The field of engineering has a wide variety of candidates with different specialties and skill sets. Because of this, the industry has one of the highest demands for new employees in the job market today. Since unemployed engineers seem to be a rarity in today’s job market, it can be difficult to hire for this industry.
While hiring engineers can be challenging, it’s not impossible. Still, it does require some different approaches than other industries looking for top talent. Here, we explore some of the ways you can find the top engineering candidates for your company.
Work with a Specialized Recruiting Firm
Partnering with an engineering recruiting firm, like Austin Nichols, is a great way to learn more about the wants, needs, and other requirements that engineering candidates are looking for. Recruitment firms can help you see the bigger picture of the hiring landscape and guide you to attract the most qualified candidates to your company or organization.
A specialized recruiting firm also understands the ins and outs of the industry and knows what questions to ask candidates to determine if they will be a good fit for you. They likely have a larger pool of resources to pull candidates from as well, and they know where to find great engineers. This makes the process of finding top talent, and then hiring them, much easier for you.
A recruitment firm can also help with other aspects of the hiring process, such as interviewing or helping you prepare interview questions. Creating a job posting with a well-thought-out job description that attracts the candidates you want is another bonus of working with a recruitment firm. These small things can have a big impact on the quality of candidates your external posts bring in.
Offer Referral Bonuses and Other Perks to Current Employees
Taking excellent care of your current employees means they are more likely to refer their friends and family to your company. Tapping this network of potential candidates can make a huge difference in your hiring efforts, since much of the hiring done today has taken on a social aspect, whether it is digital or word of mouth.
Giving bonuses or perks to successful employee referrals is a great way to start a hiring pipeline that always has potential talent. It’s also a great way to keep a pool of diverse candidates in mind for future positions.
Your employees know what it takes to work at your organization and are likely to only refer people they think will be great to work with. This means you will likely find good engineering candidates in those referrals.
Remain Flexible in Salary and Perks
Engineers today are looking for better work-life balance, higher pay, and a more flexible work environment. Additionally, training is a key factor for younger engineers who want to continue to grow in their careers. Meeting candidates where they are on their desire for salary and perks is one of the ways you can stand out to top talent in the engineering field.
Create an Efficient Hiring Process
Finding qualified candidates in the engineering industry is a need many companies face today and will well into the future. Developing an effective hiring process now, or building on the one you may already have, is crucial to the success of your organization and sets a standard for how to hire great engineers. With the stiff competition in this industry, an efficient hiring process makes it more likely you will attain top talent.
One of the key parts of your hiring process should be efficiency. The amount of time it takes to hire someone matters, particularly when you are seeking out the best talent in the field. A great hiring process will be streamlined, provide communication to the candidate or recruiter, and will present an offer before the competition has a chance to.
Be Conscientious of Your Brand Identity
Top talent in the engineering field will be interviewing your company in the same way your company is interviewing them. Building your employer brand is one way for engineering talent to see what you are all about before they even apply for a position.
An important part of this branding is to create a company story. Your story should tell potential engineering candidates about your origin and how the company got to where it is today.
Candidates will also want to know your values, your mission, and your goals. The top talent you are seeking will want to know that the company they choose has similar principles and is a place where they will feel welcomed and can thrive. Building your brand will convey all of those things to potential candidates before you have even spoken to them.
Company culture is one of the things that can make or break an offer, or even determine if someone applies to your job posting or not, so it’s important to be aware of your brand’s identity and how it looks from the outside.
Consider Apprenticeships
If you are looking for top engineering talent, adding an apprenticeship program to your company may be a great way to find that talent. Competition is fierce in today’s job market, and an apprenticeship can help give potential candidates a leg up over their competition. After the apprenticeship, they will have the skills and knowledge that are needed in your business, making them a great candidate to add to your team.
Apprenticeships are designed for people at the beginning of their career, and more and more young adults are looking to work in an apprenticeship role after finishing school. This means you are getting a freshly graduated employee that can be trained in the ways of your company. Their skills can be honed to meet the specific needs of your organization.
Investing in employee training and development programs has also been positively associated with employee retention. Hiring a young apprentice and then offering them the training they are looking for could mean that you keep a young and talented employee for the long term, adding value to your business for years to come.
Hiring top talent in the engineering field is difficult and requires some specific knowledge of the industry. Need help recruiting top engineering talent? At Austin Nichols Technical Search, we specialize in hiring for jobs in the engineering, construction, and manufacturing industries. To get started, contact us today at 816-471-5575.
