The need to bring more workers into manufacturing roles continues to grow, while at the same time background screening is becoming increasingly complex for employers.
Despite the U.S. economy losing 23,000 jobs last month, employment in manufacturing didn’t see much change according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, underscoring the sector's persistent demand for talent. As manufacturers move to hire quickly without compromising safety or compliance, they are navigating an evolving screening landscape shaped by new technologies, changing regulations, and shifting workforce expectations.
For manufacturers competing for skilled labor, the challenge is filling critical production roles quickly while ensuring candidates are who they claim to be before entering facilities where safety, quality and intellectual property may be at risk. Meanwhile, artificial intelligence is transforming recruiting but also creating new opportunities for hiring fraud.
"AI has dramatically raised the sophistication of hiring fraud. Fabricated credentials, fake resumes, and deepfake candidates are becoming much harder to distinguish from legitimate applicants, particularly when employers are hiring at volume or trying to fill critical roles quickly," said Lindsey Scrase, chief operating officer at San Franciso-based verification platform Checkr, via email.
According to a recent Checkr report, resume fabrication now accounts for 41% of detected hiring fraud and AI-assisted interview impersonation represents nearly one-quarter of reported cases. This means technology alone is not enough; verification practices must evolve alongside the threats.
Scrase says AI can also help hiring teams navigate this by focusing their attention where it matters most.
"Instead of manually reviewing every application, AI can help flag potential discrepancies and identify the small number of candidates who warrant closer review,” she wrote.
Screening criteria need regular review
One of the biggest challenges is ensuring screening programs evolve as quickly as the hiring landscape itself.
Todd Simo, managing director of logistics and manufacturing at screening company HireRight, notes that many employers continue relying on policies developed years, or even decades, ago without reassessing whether those standards remain relevant.
"When is the last time you looked at your criteria, because the world has changed,” said Simo, who is also the group’s chief medical officer. “If I go back to when I started in the drug screening industry as a doctor that oversees drug screening programs 21 years ago, screening for Delta-9 THC wasn't a question. It was just done. Well, the world's evolved since then. Drugs that were on the panel 20-plus years ago aren't even manufactured anymore, but some companies' policies still have those in there."
As state laws continue to evolve and workplace policies adapt, manufacturers may benefit from periodically reviewing their screening programs to ensure they reflect current regulations, business risks and workforce realities rather than outdated assumptions. Simo said this can also help manage costs.
At the same time, manufacturers continue facing pressure to contain costs.
“Cost containment is very important to manufacturers because the profitability continues to get squeezed and they need to remain profitable for their business owners — shareholders in many cases,” he said.
That evaluation also requires understanding that not every role carries the same risks or requires the same level of screening.
Beyond identity verification, manufacturers face screening requirements that differ significantly across their workforce.
Employees performing physical work on factory floors often require different screenings than office-based employees. Depending on the role, employers may need criminal background checks, drug testing, credential verification, occupational health screenings and/or regulatory compliance checks. These requirements can quickly become costly, particularly for manufacturers hiring at scale.
Mike Nizzi, vice president of sales at global software and data company First Advantage, said employment eligibility verification is a foundational part of many manufacturers' onboarding processes, with the I-9 serving as a key compliance checkpoint for U.S. employers.
"That's probably the largest place as a catch bucket of how you can really start to figure out is your workforce qualified to work in a given location,” he said.
Nizzi noted that his company’s manufacturing customers lean into specific screens for their candidates, such as fit-for-duty tests that evaluate whether someone can perform the responsibilities of their role. He pointed out that the right screening may support employee experience after the candidate is hired.
“It's just as much about the employee coming on board as understanding the job and what they'll be giving back to the organization. So it really is a two-way street to make sure that it's a good match and a good fit,” he said.
Maintaining consistency across multiple facilities, business units, or states presents another challenge. Simo said manufacturers often ask how to balance standardized hiring practices with a patchwork of federal and state regulations.
The answer is rarely simple. Screening programs must remain consistent enough to support enterprise-wide hiring while also accommodating changing legal requirements across jurisdictions. At the same time, Simo cautioned against over-screening or imposing requirements beyond what is necessary for a particular role, as doing so can create compliance risks and unnecessarily slow the hiring process.
Building a more effective screening strategy
As hiring risks continue to evolve, experts say manufacturers should continue to assess their own risk tolerance.
Simo emphasized that organizations should recognize risk and regulatory requirements that cannot be compromised before establishing measurable goals for their screening programs.
"You can't tolerate risk and violate a federal rule, right? So you have to have that as a consideration. And then you have to look at your program in regards to, what are our endpoints, what are our metrics that we're going to look at that says, do we have a successful program?”
Those metrics may include speed-to-hire, candidate quality, or other operational measures that align with business priorities.
“If you're screening them to make sure that they are fit to do a job and a role and a function and they understand the output of it... [employers] tend to see a lower turnover or churn rate when they do that up front," said Nizzi.
Scrase believes manufacturers should also focus on improving the candidate experience while strengthening fraud prevention. That includes verifying applicant identities earlier in the hiring process, maintaining consistency throughout screening and building trust with prospective employees.
She also stressed that technology alone cannot solve today's hiring challenges.
"Technology can identify identity discrepancies, credential fraud and other verification concerns, but people still need to know what to do when something doesn't look right,” said Scrase. “Clear ownership and escalation procedures are especially important in decentralized manufacturing environments.”
