Personal branding is what makes you as an engineer stand out from the crowd
Personal branding is what makes you as an engineer stand out from the crowd. Personal branding is about the characteristics, that makes you interesting, relevant, and different, and you communicate your unique value to potential hiring managers.
Personal branding is the process of creating a brand identity for an individual and how you project your brand and your values to the world. Ensuring that your target audience knows who you are, what you stand for and why they should choose you over your competitors.
According to Search Engine Journal “ Personal branding can help you control the narrative about yourself and introduce yourself in the best light possible. It’s also a way to stand out from the competition. In a world where everyone has an online presence, personal branding can help you make yours stand out from the rest”
There are a number of ways to promote your personal brand. Below is a list that we here at STEM Recruitment Partners have compiled together for engineering jobseekers.
Online Presence andPersonal Branding:
LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a professional social media site used by professionals to connect with other like-minded professionals and organisations. It can be used to aid your jobseeker search as all recruiters use it as one of the first protocols when searching for candidates.
LinkedIn is a powerful tool for personal branding and career development for all engineers.
LinkedIn can also be used to build your network, strengthen your brand positioning, and get noticed by potential project partners or hiring managers for top engineering organisations. Being visible on LinkedIn by keeping your profile optimised will help you get noticed.
Be Active
Its not enough to just have a presence on LinkedIn you need to engage with the community to really stand out. By engaging in engineering group posts and providing commentary on latest news within the engineering field that you are in will allow you to become an industry expert.
Having a personal brand in place will allow you to be more trusted by your target audience. In the same way that product brands such as Apple and Volkswagen are trusted personal brand is trusted by those you want to reach.
Having a personal brand in place allows your target audience to know who you are and what you stand for. This allows them to feel like they already have a relationship with you and thus are more likely to use your services or hire you for the engineering job.
Commit an hour per week to updating content to engaging on social media which will allow you to become the go to person in a particular engineering field.
Our Solutions
STEM Recruitment Partners specialises in the placement of candidates from Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics backgrounds into Manufacturing, Life Science, Supply Chain & Engineering Businesses nationwide.
Our leading engineering recruitment agency is based in Limerick & Cork, and we have excellent engineering, jobs in Ireland. Check out some of our roles in our job portal.
Reach out to the team in STEM Recruitment Partners for the best advice and support in building your engineering career, contact us today www.stemrp.ie
Having an onboarding plan is crucial to your employer brand
After all the hard work is done to get an offer accepted by your next great hire, its vital to have a good onboarding process which is proven to improve retention records in the early stages.
We are in a phase where its currently a candidate driven market and competition for engineers, such as process engineers, R&D Engineers, electrical engineers and manufacturing engineers are hard fought for. According to a recent report by Solas found that 46% of science, engineering and tech companies surveyed in Ireland struggled to fill engineer based roles, so loosing a hard to find employee early on can be a disaster.
The onboarding process is your opportunity to make another first impression after the interview and a chance to set the foundations for the rest of your new star hire’s experience with your company. Once the onboarding phase is completed your new engineering talent should have an in depth understanding of the organization’s culture and values.
Simple steps for the Onboarding Process.
Phase 1: Pre-OnboardingProcess
The onboarding process can be broken down into four phases. The first phase is pre-on-boarding and should begin as soon as a verbal agreement of a job offer is accepted. Getting your onboarding preparation right is crucial as at this time as your candidates are most uncertain of what lies ahead.
Small miscommunications or a misunderstanding can make candidates doubt their decision to move into the engineering role and join the company. However, get this right early on in the onboarding stage and your candidates will start to feel excited about joining your company and contributing to the team.
Regular communication about any updates that are going on in within the firm will help the new engineering hire left feeling energised about starting the engineer job. During pre-onboarding the help, the new hire complete all the necessary paperwork such as contracts and payroll details.
Getting your onboarding preparation right is crucial as at this time as your candidates are most uncertain of what lies ahead.
Make sure to give the new starter time to finish up with their previous employer and finish exit tasks. If they are relocating to take up the new role check in with them to see if they need help finding accommodation.
A good idea is to send some content around the company in terms of the culture of the organisation what the building looks like inside and out and what their first day and week will look like.
Phase 2: Welcoming phase
The next phase is to welcome your new starter to the organisation and team. Providing an orientation will help new hires adapt to their new environment. Providing the new hire with a clear picture of the company will allow them to gain an understanding of how the company’s teams operate on an everyday basis.
The majority of new hires will be eager to prove themselves and will want to get started as soon as possible, for this reason it is recommended that the welcoming phase is kept to no longer than a week.
Their first day should be kept as simple as possible. Their orientation phase will help them gain an insight into the company’s culture and show them how work practices are aligned with the culture of the firm. Housekeeping items such as annual leave, attendance and HR policies should be discussed at this stage.
The orientation phase is an opportunity to show them eateries, parking spots, printing equipment and medical facilities etc. Introduction to their new work colleagues and other stake holders is part of the induction phase.
The welcoming phase incorporates the small mundane things that could get overlooked but it’s an important step to ensure your new hire settles in well.
Phase 3: Role Specific Training
This phase is one of the most important phases of onboarding and can be linked back to how successful your new hires will be in their engineering jobs. Your new hires may not know what it takes to thrive without formal training.
Dissatisfaction and frustration can develop can be a direct result of no training or poor training which in turn can lead to high turnover rates. According to Lorman
Nearly 59% of employees claim they had no workplace training and that most of their skills were self-taught.
74% of workers are willing to learn new skills or re-train in order to remain employable.
87% of millennials believe learning and development in the workplace is important.
However, if a well drafted training plan is in place will help new starters feel welcome and shows that the company cares about their progress and development. Employees should not feel overwhelmed by the training in place.
Everybody learns differently and at different paces, provide different types of learning techniques such as blended learning and self-paced learning. All learning materials should be stored in readily available access point such as an intranet or other cloud storage solution.
Phase 4: Transition to their new role.
Your new hire is ready to leave the nest and get stuck into their new engineering job. The last phase is designed to set your new hires for success by setting out clear expectations for their new team members.
Set SMART goals for new starters which will help them visualise what success looks like. After six weeks a performance review is recommended so you can recognise their efforts while also providing feedback to help improve performance.
Onboarding ensures your new engineering star hire fits your team
Onboarding ensures your new engineering star hire fits your team. The process helps your new team member understand the company’s values, culture, and work. It improves employee retention and also your employer brand.
Our Solutions
STEM Recruitment Partners specialises in the placement of candidates from Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics backgrounds into Manufacturing, Life Science, Supply Chain & Engineering Businesses nationwide.
Our leading engineering recruitment agency is based in Limerick & Cork, and we have excellent engineering, jobs in Ireland. Check out some of our roles in our job portal.
Reach out to the team in STEM Recruitment Partners for the best advice and support in building your engineering career, contact us today www.stemrp.ie
Recession is unlikely according to Gabriel Makhlouf the Central Bank Governor
In a word “unlikely”, that’s according to Gabriel Makhlouf the Central Bank Governor. As fears around a recession grow due to global economic factors such as the war in Ukraine, inflation, and rising interest rates. The Central Bank Governor believes that its “unlikely” that Ireland will enter into a recession when responding to a reporter on the risk of the State falling into recession, as he presented the bank’s semi-annual Financial Stability Review (FSR).
At the Financial Stability Review (FSR) the Central Banks director of economics and statistics Mark Cassidy weighed in on the conversation stating that “it’d take quite a significant further negative shock” to force the Irish economy to contract even as the outlook has weakened.
Their comments come as reassurance as the memory of the last recession of 2008 is still fresh especially to those in the construction industry. However, the reassuring comments of Mark Cassidy the Central Banks director of economics and statistics and Gabriel Makhlouf the Central Bank Governor come from reading into statistics and facts.
Here are some of the facts and statistics why we believe that there won’t be a recession in 2022 or 2023.
‘Full’ Employment
In 2022 Irelands unemployment rate is at 4.7% which is where the country was in 2019 and at the start of 2020. This means as a nation Ireland is close to full employment. The last time Ireland’s unemployment rate fell below 4.7% was in November 2006.
Last month the CSO published figures that showed the number of people in employment is at 2.5 million. According to CSO Ireland has reached record levels of people in employment and has pushed “well beyond” the levels before the onset of the Covid-19 crisis.
Jobs Market
The website Indeed.com, carries more jobs than any other jobs website in Ireland. One statistic that really jumps out at us is that there were 57% more jobs on the platform in May of this year compared to that of February 2020 (pre Covid-19)
Forecasted Growth
At the start of the year the economy had a strong start to 2022. There is no doubt that the war in Ukraine has had an impact on our growth, so the Central Bank of Ireland has amended the country’s growth expectations. As a result, modified domestic demand growth has been revised down to 4.8% in 2022, 4.3% in 2023 and 3.9% in 2024. These are still strong growth projections and a long way off from recessionary projectons.
The Central Bank of Ireland forecasted exports to grow by 8.0% in 2022, 6.2% in 2023 and 6.0% in 2024. It is predicted that people will continue to spend as consumption is forecast to grow by 7.4% this year, slowing to 4.7% and 3.9% in 2023 and 2024.
The inflation rate is high at the moment as it is expected to average 6.5% this year, with wholesale energy prices the primary factor driving inflation at present. However, it is forecasted that inflation will slow to 2.8% in 2023 and 2.1% in 2024, however this is highly dependent on the fallout from the war in Ukraine.
Recession in 2023 unlikely but not impossible
In a worst-case scenario Ireland enters into a recession, our economic growth slows down along with our jobs market and spending slows down also. However, Ireland is far better equipped to deal with a recession than in 2008, here are some of the differences
The banks are heavily funded, no more 100% mortgages, a property crash like 2008 is highly unlikely as banks are well financed and demand is through the roof. Our government will continue to invest in the construction industry with multi-billion euro plans to improve Ireland’s housing system and deliver more homes of all types for people with different housing needs. To deliver this plan the government will be relying on construction engineers, site managers and trades people, even if we do dip into recession.
Data Centres Evolution
Construction of data centres in Ireland makes sense as Ireland has the appropriate climate and technical capabilities to create and manage them
In 2019 it was reported that €4.5 billion will be invested in the creation of thirty four new data centres by 2025. According to Niall Molloy, CEO of Echelon
““Data centres are essential infrastructure – now, post-pandemic, more than ever. If we are to continue to benefit from low-cost, reliable and time-saving tech such as Zoom and Teams, if we’re to enjoy the speed of 5G, if we are to stream on demand and if we are to look forward to the future of AI and the IoT, then increasing data centre capacity is a given.”
Echelon is an Irish owned data centre infrastructure developer who recently received €855m in funding to complete four Irish data centres.
Renewable Industries
The demand for renewable energy will soar.
With a huge number of sanctions imposed on Russia (one of the largest oils suppliers in the world) the demand for renewable energy will soar. However, infrastructure for renewable energy such as wind, hydro and solar are not fully utilised in this country and presents a huge opportunity to develop this even further.
Ireland’s Climate Action Plan has ambitions to generate significant renewable energy production from wind resources in the coming years. A major focus of the plan will be to decarbonise the electricity system to 80% by 2030.
Ireland has also signed Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2021 meaning Ireland is now on a legally binding path to net-zero emissions no later than 2050. It also means that more funding, resources, and jobs will be committed to this area as Ireland needs to reduce emissions by 51% by 2030.
Pharma & Medical Device Production
According to atradius Ireland stands out as the strongest performing market in the industry. It’s a relatively small country but accounts for more than 5% of global pharmaceuticals production. It surged to 25% growth in 2021 and will benefit from ongoing vaccine production demands.
This growth is expected to continue and the same can be said about the medical device industry as global annual sales forecast to rise over 5% by 2030 and reach US$800 billion according to KPMG . Ireland hosts significant players in this industry that supports many jobs, and this will come as welcome news to those in the industry.
What does this mean for Ireland’s STEM professionals?
If an “unlikely” recession happens engineers and scientists in manufacturing, construction, pharmaceuticals, and medical devices have some of the most secure professions in Ireland.
Engineers are in high demand right now and they will be in more of a demand in the coming years as government construction projects need to be completed, data centres need to be completed also. The demand for renewable infrastructure is growing at unprecedented levels and pharma and medical device production is growing at a rapid pace.
With this in mind we hope that we have put your mind at ease as there is a lot of commentary about a looming recession from “celebrity” economists. The fact is recession and economic booms are part of a developed economies economic cycle.
An economist stating that there is going to be a recession is similar to a weatherman stating that it’s going to rain. It will rain and recessions do happen however neither the weatherman nor the economists can tell you when it will happen with 100% degree of certainty.
Our Services
If you’re anxious about moving roles because of speculation about the economy or after reading this article you are energised and optimistic about your future career, get in touch with on of our team here in STEMRP.ie
Recruitment in engineering is thriving at this moment in time. Jobseekers can almost pick and and choose where they can work. The economy is thriving right now, as a nation we are at full employment, however there is other economic factors in play in 2022.
These include rising rate of inflation, the rising cost of fuel due to the war in Ukraine and fears of a looming recession which we may not see for many years. How does this impact on the current challenges facing the engineering sector?
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.
Remote work, work from home and hybrid work are becoming popular
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.
Your company’s culture is important when trying to attract to the right candidate
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 company
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.
The Importance of Researching Employers Before Applying for Engineering Jobs
Jobseeker competition for Engineering jobs is highly competitive, researching the manufacturing or engineering employer is a crucial part of your job search.
Research will help you decide what type of engineering or manufacturing company, you really want to work for.
With information so readily available in today’s world, employers, hiring managers and engineering companies have come to expect candidates to have some understanding of their business at interview stage.
Understanding the company’s business, goals and current projects will give you an advantage over your competitors for the engineering job up for grabs. Showcasing your proactive, sociable, and knowledgeable about their company will help you stay in the minds of the interviewers.
For your own sake, being familiar about the day-to-day operations of the company will also give you a better idea of whether you would enjoy being employed there and also if the company’s values match what you value.
Below is a list of how to do company research and get to know your future potential employer. A quick Google Search will verify that there is a wealth of information out there about the engineering company however It can be difficult to know where to start.
The research process can be broken down into the following:
Their website
Their social media
Their reputation
Their culture
Their financial health
Their website:
This is a place where you can get a feel for the engineering company. The about section will provide you with a great introduction to the company. Where they started, their growth over time, where they want to be in the future and what their goals are. It can also show how many locations they have and where their headquarters are located.
Social Media:
Using LinkedIn and other social media accounts can provide a great wealth of information about the engineering company and the engineering jobs they are hiring for. Their social media will also provide a great deal of insight into their history, events branding, company tone and voice. Social media can also provide you with information on their reputation, and how they handle negative press.
Reputation:
Using tools such as Indeed and Glassdoor provide an invaluable resource as they provide information such as employee reviews, salaries and interview experience from those who sat in the hot seat.
When preparing interview answers this can be useful. However, take these reviews with a pinch of salt and not as gospel as people can be disgruntled about conditions and personal scenarios can lead people to vent frustration on these sites.
When people are unhappy about a product or service they purchased, we tend to tell more people about a negative experience compared to a positive experience with a product or service. The same principle applies to Glassdoor or Indeed Reviews.
People who weren’t a good fit for the company and didn’t get a position with the company they interviewed for won’t be singing that companies praises. We need to be careful about what we read on these sites.
Google News
After conduction a quick search on Google check out the news section of the search provided by Google. This will provide you with recent company news and developments, which can arm you with a set of talking points for the interview and give you an idea on their reputation.
Bringing a company’s reputation into an interview is something you may not want to do, however having this knowledge can be of a huge benefit to you during the whole process. Questions like do senior managers take hours, days, or weeks to respond to queries or to approve actions?
Do current staff have a positive outlook for the future of the company or are they worried about closures and redundancies, if they are hiring chances are the engineering company is thriving but it’s always good to know about the company’s situation before applying for a role.
Their culture:
Knowing what a company’s culture is like before applying may help you save some time. If the company culture doesn’t match your needs, you won’t apply. Finding out about a company’s culture can be more difficult to obtain.
Using your network can help you gain a valuable insight into their culture. Knowing information about the engineering company’s values and unique characteristics goes a long way to determining whether or not you will find it be a good fit for you.
Having information on a company’s culture can help you ask your interview questions when it comes to that part of the interview.
Knowing details about a engineering company’s culture during the job search will go along way
Financial Health
Knowing the financial health of a company will allow you to make a clear decision to either apply for the engineering job or not apply. If the company is solvent, shows adequate operating efficiency and is profitable then you should apply for the open engineering job.
There is no one perfect method to determining a company’s financial health or sustainability. However, taking a look at a company’s liquidity, solvency, profitability, and operating efficiency can indicate if a company is thriving or not.
Liquidity:
This is the amount of cash and easily-convertible-to-cash assets a company owns to manage its short-term debt obligations. Quick ratio is a metric used to measure liquidity. A quick ratio lower than 1.0 is often a warning sign, as it indicates current liabilities exceed current assets.
Solvency:
Relates to a company’s ability to meet its debt obligations on an ongoing basis, not just over the short term. The metric used to measure solvency is debt to equity ratio. A downward trend overtime in debt-to-equity ratio is a good indicator that a company is financially strong.
Operational Efficiency
This is that measures the profit earned as a function of operating costs. The greater the operational efficiency the more profitable the firm is. The metric used to measure this is operating margin. It indicates how well the company is being managed.
Profitability
To survive and be successful a company must be profitable and maintain being profitable. Net margin is the ratio used to measure profitability. A large net margin indicates a company is in a position to commit to capital growth and expansion.
Doing this type of financial research isn’t something to bring up in an interview however its good have knowledge of where the company stands before applying for the engineering job.
Take Aways
The more organised and prepared you are about the company the more you’ll know what to expect when it comes to the interview. Doing the research before you apply for a position is the best protocol.
This will be of huge benefit to you if the hiring manager wants to get someone in place quickly. You could find yourself in an interview the same week as you applied which can leave you with little time to prepare for the interview.
Do your due diligence before apply for engineering jobs
Additional Support
Your recruitment agency of choice should have a strong inside track to their client employers and should always provide you with relevant employer information to give you that competitive edge in interview.
Reach out to the team in STEM Recruitment Partners for the best advice and support in your career move www.stemrp.ie
There is no doubt about it, today’s engineering marketplace has never been more competitive. Add in remote working and the competition for positions increases. In the space of two short years the working world has changed significantly. As employees we need to change and adapt with it.
You are not just a qualified engineer; you are a well-rounded individual with personality that can add value to organisations. In today’s world this is more important than ever as employers want personnel that can fit well with their established teams to complete deadlines on projects.
Engineering organisations want you to slot into their cultural fit because according to breathe employees are:
Happier
Stay longer
Engaged with the company
Have increased productivity
Another change in recent years is the rise of social media. It is now common for engineering companies and hiring managers to look you up on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok before they shortlist you for interview.
Engineers are problem solvers, create solutions and have impressive skills but what can sperate you from your competition is your “soft skills”. How your present yourself professionally is an important factor when trying to win the job race.
Get ahead of other engineering professionals by upgrading your soft skills
So, what are these soft skills that help me get ahead in your career?
Adaptability:
To work and perform well in most environments you will need to be able to adapt to changing situations and be open to new technologies and ways of thinking. This soft skill might be a new way of thinking or a change of mindset for an engineer.
Its natural for people to resist change and revert back ‘’to the old way’’ of doing things. Being open to change and being flexible may help you get that promotion your after or that new role you have dreamed of.
Interpreting Body Language:
Reading a room and your ability to pick up other people’s body language can help pick up on unspoken issues. This social skill may help you come across more empathetic to colleagues by altering your verbal messages.
Having self-awareness of your own body language can also influence the way others respond to you. According to Indeed “Being highly aware of your own body language can influence your productivity and reputation in your workplace”
Listening Skills:
The ability to listen and truly take on what is being said in a conversation, presentation or meeting is really a vital skill in today’s workforce. Listening and active listening is more than just nodding your head, making umm sounds and making eye contact.
Listening is about taking on board what is being said engaging with the content of the conversation. Taking on necessary action if action is required and refer back to the speaker if further clarification is needed. This is a simple soft skill but requires attention and concentration.
Self Confidence:
Not to be mistaken with arrogance or cocky but having self-confidence about your own abilities from past experiences and your qualifications is something you will need to get ahead in your career.
The ability to have confidence talking about previous projects and their results in interviews will carry you a long way in your engineering career.
Sociable
Having the ability to hold a conversation with people from different backgrounds is an important skill to get ahead in your career. At conferences or any other events you never know who you could meet, it could be someone who could have a great influence on your career.
Having strong social skills will help you integrate into different teams quickly. According to a recent study by HR Digest, people who have the added advantage of social skills along with their technical skills have more job opportunities and higher wages.
Developing soft skills can be difficult especially if your introverted by nature. However, by joining sports and social clubs you can meet likeminded people which can help develop this skill.
These soft skills will help you in your career to get ahead. If you feel that you’re lacking in any area there are courses out there to help you. To progress in your career don’t get too comfortable, push yourself to get to the next level of your engineering career. Always seek out the best opportunities for you and your growth.
Attracting top engineering talent is becoming more difficult
How to attract the best Engineering Talent in today’s highly competitive market
Every organisation is feeling it, finding talented engineers in Ireland, such as Quality Engineers Mechanical Engineers, R&D Engineers and Electrical Engineershas never been more difficult. During the pandemic it was expected we would be entering into a recession, luckily this hasn’t been the case. Instead hiring requirements have gone through the roof across most manufacturing and engineering businesses in Ireland.
Our clients across Manufacturing, Engineering, Construction and Life Sciences such as Medical Device companies are reporting major difficulties attracting engineering job seekers. We believe this is the most competitive market for engineering professionals Ireland has ever experienced.
In 2021 79% of engineering companies in Ireland were planning to scale across 2021/2022 according to Engineers Ireland. At STEM Recruitment Partners we can validate these figures as all our client base have kept us busy finding key talent, there has been no slow down, quite the opposite!
79% of engineering companies in Ireland were planning to scale across 2021/2022
Below we have some tips on how to attract the best engineers in this competitive marketplace.
1. Show your potential new engineers the big problem they are going to solve.
Many people like a challenge and this is especially the case for engineers. Show your potential new hires the story of your organisation and the challenges the company plans to take on. Show how they can make a difference and demonstrate how this will impact the community.
2. Start or reignite an employee ‘Referral Programme’.
Companies with a referral programme find candidates who’ve been referred are more likely to accept a job offer. This can be from 2.6% to 6.6% according to Glassdoor. Also, employee referrals account for 10% of reported job interviews. Engineers hired from referral programmes tend to stay longer as they know what to expect from the organisation in terms of culture.
3. Bulk Up Your Benefits
If your company are on a pay rise ban, it can be difficult to attract top talent. This is where you will have to think outside the box. Post pandemic we know that demand for remote or hybrid working models are six times higher according to the Irish Examiner.
Remote or hybrid working options is now a ‘’must’’ to include your benefits package. Pension schemes, performance bonuses are standard. Utilizing a ‘’promise to stay bonus’’ Travel or leisure benefits or guaranteed career progression scheme could be a way to attract top performing talent.
4. Asking your job seeking Engineers what they really want?
Increased salary and bonuses might not always be a huge influencing factor in getting the new employee / engineeryou deserve. Simply asking potential hires what it would take to move you from your current company, could be enough to getting that new hire.
5. Your Company Is a Wise Move?
You need to sell your company as a wise career move for potential hires. Your company is a place where employees / engineers can grow and develop their career, skillset, and experience. If potential hires see this, it can build your company’s brand as a place to grow, develop and in time make the recruitment process more effective
Attracting new talent comes down to having a specific plan in place, being genuine, honest, authentic, and respecting the role of job seeking engineers.
For more information on how STEM RP can help you find top talent click here
Starting a new job can be daunting. Leaving a role that you are comfortable in, or getting back into the workforce can bring its own doubts and fear. This is perfectly natural, but just remember why you are leaving your current engineering job for a new one.
We have tips to help you in your new role. Check out our five tips when starting a new role below.
LinkedIn can be so important when finding that new finance job. In the below slides we show you how LinkedIn can be Key to finding your next STEM role.
