AME Milwaukee 2026 International Conference
PRESENTATIONS
Presentation
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Hiring for Excellence
How talent selection makes or breaks your CI, AI and ESG goals
OVERVIEW
Your organization is likely investing heavily in AI pilots, ESG commitments and continuous improvement culture. Yet if you are like most manufacturers, your talent selection process is still stuck in the past. It relies on recycled job descriptions and "gut feel" decisions. This disconnect is the silent killer of operational excellence; you cannot hit 2030 goals with 2014 hiring methods.
In this session, Alea Clark challenges the traditional recruitment mindset. She argues that most leaders do not have a hiring problem; they have a clarity problem. Clark will move beyond standard behavioral interviewing to introduce a new, critical lens for technical and leadership selection: Run, Improve, Evolve.
Participants will learn how to replace vague "vibes" with an Excellence Profile that specifically targets candidates who can stabilize operations today (Run), drive waste out of the system (Improve), and adapt to rapid technological and sustainability shifts (Evolve). Clark will dismantle the "copy and paste" approach to job descriptions and replace it with a rigorous selection logic that aligns human talent with strategic innovation.
Stop hoping for the right culture and start engineering it at the offer letter. You will leave with a practical framework to turn your hiring process into a strategic multiplier for your most aggressive CI and technology goals.
In this session, Alea Clark challenges the traditional recruitment mindset. She argues that most leaders do not have a hiring problem; they have a clarity problem. Clark will move beyond standard behavioral interviewing to introduce a new, critical lens for technical and leadership selection: Run, Improve, Evolve.
Participants will learn how to replace vague "vibes" with an Excellence Profile that specifically targets candidates who can stabilize operations today (Run), drive waste out of the system (Improve), and adapt to rapid technological and sustainability shifts (Evolve). Clark will dismantle the "copy and paste" approach to job descriptions and replace it with a rigorous selection logic that aligns human talent with strategic innovation.
Stop hoping for the right culture and start engineering it at the offer letter. You will leave with a practical framework to turn your hiring process into a strategic multiplier for your most aggressive CI and technology goals.
Key Learning Objectives
1. Apply the Run, Improve, and Evolve Framework: Master a specific three-part lens to evaluate candidates not just on their ability to do the daily work, but on their proven capacity to drive continuous improvement and adapt to new technologies (AI).
2. Transform "gut feel" into criteria: Learn to replace subjective "vibes" with a structured decision-making scorecard that minimizes bias and accurately predicts a candidate's future performance.
3. Build an excellence profile: Move beyond generic job descriptions to create clarity-driven profiles that align specifically with your site’s strategic pillars, such as safety, quality and ESG.
4. Onboard for innovation: Discover how to structure a new hire’s first 90 days to immediately integrate them into your problem-solving culture, rather than just burying them in administrative paperwork.
2. Transform "gut feel" into criteria: Learn to replace subjective "vibes" with a structured decision-making scorecard that minimizes bias and accurately predicts a candidate's future performance.
3. Build an excellence profile: Move beyond generic job descriptions to create clarity-driven profiles that align specifically with your site’s strategic pillars, such as safety, quality and ESG.
4. Onboard for innovation: Discover how to structure a new hire’s first 90 days to immediately integrate them into your problem-solving culture, rather than just burying them in administrative paperwork.
Presenter
Alea Clark
Founder
Industrial & Technical Talent Advisory
Alea Clark is the founder of Industrial & Technical Talent Advisory, an executive search and talent advisory firm dedicated to advanced manufacturing and technical organizations. She partners with plant leaders, engineering executives and HR teams to hire leaders and specialists who can run the work, improve the work and evolve the work in the middle of AI, CI and ESG pressures.
Founder
Industrial & Technical Talent Advisory
Alea Clark is the founder of Industrial & Technical Talent Advisory, an executive search and talent advisory firm dedicated to advanced manufacturing and technical organizations. She partners with plant leaders, engineering executives and HR teams to hire leaders and specialists who can run the work, improve the work and evolve the work in the middle of AI, CI and ESG pressures.
Over her recruiting career, Alea has helped build high performing teams for startups, subsidiaries and established manufacturers.
Known for her blend of strategic thinking, straight talk and wit, Alea is obsessed with replacing vague hiring vibes with clear, behavior based criteria. Her work centers on what employees actually want to see from leadership today and how better talent selection can make operational excellence, AI adoption and sustainability goals far easier to achieve.
View on LinkedIn
Known for her blend of strategic thinking, straight talk and wit, Alea is obsessed with replacing vague hiring vibes with clear, behavior based criteria. Her work centers on what employees actually want to see from leadership today and how better talent selection can make operational excellence, AI adoption and sustainability goals far easier to achieve.
View on LinkedIn
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People-centric leadership
Level: Intermediate
