Finding the Best Electrical Engineers is Hard

Don’t Let the Talent Shortage Stump You

If you’re finding it hard to hire a top-quality electrical engineer, you’re suffering from an industry-wide problem – increasing demand for engineers and a shortage of electrical engineer talent. According to the latest research by Deloitte and SEMI, 60% of companies say that electrical engineering jobs are the hardest to fill. So why the talent shortage, and how can you buck the trend of failing to find the talent you need?

Why You Can’t Find a Talented Electrical Engineer

There’s a perfect storm working against you when you need to hire a talented electrical engineer. Four factors are working against you:

1. An Aging Workforce

First, many employees in the workforce today are heading toward retirement. Your most experienced employees are leaving, taking that experience and knowledge with them.

2. Interest in Electrical Engineering Is Waning

Your retiring engineers aren’t passing on their experience, because there are fewer youngsters interested in entering the industry. According to a survey by Junior Achievement for Ernst & Young, fewer teenage boys want a career in STEM – and this lack of interest is not being replaced by interest among girls. Between 2017 and 2018, interest from boys fell from 36% to 24%. Interest among girls remained unchanged at 11% year-on-year.

3. Immigration Continues to Fall

As many as a quarter of engineering jobs are filled by immigrants. But this dynamic is changing. International student numbers have crashed by almost 20% in the last few years. The widening gap left by retiring engineers and fewer youngsters entering the profession is not being filled by immigrant engineers.

4. Women Don’t Find Engineering Exciting

As well as younger females not entering the sector, there is a shortfall of women in the sector. They simply aren’t excited by a job as an electrical engineer, or they don’t find the environment welcoming to them. According to the Manufacturing Institute, the manufacturing workforce is weighted toward male employees by more than two to one.

Relax, Electrical Engineer Talent Is Available

Given the statistics we’ve quoted above, we’d forgive you for thinking that there simply isn’t any electrical engineer talent available. That’s not the case. According to research published by GoodCall, 41% of engineers are actively seeking a new role and 28% would consider moving jobs.

4 Tips to Hire Talented Electrical Engineers

If there are so many electrical engineers either seeking a new role or open to the idea of taking on a new challenge, why are you finding it so difficult to fill your vacancies? Here are our top four tips to help you hire talented electrical engineers.

1. Be Attractive to Talented Electrical Engineers

Understand why electrical engineers want to move to a new employer. In order of preference, their desires stack up as follows:

Remuneration (salary, bonuses, incentives)
Health benefits
Work/life balance
Working environment and organizational culture
Professional development and career opportunity

Remember, too, that ensuring your total employment package for electrical engineers is competitive in the market will help you to retain your existing engineers. (Read our article ‘Millennials in the Workforce and What They Want’ to learn about the three factors that could sway them to accept your job offer.)

2. Be Honest about the Role

Be open and honest about the role you need filled. When composing your job ad, make sure you detail the duties and responsibilities that the new hire will undertake. Describe the benefits first, and then the day-to-day tasks that the electrical engineer will be expected to do to access those benefits. This will help you target the right individuals more effectively.

3. Advertise Your Vacancy in the Right Place

Not all job boards are equal. Ensure you advertise where the most talented electrical engineers are most likely to be found. Here at M Force, our team of recruiters understand the technology and requirements of our clients
As a specialist recruiter with well-developed relationships with employers, engineers who are seeking a move use us because of our reach and confidentiality. That gives you as the hiring company an extra advantage – our candidate relationships could mean you find your ideal employee in double-quick time.

4. Ensure Your Interviews Do What Is Intended

Now all you need to do is to choose the best candidate from the pool of talent you’ve selected. To do this, you must ensure that your interview process is robust, your approach is consistent, and your questions are tailored to identify those candidates that would be the best fit for the role and with their new colleagues.

In our next article, we examine the electrical engineer interview questions interviewers must ask. In the meantime, to find the best electrical engineer to fill your vacant position in Tennessee, contact M Force Staffing today. We specialize in sourcing and providing the people you need, as contract, contract-to-hire, or direct hire.