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About Express Employment Professionals
Express Employment Professionals is one of North America's largest franchised staffing companies, with over 850 franchise locations. Express connects job seekers with employers across a wide range of industries including office services, light industrial, skilled trades, manufacturing, and professional roles.
The FactoryFix Effect
Finding qualified candidates for skilled trades positions has always been one of recruiting's toughest challenges. The skilled trades face a perfect storm of recruiting difficulties: an aging workforce nearing retirement, fewer young workers entering the trades, intense competition for experienced talent, and highly specific technical requirements that can't be easily taught on the job. Whether it's sourcing experienced machinists, certified welders, HVAC technicians, or specialized roles like CAD designers and industrial sewers, traditional recruiting methods often fall short.
Despite serving major metros, mid-sized industrial hubs, and regional markets nationwide, Express recruiters were spending countless hours manually screening candidates, posting jobs across multiple platforms, and struggling with low response rates.
Then they partnered with FactoryFix.
The transformation has been remarkable: franchisees now successfully fill roles that previously took months or went unfilled entirely, while dramatically reducing time-to-hire and improving candidate quality.
Express Employment franchisees were struggling to place essential positions across multiple industries:
These roles are the backbone of American manufacturing and industry, but they're notoriously difficult to source through traditional channels. Job boards generate high volumes of unqualified applications, while manual outreach yields poor response rates.
The Network:
Geographic Reach: From major metros like Los Angeles County and Dallas–Fort Worth to mid-sized industrial hubs like Green Bay and Spokane, and regional markets including Libby, Montana and Lewiston, Idaho—FactoryFix delivers outsized results across diverse economic landscapes.
🔥 56.1% engagement rate vs 2-10% from traditional platforms
That's up to 28x higher engagement — meaning Express Employment Professionals recruiters connect with more candidates from 100 applications than most get from 2,800.
Behind these numbers is where the real impact lies: FactoryFix's AI recruiter handles the time-intensive front-end processes that traditionally consumed recruiter hours: initial candidate screening, skills assessment conversations, availability verification, and even preliminary scheduling coordination.
This means Express Employment recruiters receive pre-qualified, engaged candidates who have already been through comprehensive screening. Instead of spending hours sifting through unqualified applications or chasing non-responsive candidates, recruiters can focus on what they do best—conducting meaningful interviews, building relationships, and preparing quality placements for their clients.
5,000+ recruiter hours saved through AI-driven screening, outreach, and job management automation.
The math is simple: When AI handles candidate sourcing and initial screening, recruiters can focus entirely on what humans do best — building relationships, conducting interviews, and closing placements.
"We saw an instant ROI—it streamlined our hiring process, matched us with qualified candidates faster than ever before, and dramatically reduced downtime due to staffing shortages" — Tim, Franchise Owner in Richmond, VA
"Filling the unfillable"
Mark faced the challenge every recruiter knows: filling historically difficult positions under tight deadlines. In his case, CAD designers and industrial sewers—roles that traditionally took months or went unfilled entirely.
The Results: Both positions filled in under two weeks each, with candidates sourced from FactoryFix's first batch of applicants.
"The rating system has been extremely accurate from what we've seen so far. Our first position looked at the first five applicants and I immediately recognized three names—they were all in our system with challenges, and FactoryFix rated all of them as one-star, picking up on the same issues like transportation or lack of seriousness."
Key Takeaway: The platform's AI scoring identifies the same red flags experienced recruiters would catch, allowing them to focus time on the most promising candidates.
"From manual searching to strategic placement"
Kim's challenge was expanding into specialized, high-level territory including regulatory and quality assurance roles—positions requiring 4-5 hours weekly of manual searching with poor response rates on traditional platforms.
The Results: Successfully placed a $95,000 Regulatory and QA Specialist for a cosmetics company and a Lab Tech and Compounder. Both placements came from first interviews.
"FactoryFix made it so much easier because the AI goes through the resume and highlights the skillset I'm looking for. On Indeed, I have to read through the entire resume and decide if that person has the skillset, then try to reach out to them. The majority of candidates respond to the AI, and I can slip in after looking at everything and say 'Great, can you interview tomorrow at 11:30?'"
Key Takeaway: AI-powered resume analysis and candidate engagement dramatically improves both efficiency and response rates.
"A game changer for hard-to-fill skilled trades"
When Brandon Paulick and his co-owner took ownership of their Express location in late 2025, FactoryFix was already in place—and delivering results. With a lean three-person team handling everything from CNC machinists to laser operators, Brandon needed a tool that could do the heavy lifting on sourcing and screening without adding headcount.
The Results: FactoryFix became the team's go-to for their hardest-to-fill skilled trades roles. For one client with highly specific requirements across multiple industrial machines and shifts, the platform's AI laid out exact parameters and delivered qualified candidates who already understood the role requirements before Brandon's first conversation.
"The AI screens candidates for shift fit, pay rate, and longevity before I ever talk to them. Otherwise, you could call someone who looks perfect, get your hopes up, and then they're not a logistical fit—suddenly you're back to sourcing again. FactoryFix saves me a ton of time and a lot of headache and heartache."
Key Takeaway: For lean recruiting teams, AI-driven screening eliminates wasted outreach on candidates who match technically but not logistically—letting recruiters focus exclusively on high-potential conversations.
"Market intelligence as competitive advantage"
Adam recognized that successful recruiting requires more than just candidate placement—it requires market insight and strategic guidance for clients.
The Results: Created comprehensive 2026 hiring guide for southeastern Wisconsin using FactoryFix's labor market reports, differentiating from competitors who lack access to comparable market data.
"I see the market reports as a differentiator from my competitors as most don't have the ability to offer these reports. The main driver for our renewal with FactoryFix was your quality of candidates. In my experience, it's unmatched compared to other platforms."
Key Takeaway: Labor market intelligence transforms recruiters into strategic advisors, adding value beyond placement services.
FactoryFix's AI conducts natural, conversational exchanges with candidates, screening for qualifications while maintaining engagement throughout the process. Candidates respond positively, often thanking the AI and engaging as they would with human recruiters.
The platform's candidate scoring system demonstrates remarkable accuracy, identifying potential issues (transportation, job stability, skill mismatches) that align with recruiter assessments. This precision allows recruiters to focus their time on the most promising candidates.
Labor market reports provide franchisees with competitive differentiation, enabling them to serve as strategic advisors to clients on wage benchmarking, market conditions, and talent availability.
5,000+ hours saved across screening, outreach, and job posting automation—time that recruiters can now invest in relationship building and strategic business development.
56.1% engagement rate versus 2-10% from traditional job boards that aren’t built for trades, resulting in higher-quality candidate pipelines and faster placements.
Previously inaccessible skilled trades markets now become profitable opportunities, expanding revenue potential for franchise locations.
Express Employment Professionals' partnership with FactoryFix demonstrates how AI-powered recruiting technology transforms franchise operations at scale. Rather than replacing recruiters, the platform amplifies their expertise by automating time-intensive administrative tasks while preserving the human judgment, relationship-building, and strategic thinking that drive successful placements.
By handling initial screening and candidate engagement, FactoryFix frees up experienced recruiters to focus on what they do best: conducting meaningful interviews, building client relationships, understanding nuanced job requirements, and navigating the complex human dynamics that determine placement success. The result is recruiters operating at their highest value, with AI handling the groundwork.
The measurable results—from specific role placements to operational efficiency gains—validate FactoryFix's value proposition for staffing organizations serving the skilled trades market. Express Employment Professionals franchisees now operate with enhanced capabilities, competitive differentiation, and expanded market opportunities, all while leveraging their recruiting expertise more effectively than ever before.
Ready to optimize your skilled trades recruiting? Learn more about FactoryFix's AI-powered recruiting platform at factoryfix.com
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