Engineering Recruiting Trends in 2022

Its nearly July of 2022, we can’t believe it either. time flies when you’re having fun. While we were having fun, we have noticed a few trends in the engineering recruitment industry and engineering jobs in general.

Luckily the pandemic caused by Covid -19 hasn’t affected the engineering jobs market and in fact the market hasn’t been this strong for quite some time. Jobseekers are in a position of strength where they can almost pick and choose where they work to certain extent.

For engineering companies to attract and retain the best available engineering talent businesses must keep up to date with the latest current industry trends in order to fill available engineering jobs.

Keeping on top of the latest engineering recruitment trends places you in the best position to securing top engineering talent to deliver your projects. Employers need to know what jobseekers want so hiring managers can speak the same language and present the company in a way that resonates with top engineering talent.

To help engineering companies navigate through the changing trends in recruitment we have compiled a list of hiring trends that will shape your future engineering teams.

Remote Work

Working remotely is here to stay. If there is one positive to take from the global pandemic, it’s the realisation that we don’t need to be in the office or production unit all the time. Covid – 19 really accelerated this for engineering companies.

Engineers now expect to see an element of hybrid and work from home options in engineering job descriptions. It’s vital for all businesses to be set up in a virtually connective/collaborative environment.

Using the latest technologies and software available to make communications between engineers and managers is paramount. Providing these amenities will instil confidence in your current workforce and help attract more high-quality engineers.

To ensure productivity is at the same level or even higher, employers should record all processes and workflows with appropriate tools. An engineer’s location shouldn’t impact on the quality of their work, nor should it hamper the company but enhance both employee and employer.

Wider Pool of Talent to Select From.

Thanks to hybrid and remote working options hiring managers can cast their hypothetical net further afield to attract the best engineering talent for their business. Geography is no longer an issue which bodes well for companies who have suffering due to skill shortages in engineering.

In some cases, international borders won’t be a problem for hiring managers as they look outside their own country to find the best engineers. This is especially true for highly technical specialist engineering jobs.

Excellent Workplace Culture’s

Following on from the ability to implement work from home and hybrid working policies the virtual workplace opens the door to a wider field of talent as we discussed in our previous points. Engineering companies are no longer limited by hiring local talent as your recruitment campaigns can now be taken global.

With this relatively new feature available to businesses, access to talent will have increased as competition for the most suitable engineers will have heightened. Other engineering firms will also be leveraging virtual collaboration technology to attract the best talent.

To compete with these firms, you as an employer need to offer more than just a great salary as this has its limits. More and more engineers want an excellent package that makes them feel like they are valued and taken care of.

The best means of achieving this is by developing a world class work place culture that current and past employees can share on employer review sites such as Indeed and Glassdoor.  Establishing a standard set of values that are included in the company’s mission and vision statement will give potential hires something to think about.

Living and upholding these standards in your company’s day to day operations is also important as you don’t want to be seen to just be paying lip service. A culture that allows your engineers to grow, learn and have opportunities to be promoted is also something that attracts engineers.

A culture where engineers feel at ease about raising issues, highlighting room for improvement, or suggesting new process ideas should be encouraged. This all ties in and contributes to your employer brand.

Building A Strong Employer Brand

Engineer candidates are savvier than ever. They have access to vast amount of information about your company and brand and will spend a lot of time researching your company before they even apply for a role. We wrote a blog about this recently.

If you are worried about your employer brand you can invest in developing content for your social media and website to highlight what a great place your company is to work. Reacting to negative reviews in a positive manner and genuinely looking after your staff will help you attract and retain engineers to develop your employer brand.

Having a poor employer brand will make it difficult for you attract those top engineers to grow as an organisation.

Diversity and Equality

People care about what their employer stands for. Social justice campaigns are quite frequent nowadays and interests in these campaigns have sparked people’s interests. Many of those affected or interested in social justice campaigns could be your next hire.

Questions from candidates during interviews around diversity and equality in the workplace shouldn’t surprise interviewers or hiring managers. Having a policy around diversity, equality and inclusion embedded in the organisations mission and vision statement and the company’s cultural will make answering this question easier and make you sound more genuine.

Diversity and equality in an organisation are beneficial to your engineering company and its also healthy for your teams and your management hierarchy.

Our Solutions

Recruitment as an industry is fast paced and the changing dynamics of recruitment for the engineering segment is rapid. Trying to keep up with the engineering industry recruitment trends while trying to run your engineering company and the day-to-day operation behind the business is challenging.

Luckily there is a solution to this problem and that is to partner with STEM RP to source top engineering talent. We have over 35 years of combined experience in technical and engineering recruitment.

We are always keeping our finger on the pulse to ensure you get the engineering talent your business deserves. Contact us today for more information.