Even with the unemployment rate in America at a six-year low, engineering jobs are still in high demand all over the country, and with many top engineering jobs currently filled by an aging population, a potential skills gap crisis may be looming on the horizon. That spells a lot of opportunity for engineering job seekers, but it may also make for some pretty intense competition for the best positions.
According to a survey conducted by CareerBuilder.com, the most popular college major choice for high school seniors in the United States is engineering. That means a lot of potential competition for the roughly 1.6 million engineering jobs that exist in the US, paying around $42 per hour in median wages. Of the 18 engineering occupations classified by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, civil, mechanical, industrial, electrical, and electronics engineers make up about 2/3 of the engineering workforce, but job growth among petroleum, biomedical, and mining and geological engineers have been in the double-digits since 2010.
Industrial and petroleum engineers also staff the largest proportion of older workers, both averaging around 25% of their workforce aged 55 and older. According to data from Economic Modeling Specialists International (EMSI), there were only 1,600 graduates in petroleum engineering in 2013, versus a yearly job openings estimate of around 3,500, which would seem to indicate a pool of skilled job seekers that isn’t keeping up with demand.
The “skills gap” has been much-debated in America, but whatever the truth of it in a larger context, it’s certainly a fact that many specialized engineering fields are in high demand, without enough qualified applicants to fill some of the best jobs. According to data from EMSI, job growth among civil engineers, biomedical engineers, and nuclear engineers are all particularly high, while petroleum engineering combines high wages and fast growth with the oldest workforce and the smallest supply of new graduates.
Even in cases where there is a “skills gap,” however, competition for top engineering jobs is fierce, and many firms don’t bother with open hiring calls due to the highly specialized skills required for their positions. That’s why engineering job seekers need to align themselves with a top contract recruiting firm in Kansas City that can help them find the best possible job for their skills, experience, and education.
At Austin Nichols, we do more placement work for engineering jobs than anyone else in Kansas City, providing our candidates with access to the top engineering positions across the Midwest. Our focus on engineering has allowed us to build a relationship with many of the highest-rated employers in the area, giving us access to job listing that are exclusive to Austin Nichols. As a top contract recruiting firm in Kansas City for more than 20 years, our clients rely on us to provide them with the best possible candidates for the job, and our candidates rely on us to provide them with the best possible job for their skills and experience.
As a top Kansas City recruiting firm since 1988, Austin Nichols Technical Search has served clients in a variety of fields. Austin Nichols specializes in direct hire and contract recruiting for manufacturing, engineering, and technical positions.
