trades.  92% of construction firms reported difficulty finding workers to hire, and 45% said labor shortages were causing project delays. Companies are now missing opportunities for business, pushing project timelines, and paying overtime just to keep up. If companies can’t attract the workers they need, project delays, extra expenses and lost opportunities will continue to build.  In a market like this, employers no longer hold the power in hiring conversation. Qualified tradespeople know what their

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May 7, 2026
Person holding clipboard and checking boxes on outsourcing readiness assessment
Internal Assessment

Outsourcing Recruitment: The Capabilities You Need First

Recruitment process outsourcing doesn’t solve hiring problems. It amplifies whatever system already exists.  If the internal hiring process is tight, outsourcing increases throughput. If the process is loose, outsourcing increases friction. The difference shows up quickly, usually within the first quarter of implementation.  An outsourcing readiness assessment is not a formality before vendor selection. It’s a diagnostic assessment of whether the organization can run a predictable hiring system once recruiting activity is shared.  By the end of this article, you’ll understand what internal capabilities your team needs to possess to effectively outsource your recruitment and you’ll walk away with an outsourcing readiness checklist that you can use to assess your internal team.   Process Maturity

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April 30, 2026
Line of fist held up in the air by internal recruiters resisting RPO
Recruitment Strategy

Why Internal Recruiters Resist RPO (And How Business Owners Can Make It Work) 

You’ve signed the RPO contract. The vendor shows up ready to deliver the pipeline but your internal recruiters start moving slower, asking more questions, and suddenly every candidate has a “culture concern.”  Here’s what’s actually happening: you’ve handed someone else the steering wheel but left your team responsible when the car crashes.  Internal recruiters resist RPO when they lose control over decisions but still catch blame for bad outcomes. If you haven’t redesigned their role before launching the RPO campaign, you’re creating a turf war, not a partnership.  The Real Problem Is Role Collision  Most RPO implementations fail because nobody told your internal team how they’re supposed to work with this new partner who just

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April 16, 2026
Hand holding magnifying glass over wooden figure that was chosen using recruitment strategies and tools
Recruitment Services

The Recruiter’s Toolbox: A Guide for Recruitment Strategies and Tools 

Most hiring teams use the same recruiting tools. An applicant tracking system. Resume databases. Scheduling software. Screening workflows. Yet hiring results still vary widely.  That gap usually comes down to one issue: the recruitment strategy is unclear, loosely followed, or inconsistently enforced.  A strong recruitment strategy does not rely on individual recruiter judgment at every step. It defines how candidates are sourced, screened, contacted, and moved forward. Tools support those steps. They do not replace them. When volume increases or hiring becomes harder, many organizations turn to an RPO provider to help execute those steps consistently.  This article explains the

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April 2, 2026
Mouse hovering over "search jobs" button on company career page
Recruitment Services

Career Page Benefits That Improve Hiring Results 

Hiring teams face an abundance of applicants but limited time to process them.  Roles attract hundreds of resumes, yet recruiters still struggle to assemble credible shortlists. Hiring managers disengage after early interviews. Time-to-fill stretches even as posting activity increases. The real constraint is the amount of unproductive work between posting a role and making a hire.  Career pages perform better under these conditions by reducing unnecessary work earlier in the process.  What Conversion Data Reveals About Career Pages  The most consistent performance difference between career pages and job boards appears in applicant yield.  CareerPlug’s 2024 Recruiting Metrics Report shows that employer career pages

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February 19, 2026