This article focuses on the reproduction of the iron and steel working class in contemporary Argentina. The ethnography looks at the case of the formerly state-run steel company Somisa, which was privatized in the 1990s. After privatization, staff recruiting and hiring practices underwent a substantial transformation, marking the end of the earlier custom-based mechanisms of intergenerational job transfer. However, workers still attempt to preserve and reinvent these mechanisms at the factory through credentialism and recommendation.