In the United States, engineering demands are steadily growing as sectors such as renewable energy, oil, and aerospace continues to rapidly expand. Forbes reports that job growth in each of the engineering sectors has been in the double digits since 2010, with engineering jobs as a whole having grown by 7%. According to the United State Bureau of Labor, the engineering industry is expected to expand another 10% in the coming decade as industries and government organizations endeavor to meet the demands of an increasing global population in a time of decreasing resources.
A Kelly Services forecast produced similar data, suggesting that between now and the year 2023 the country will witness an 11 percent expansion of its engineering workforce. This means that a staggering 250,000 engineers will be needed to fill vital industry roles in the next seven years alone. While there are many young, eager engineers—such as recent college graduates—on the job market, decreased enrollment in university engineering programs in recent years suggests that demand is likely to outweigh supply in the near future.
This is not to say that there isn’t a wealth of engineering talent out there—and, it seems, there is more to come, given that STEM-related fields, including engineering, are among the top career choices of high school seniors. Currently, civil, mechanical, industrial, and electrical engineers comprise 51% of the two million engineers employed in the United States. And the number of individuals working in these fields is predicted to rise, with civil and mechanical engineering leading the way in industry growth. In fact, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, civil engineers alone—currently numbering 263,000—will grow by an astonishing 19 percent by the year 2020.
That being said, in the engineering fields, it’s a job-seeker’s market. This might explain why engineering graduates encounter more success than graduates of other degree programs. And as available engineering positions begin to outnumber qualified candidates, it will become increasingly vital that industry organizations streamline their interviewing and hiring processes in order to ensure that they acquire the top industry talent before losing them to the competition.
Perhaps the smartest approach to navigating this highly competitive hiring market is to employ the services of a professional recruiting firm. A talented recruiter knows the ins and outs of the industry, enabling him or her to identify, screen, and deliver candidates that possess the exact skills, training, and experience detailed in the job description. In addition to connecting you with the most qualified candidates for the job—be they local or based far away—a recruiter can also help to gauge the suitability of applicants to your specific workplace culture. Moreover, an experienced recruiter can save your business considerable time and money by streamlining the entire process to take you from the advertising stage to actually hiring someone quickly and efficiently.
As a Kansas City recruiting company, Austin Nichols Technical Search specializes in direct hire and contract recruiting for manufacturing, engineering, and technical positions. Since 1988 we have been helping our clients stay on top of the competition, making us the most trusted direct hire and contract recruiting firm in the region.
