Stop Losing Weeks Sourcing Welders and Machinists Manually Automate Your Hiring to Cut Time-to-Fill by 60%
Imagine reclaiming 15+ hours per week from endless resume reviews and cold calls, while slashing recruitment costs by 40% on agencies. Our custom AI recruiting automation is built for the grind of metal fab shops, turning your hiring into a streamlined, ROI-proven machine.
Join 250+ businesses with faster hires and leaner teams
The "Talent Drought" Problem
Chasing AWS-certified welders during peak fabrication rushes when deadlines for structural steel beams are looming
Wading through unqualified applicants who ignore your blueprint reading and GD&T skills needs for precision machining roles
Manual scheduling clashing with overtime shifts, 24/7 CNC operations, and tight fabrication deadlines for custom metal parts
High turnover from mismatched hires lacking millwright experience, slowing down CNC runs and causing delays in assembly line setups
Overpaying recruiters who don't understand metal fab's OSHA safety certs, confined space training, or arc welding qualifications
Lost shop floor productivity waiting on slow hiring pipelines, idling plasma cutters and forklifts during material handling peaks
Our Custom AI Recruiting Automation – Built for Metal Fab Realities
We've engineered solutions for 50+ manufacturing ops, including shops just like yours facing tight deadlines and skilled labor gaps.
Why Choose Us
Let's be honest, recruiting in metal fabrication isn't like hiring office staff. You're dealing with AWS certifications, MIG welding expertise, and folks who can handle the heat of a plasma cutter. Here's the thing: our AIQ Labs team builds a tailored recruiting system that plugs into your workflow – think integrating with your ERP for real-time job postings on the floor. No off-the-shelf nonsense. We code it custom, from sourcing candidates on niche sites to screening for hands-on experience. You're probably thinking, 'Will it fit our chaotic shifts?' Absolutely – it auto-matches availability like fitting a perfect weld seam, saving you from the manual mess.
What Makes Us Different:
Unlock Tangible ROI in Your Hiring Pipeline
Slash Time-to-Hire from Months to Weeks
Slash Time-to-Hire from Months to Weeks: Picture this: instead of months posting on Indeed and chasing leads for certified pipefitters, our AI sources and screens metal fab talent in days, targeting skills like MIG welding and blueprint interpretation. Shops report <span class="gradient">20 hours saved weekly</span> on admin, letting your foreman focus on quality checks for weld integrity rather than phone tag. Efficiency gains? Up to 60% faster fills, keeping production lines humming without downtime on bridge girder projects.
Cut Recruitment Costs by 40% Overnight
Cut Recruitment Costs by 40% Overnight: Agency fees eating into your margins on custom fabrication jobs? Our system replaces them with owned AI that pulls from targeted pools like the American Welding Society job board. No more $5K per bad hire on roles needing forklift certification – quantifiable savings hit <span class="gradient">$30K annually</span> for mid-sized shops. Productivity boosts as your team spends less on turnover and more on scaling output for HVAC ductwork runs.
Boost Hire Quality and Retention Rates
Boost Hire Quality and Retention Rates: Generic tools miss the mark on AWS D1.1 welding codes or prior experience with HAAS CNC mills. We train the AI on your specs, ensuring candidates match your fab shop's demands for tolerances under 0.005 inches. Result? <span class="gradient">35% lower turnover</span> in the first year, with real efficiency gains – like reducing scrap from unskilled hands on aluminum extrusions. Your ROI? Measurable in fewer retrains and steadier workflows for ongoing plant expansions.
What Clients Say
""We were drowning in resumes from folks who didn't know a TIG welder from a spot welder. AIQ's automation screened for our specific needs – guys with 5+ years on HAAS CNC mills and AWS certifications – and we filled three structural welder spots in under two weeks during our refinery project rush. Saved us about 25 hours a week on admin and cut our agency spend in half, keeping our shop floor at full capacity.""
Mike Harlan
Operations Manager, Precision Steel Fabricators Inc.
""Hiring certified millwrights during our busy season for conveyor system installs used to kill productivity with constant overtime clashes. Their AI handled scheduling around night shifts, flagged candidates with OSHA 10-hour certs and confined space training we overlooked, and even matched skills for hydraulic press operations. Time-to-hire dropped from 45 days to 18, and we're not paying recruiters anymore – that's real money back in the shop for new tooling investments.""
Sara Lopez
HR Director, Apex Metal Fabrication LLC
""As a smaller fab shop specializing in custom brackets, we couldn't afford full-time HR amid fluctuating steel orders. This system integrated with our QuickBooks for job postings and auto-interviewed based on blueprint reading skills and experience with waterjet cutters. Hired a solid team of machinists last quarter for our automotive supplier contracts; retention's up 40%, and we're saving around $15K yearly on bad fits that used to delay prototype runs.""
Tom Reilly
Owner, RivetForge Precision Manufacturing
Simple 3-Step Process
Discovery and Custom Mapping
We dive into your metal fab workflow – from job specs to shift patterns – and map out the AI to fit like a custom jig. No templates; it's built for your shop's unique bottlenecks.
AI Build and Integration
Our engineers code the system, linking it to your tools like ERP or ATS. We train it on industry data for precise sourcing of welders, machinists, and fabricators, ensuring seamless rollout.
Testing, Launch, and Optimization
We test with real hires, tweak for your feedback, and launch. Ongoing support keeps it sharp, delivering sustained time savings and ROI as your team adapts effortlessly.
Why We're Different
What's Included
Common Questions
How does the AI handle specific metal fab certifications like AWS welding?
We customize the AI to recognize and prioritize certifications right from the start. For instance, it scans resumes for AWS D1.1 codes or CWI qualifications, cross-referencing them against your job needs. In one project for a structural steel shop, we integrated a database of cert standards, so unqualified applicants get filtered out early. This saves your team from manual verification, typically cutting review time by 70%. It's all built into your workflow, pulling from sources like the American Welding Society site, ensuring you get candidates who can hit the ground running without extra training costs. And if regs change, we update it seamlessly.
Will this integrate with our existing shop management software?
Absolutely, integration is our specialty. Whether you're on something like JobBOSS or E2 Shop System, we build two-way APIs to sync job postings, candidate data, and schedules directly. No more double-entry that leads to errors on the floor. Take a recent fab client: we linked their system to auto-post welder openings based on production forecasts, reducing manual updates by 15 hours weekly. It's custom-coded for reliability, so if a shift changes, interviews adjust in real-time. You're not locked into generic connectors that break; this is robust, owned tech designed for manufacturing's pace.
What's the typical ROI for a mid-sized metal fab shop?
For shops with 100-300 employees, we see an average ROI within 3-6 months. Quantifiable wins include 40% cost reduction on external recruiters – that's often $20K-$50K saved yearly – plus 15-25 hours freed up per week for core tasks like quality control. One client, a custom parts fabricator, reported filling 12 machinist roles 50% faster, boosting output by 18% without adding headcount. We track this via built-in metrics, showing efficiency gains in time-to-hire and retention. Long-term, it pays for itself by minimizing downtime from vacancies, which can cost thousands per unfilled spot in high-precision work.
How do we ensure the AI doesn't overlook experienced but non-traditional candidates?
Our AI is trained on diverse datasets, including trade apprenticeships and military backgrounds common in metal fab. It looks beyond keywords to infer skills – like spotting 'hands-on fabrication' from a non-degree resume. We fine-tune it with your past successful hires to avoid biases. For example, a client hiring for assembly line roles used it to surface vets with relevant DoD experience, increasing their qualified pool by 30%. You can always review and override matches, keeping human judgment in the loop for nuances like team fit. It's practical, field-tested tech that gets the grit of shop-floor talent.
How long does it take to set up and see results?
Setup takes 4-8 weeks, depending on your system's complexity – we start with a quick audit of your current process. From there, we build and test iteratively, launching a MVP in 3 weeks for initial sourcing. Results kick in fast: one sheet metal shop saw their first AI-sourced hire within 10 days of go-live. Full ROI builds over the first quarter as it learns your patterns, saving 10+ hours weekly right away on screening. We're hands-on during rollout, training your team so it's not a black box. Think of it like installing a new CNC: upfront effort, but smooth operation that pays off in precision and speed.
Is this secure for handling sensitive candidate data in our industry?
Security is non-negotiable, especially with certs and personal info in manufacturing. We use enterprise-grade encryption and comply with GDPR/CCPA, hosting on secure AWS infrastructure tailored for SMBs. Data stays within your owned system – no third-party sharing without consent. For a defense contractor client, we added SOC 2 compliance layers to protect proprietary skills data, ensuring audits passed without issues. Access is role-based, so only HR and managers see details. It's built tough, like your shop's safety protocols, to prevent breaches that could halt operations.
Ready to Get Started?
Book your free consultation and discover how we can transform your business with AI.