Hoops HR

10/01/2026

The defense industry has about 400,000 skilled-trade jobs open right now. That number could reach 2.5 million within a decade.

At Hoops, we're seeing real reindustrialization with our own clients, especially in defense. As our President & COO Mike Dixon put it, "stuff is coming back that we haven't done on this continent, at least in the US and Canada in decades."

So is what we're seeing firsthand happening nationwide?

Yes. Manufacturing job openings are up about 25% in a year. Reshoring is happening too, just slower than the headlines suggest.

And every source pointed back to the same gap: people.

Whether you're in manufacturing, industrial services, construction, defense or almost any other industry, expect more competition for frontline workers and middle managers.

Here's what the latest data shows, plus six steps to get ahead of the race for talent:
👉 https://bit.ly/46QiM4X

Is North America's reindustrialization real? We checked BLS, McKinsey and Deloitte data on reshoring and defense growth, and what it means for hiring and leaders.

09/29/2026

"Lower turnover isn't just about retention. It's a competitive differentiator."
— Mike Dixon, President & COO at Hoops HR

James May opened his podcast conversation with Mike by asking why Hoops doesn't just charge more for hiring. Plenty of firms bill $15k-25k+ a head, place someone, and move on to the next search.

Mike's answer was pretty simple: We're not trying to put people in seats and call it done. We're trying to help build something that actually lasts.

And that usually means looking past the open role itself, at how a company is hiring, how they're onboarding people, how they're developing the team already there, and more. We'd rather fix what's actually broken than slap a new label on the same process and watch it run.

We're motivated by clients winning long after the placement happens, not by closing a search and moving to the next one. That's genuinely the part of this work we care most about.

And the most satisfying part? Our clients end up with real ROI and results that hold up over time, not just a filled seat.

👉 Schedule a free discovery call with Hoops
https://hubs.la/Q04ybm8c0

🎙️ Watch the full podcast
https://hubs.la/Q04ybm250

09/24/2026

"We'd rather save you millions than fill a seat."

That's our honest take on how we handle client relationships, and Mike backs it up with a real example on The Business Blueprint podcast w/ James May.

"If you have lower turnover, if you're not having to go out to market to poach people all the time, your labor costs are lower. It's a competitive differentiator."

"We have one client in particular where we brought their turnover down from about 40% to about 23%. Didn't change the pay, didn't change benefits, but really said, okay, we're going to invest in a good hiring process, discipline interviewing, some frontline leadership training, some better employee engagement."

And we've seen this process succeed again and again.

Learn what we did to cut turnover in half without giving out raises 👉https://hubs.la/Q04ybkNw0

Watch the full episode 🎙️https://hubs.la/Q04ybkPV0

09/23/2026

When turnover spikes on the floor, the easiest lever to pull is pay.

But if your pay is already competitive for your area, raising it usually just subsidizes a mis-hire. You are then paying a premium to buy temporary attendance from someone who was never right for the job in the first place.

We worked with a specialty HVAC manufacturer caught in that exact hire, train, quit cycle. They needed to stabilize the floor, but raising pay or adding benefits wasn't an option.

And 9 months later, company-wide turnover dropped by 50%.

How? They just fixed how they recruited, structured interviews, and assessed candidate fit before extending an offer.

Here's what we did so you can do it too: https://hoopshr.com/blog/how-to-cut-turnover-in-half-without-raising-pay/

Struggling with frontline retention? Learn how a specialty HVAC manufacturer cut turnover 50% in 9 months without touching salary, benefits, or comp structure.

09/22/2026

"At the end of the day, companies exist as businesses and they've got to be competitive."

Mike Dixon points back to a powerful lesson from the early days of the internet: the legacy copper wire telephone industry was massive, but it vanished almost overnight because it failed to adapt to technological change.

Today, AI is creating that exact same kind of competitive shift. But bringing new technology into your organization isn't just about automating tasks or throwing software at a process and calling it a day.

The real work for leaders right now goes way beyond basic tool adoption. It comes down to leading with empathy and helping your team navigate the evolution. Instead of replacing people, the goal is to actively reskill them, repurpose roles where it makes sense, and give everyone a clear path to keep making a real, meaningful impact.

🎙️ AI Growth Blueprint podcast hosted by Yacine Hacene
🎧 Spotify: https://hubs.la/Q04xQvlL0
🎧 Apple Podcasts: https://hubs.la/Q04xQvhC0

09/17/2026

“They’ve been here the longest, so they should lead.”

As Mike Dixon recently pointed out, this is one of the most expensive assumptions a growing business can make.

Tenure builds trust. It does not build leadership.

Tenure doesn't guarantee:
• Strategic judgment
• Coaching capability
• Performance management discipline
• Sound decision-making under pressure

In 30–200 employee companies, early team members often step into management by default. But when leadership hesitates to recalibrate standards out of loyalty, your top 10% high performers begin questioning the bar... and performance erosion follows.

👉 Read more here: https://hubs.la/Q04xQqzx0

09/15/2026

Most leadership teams view employment compliance as a December checklist.

The problem is that state legislatures and the IRS don't wait for the new year.

25 states now enforce active pay transparency mandates, a new mandatory W2 overtime code is catching any business with overtime-eligible workers off guard, and local wage rates shifted mid-year across major metro areas.

Waiting until year-end filing leaves you scrambling through 52 weeks of payroll data and exposed to avoidable legal risks.

Here is our quick guide on the 3 employment law changes you need to know:
👉 https://hubs.la/Q04w_yZx0

09/09/2026

"We're headquartered in Texas, so out-of-state pay transparency rules don't apply to us."

We hear variations of this from business leaders all the time.

But employment laws don't care where your main office sits. They care where your candidates and employees physically work.

If you post a remote role open to people in states like Virginia or Connecticut (or the 23 other jurisdictions with similar laws), or manage a remote employee who reports to a supervisor there, you are bound by their pay transparency rules. "We're a Texas company" isn't a legal defense.

That's just one of three major regulatory shifts landing on employers this year, alongside a tricky new IRS overtime reporting rule on W2 forms.

We pulled together a clear list of the 3 legal changes impacting employers right now:

👉 https://hubs.la/Q04w_t2k0

Are your job postings and payroll setups ready for multi-state hiring?

09/08/2026

A resume with a few job changes isn't automatically a red flag for "job hopper."

You need to dig into the why, and if you don't, you may actually be accidentally turning away a great A-Player.

Our President and COO Mike Dixon put it this way on The Business Blueprint podcast: job-hopping every 2-3 years for real increases in responsibility is often "a mark of an A-player."

Especially in narrow fields like finance and HR, there just aren't enough senior seats for A-players to climb without moving around.

This week's blog gets into how to spot the difference between a job hopper vs. an A-player when recruiting:
👉 https://bit.ly/4yinh3C

🎙️ Watch the full podcast episode: https://bit.ly/4yMiQi7

09/07/2026

🎉 Five years ago, Minjae Kwak joined Hoops HR.

Minjae is the one working behind the scenes so candidates, clients, and the Hoops team all have a seamless experience. Problem comes up? He's already solving it. Need a hand? He's already there. Easygoing, dependable, and genuinely a team player through and through.

We don't say it enough: we couldn't do this without him. Congratulations on 5 years, and here's to many more!