Two particular challenges Allen Chilson faces are finding and recruiting women interested in working at a chemical manufacturing plant to help address the labor shortage in the US manufacturing industry, which the National Association of Manufacturers projects will reach 2.4 million skilled workers over the next decade. Chilson is not only committed to changing this, but is in a position to do so as talent acquisition leader for strategic partnerships at chemical producer BASF, which also entails leading the vendor programs that deliver RPO for the US and Canada and contingent workforce services in the US and Puerto Rico.
“To have a sustainable manufacturing workforce to support our country’s infrastructure, I believe you need to have a workplace where everyone feels included and welcomed,” Chilson says. To that end, he translated the corporate goals to diversify its workforce in terms of both gender and ethnicity across all areas of the company into the non-exempt recruitment process.
He believes by attracting a diverse candidate pool that meets or exceeds position requirements, his team is building a stronger manufacturing workforce. “My RPO recruiting team and I have worked tirelessly to ensure there are diversity sourcing strategies in place for each of our locations and that we prioritize outreach to sources of female candidates for every opening,” Chilson says. Chilson also has service-level agreements in place with RPO and MSP vendors to improve the percentages of minorities and females at BASF.
He has also conducted workshops to help hiring managers understand how to maximize the effectiveness of the recruiting process and to address unconscious and conscious biases they may have.
Chilson frequently shares his related expertise as a speaker at multiple industry events and conferences. Looking ahead, Chilson aims to increase interaction with staffing suppliers to ensure they know that their workers will find an inclusive culture when placed on assignment at BASF.
2023 DE&I Influencers List