The engineering job market plays a crucial role in our global economy, affecting everything from productivity and trade to national competitiveness. Engineers are the backbone of manufacturing, exports, and infrastructure development. Without the right talent, our communities and quality of life can take a hit. However, finding and keeping this talent isn’t always easy. Businesses face numerous challenges in their recruitment and retention efforts. Here are some of the key challenges in engineering recruitment in 2024 – do any of them sound familiar?
Candidate-Short Market
You may have heard this buzz phrase a lot, but what exactly does it mean for your recruitment efforts? Put simply, in today’s market, there are more job vacancies than candidates, giving job seekers plenty of opportunities and creating fierce competition among businesses for top talent. Around 73% of research and development-focused companies report talent gaps, while the attrition rate for young engineering professionals remains high at around 40%.
But what are you supposed to do in a candidate-short market, you may ask? A key approach is enhancing your employer brand and providing competitive compensation and benefits. Promote your company culture, values, and employee perks. But go beyond just money – offer opportunities for professional development and training. This shows candidates you’re invested in their long-term growth. Make your business THE business to want to work for.
Don’t go it alone on recruitment. Partnering with specialised agencies can expand your reach and connect you with tailored candidates that you may not have had access to otherwise. Get creative with your search locations as well. Widening your geographic scope opens up a larger talent pool.
Most importantly, prioritise your current employees. Foster an engaging environment where they feel valued and want to stay. Positive workplace culture is contagious – it enhances your reputation and aids in retention.
Skills Gap
Engineering roles are highly skilled, requiring specific training and education. Unfortunately, there is a significant shortage of workers with the right skills. The main reasons for this skills gap include strong competition for skilled candidates, a shortage of applicants with the right qualifications, and a lack of awareness among young people about career paths in engineering.
To bridge this gap, we need to start with education, from basic engineering concepts in schools to advanced studies in college and university. Targeting students in these stages can help inform them about the exciting opportunities a career in engineering can offer. Many young people simply don’t know what’s possible in this field. EngineeringUK points out that young people seek career advice from different sources at different educational stages— you can make a difference by engaging with schools and colleges and showcasing your business as a potential career destination.
Gender Imbalance
Perhaps unsurprisingly, according to EngineeringUK, boys are far more likely to consider a career in engineering than girls. Whilst this may not be surprising, the nature of this persistent statistic means that businesses are cut off from an entire talent pool, which they will need to tap into if they want to overcome the recruitment challenges facing them in 2024 and beyond.
But there’s hope. Research shows that while girls are underrepresented in STEM subjects at GCSE and A-levels, they often outperform boys in these examinations. For example, in GCSE design and technology, 75% of girls achieved grades A*-C/7-4 compared to 55.3% of boys. This proves that although women are underrepresented in the workforce, there is plenty of talent ready to be nurtured. The challenge lies in keeping these potential candidates engaged from school through to the workplace, focusing on attracting and retaining women in engineering.
Rising Global Demand for Engineering Talent
The demand across the world for skilled engineers in sectors like manufacturing and robotics has never been higher. This increases the competition for talent, with candidates often receiving multiple job offers. To stay competitive, organisations need to continually revisit their employee value proposition and ensure their salary offerings are in line with industry standards. Recruitment agencies can be a vital partner in connecting you with not only active, but also passive candidates that you may otherwise have not had access to.
Ageing Workforce
It is no secret that the UK is grappling with a significant challenge due to an ageing engineering workforce. Many seasoned engineers are approaching retirement, and there aren’t enough younger engineers to step into their roles. This poses a risk of losing valuable expertise and knowledge, creating gaps that must be filled. Consequently, there is a heightened focus on training and developing new, younger hires, which stretches company resources. The shrinking pool of qualified candidates intensifies competition for top talent, making the recruitment process longer and more costly. As we hold out hope for more young engineers to enter the field, companies need to adapt their workplace culture, benefits, and management practices to attract and retain them. To address these challenges, companies can implement strategic workforce planning including succession planning, knowledge transfer programmes, diverse recruitment strategies, and partnerships with educational institutions.
Supply Chain Issues
Global events have caused unprecedented supply chain and product availability issues for manufacturers and engineering businesses. The ‘perfect storm’ of Brexit, the COVID-19 pandemic, and conflicts such as those between Ukraine and Russia, and Palestine and Israel, have made supply chain management one of the highest priorities on the agenda of boardrooms across the UK and Ireland. But how does this pose challenges to recruitment? The unavailability of crucial parts places projects at standstills and affects a business’s ability to confidently take on talent in preparation to fulfil these projects. This then means when the projects have the green light, it is a race to secure talent fast and effectively to meet project deadlines. This is where partnering with a specialised recruitment agency proves invaluable.
These firms have extensive networks and dedicated resources focused solely on promptly sourcing qualified candidates for specific roles across industries. Their expertise lies in constantly monitoring and cultivating talent pipelines.
Rather than starting your hiring efforts from scratch internally, a recruitment partner can immediately tap into their existing pools of thoroughly vetted professionals that match your project needs. With deep insight into the talent landscape, they can rapidly identify and engage ideal active and passive candidates. They’ve already invested the time and effort into meticulously building relationships with top professionals in your sector. With a few conversations, they can line up numerous candidates perfectly suited for the roles you need to fill urgently.
In addition, a good agency can connect you with other engineering businesses within their client base, helping manage excess work and winning new business through trusted partner introductions. This collaborative approach ensures you can meet project demands and drive growth even in challenging times.
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If you’re looking to bring top talent into your engineering and manufacturing business, we’re here to help. We not only understand the challenges facing engineering recruitment today, but also how to work through them. Get in touch with one of our specialist recruitment consultants today – we’d love to offer our insights and support from a Holt Engineering perspective.
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