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May 2017 • The PCB Magazine 61 Anything that had dexterity and the attention to detail. The ability to sit and focus for hours on end is not so much what we're looking for right now in manufacturing. That's in the instrumentation systems in the assembly here in this building that those types of positions do not require experience. They re- quire more of a mindset for the repetitious task and the attention to detail, and the dexterity. You don't need to have bent wires before. You need to demonstrate that you have those kinds of skills. Goldman: And do you have them demonstrate that? Miller: Yes, they come in and they solder. Brennan: Can you play the piano? That's great. That's a skill that can transfer, for example. Goldman: Very interesting! Brennan: For a higher-level position, something more complicated, we would like some experi- ence in assembly, but not necessarily for the en- try-level roles. Goldman: Those are interesting things to look for. I imagine it took some time to figure out those re- quirements and that's what really works best. How long has it been taking you to fill positions and how are you finding young people, like millenni- als? Miller: It's interesting, but recently, within the last two weeks, we've been having a lot of strong candidates and from a wide range of industries. Goldman: Any reason that you can think of, or maybe it's the Compunetix name? Miller: Absolutely, and our recruiter, Bill Ger- hardt, has put in a lot of effort that's paying off. Brennan: Sometimes it is seasonal; people are job searching a little bit more right now. Some- times there's more turnover at this time of year. People are more willing to take a chance now than they were four months ago, right after the holidays. I'm just referring to general job mar- ket activity. Goldman: The popular view is that, with millen- nials, the work ethic is not quite the same as what we've always known. Miller: I feel like we've interviewed our fair share of people like that, but I think we've been fortu- nate or skilled at picking people that don't have that attitude. Even our interns; we've had some stellar interns in the engineering programs here. Goldman: Do you regularly have interns? Miller: We do. We have interns and co-op stu- dents, but primarily for the software develop- ment positions, not for manufacturing. Goldman: Why is that? Brennan: When we talked about the ones that we've hired that have been here 15 years, some of those were from manufacturing, but I think at the time, the tasks that were available for them were suitable for two months in the sum- mer for a 16- or 17-year-old to do. HOW TO FIND—AND RETAIN—THE RIGHT PEOPLE FOR THE RIGHT JOBS Video conference system.