Top 5 Engineering Recruitment Challenges and How to Address Them

From addressing skills shortages, to how to appeal to young and up-and-coming engineers, we explore the top recruitment challenges faced by engineering firms and how TRS are well positioned to tackle them.

What are the current recruitment challenges faced by engineering firms?

For many organisations, finding qualified and experienced candidates is increasingly difficult. It appears that engineering graduates are often drawn to other sectors. According to the Royal Academy of Engineering, of the 15,000 graduate engineers each year, only 7,000 of those go into engineering jobs. There are a multitude of factors that may be contributing to this figure, such as the lack of visibility of employers on campus during study, other sectors providing attractive offers, and young people perceiving the industry as lacking a clear career path.

Fundamentally, engineering graduates are not being exposed to the exciting opportunities within their own field, but may be exposed to opportunities within other fields. In addition, many students who consider themselves to be more creative rather than academic may discount engineering as a potential career at an earlier stage.

When a quality potential candidate comes along, chances are that your firm is not the only one vying for their attention. With demand for engineers’ high and supply remaining low, standing out as an innovative employer might be the difference between securing and losing a strong candidate. There are often many more elements that go into appealing to new recruits besides money, such as company culture, flexible working hours, and company benefits.

In recent years, there has been a shortage of skilled candidates for specific roles. As a result, engineering firms are struggling to fill the growing number of roles available. According to REC, engineering is suffering a real crisis in skills, and will need over a million new engineers and technicians by 2020. Although it’s evident that engineering and skilled engineers make a significant contribution to the UK economy and its productivity, there is currently not the capacity within the UK to meet the demand for skilled engineers.

Another recruitment challenge that engineering firms are facing is not just identifying potential hires, but also connecting with them. Firms eager to attract top talent face an on-going demand to leverage social channels such as LinkedIn and Twitter to successfully engage not only active candidates, but passive ones too. There can often be a skewed perception of engineering, so organisations that don’t exploit social media to represent their company and challenge these perceptions are missing out on attracting potential new hires.

Engineering firms often focus their recruitment efforts on employing more experienced engineers and technicians, and as a result miss out on a whole pool of young talent. Organisations that compete to secure experienced talent, raising salaries and offers in accordance with this, are narrowing the margin for young and upcoming hires. There are many benefits of widening recruitment efforts to include young engineers from university or apprenticeships, including the opportunity to train and develop these individuals in the way organisations would like. Not to mention, young engineers often bring enthusiasm and a desire to prove themselves to the table.

Despite these growing challenges in the market, TRS’ unique position means we are able to source top talent for organisations. We understand that having the right personnel is crucial to a flourishing business. We can help you identify, attract and retain top talent, in order to grow the long-term aims of your organisation. We do this by pinpointing missing gaps in your teams, which we then fill with our engineering specialists, to ensure your business needs are met. TRS’ industry experience and knowledge means we are able to expertly select the right candidate to fit your corporate culture and working environment, who will be an asset to your team.

Recruiting for the ideal candidate can be time-consuming, but TRS’ proficiency within recruitment can cut this time down significantly. In addition, our research and development teams will make this entire process much more manageable by evaluating and placing relevant candidates with you, as part of our strategic and time-efficient staffing solution. Our global position means we are well placed to support you with your recruitment needs, whether this is in South Africa or South America. Wherever you may be, you will benefit from our global reach, local focus, and unrivalled knowledge in the engineering sector.

To find out more about how our engineering recruitment service can help your organisation secure talented engineers, visit our Direct Hire page. Alternatively, you can contact your regional branch here to discuss your business requirements.