7 Tips for Hiring New Engineers | Recruiting new engineers, whether at entry or senior level, can be one of the toughest challenges any HR team can go through. It can be hard to find candidates that have the right qualifications and skills. Moreover, it is often difficult to find ones that will fit into the company culture and stay with your company for a long time.
The presence and recruiting campaigns of other your competitors will even increase your hiring struggles as well.
However, finding and recruiting talented engineers is not at all impossible. With the right hiring strategies, practices, and mindset, you can have the most qualified candidates join your company. Remote hiring is also an option if executed properly. You will also have an easier time retaining them.
Below are the seven best tips for hiring engineers as shared by a top HR consulting company based in Dubai:
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Know the top things engineers are looking for
An attractive compensation package is one of the first things that any job seeker will look for. However, many engineers also want a few things more than a high salary and fantastic perks.
Most engineers also put stock on the following:
- Opportunities for advancement: Candidates want to know that they will contribute something worthwhile to the organization and that they will be rewarded for it in terms of career growth, skills advancement, and financial gains.
- Supportive work environment: Majority of engineers want to work in a company where their ideas and efforts are recognized and valued by their co-workers and management.
- Exciting challenges: The best engineers like working on difficult problems that they can grow from and which they consider as their achievements when they solve them.
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Craft a company story that resonates with engineers
Applying some marketing strategies in your recruitment plan is one of the best ways you can go about the whole process more efficiently. One of these techniques is building and building a brand that stands out from the competition.
With this strategy, you can attract more candidates, the ones that are thinking of applying to your competition.
To start building and marketing a brand that is in line with your recruitment goals, focus on what your company specializes in. Itemize your products or services and once you’re ready to create your post, write or describe them in ways that will appeal to job seekers.
Another branding strategy worth trying is creating and publishing content about what it means to be an engineer in your company. Explain why your mission matters and how the current engineers in your firm fit into it.
This content can be in the form of a blog post or video.
Don’t forget to promote or at least include your company’s mission, culture, and philosophy in these materials as well.
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Create a compelling job description
To get the attention of the most qualified engineers, you can’t advertise a job description that merely contains a list of qualifications applicants need to check off. You need to have one that will excite candidates.
Start by highlighting the three things engineers look for: the exciting challenges and opportunities the position offers, and a supportive work environment.
Again, create a job description that aims to sell your employment opportunity and your company to qualified candidates. Make sure that its content is something that applicants will find hard to ignore.
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Be prepared to invest time and money in sourcing applicants
Since good engineers can be hard to find, you need to be patient when you start sourcing them. You have to be ready to spend some money in the recruitment process.
Below are three of the best sourcing techniques to try:
Outbound recruiting
This type is recruiting at its basic. It entails advertising your opportunity and sourcing for both active and passive job seekers.
You can use both offline (newspapers, magazines, flyers, etc.) and online advertising to promote your opening.
A key channel you should never ignore is recruitment platforms. Make sure you are active on LinkedIn, Monster, Glassdoor, GitHub, and other sites.
Using these platforms will also allow you to have access to the top candidates.
Inbound recruiting
Whether you have only started on your branding campaign or have already established and continuously boosting it, leverage it for your inbound sourcing strategy.
The primary focus of inbound recruiting is to build relationships with candidates. You can do this by being active on social media and interacting with users. Publishing new content regularly and creating contests are excellent ideas for boosting your brand and initiating contact with people who may be interested in your job opening.
Employee referrals
Don’t forget to include in your sourcing strategy your current workers. Ask them to recommend their former colleagues, classmates, and talented people they know who may not be looking for a new opportunity but may be interested in what you’re offering.
If you have a substantial recruitment budget, consider offering incentives for successful referrals.
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Focus on building relationships with the candidates
Once you receive applications, try to abstain from quickly moving the candidates from one recruitment stage to the next. Instead, spend some time talking to each applicant to get to know them. Discus points with them that will boost their interest in your opportunity and company as well.
You don’t have to schedule interviews at this stage. Call each candidate and talk with them for 10 minutes or so. Give them some details about your job opening and company and encourage them to ask you questions.
During these talks, ask the candidates some simple questions as well, such as what they like best about being engineers and which accomplishments they are proud of. By doing so, you will have an idea if he or she would be a good fit for the company.
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Include problem-solving tasks in your interviews
Once you have shortlisted your candidates and ready to conduct interviews, aside from asking them the usual questions, prepare a few problem-solving situations you can present which each applicant has to answer.
You can get from examples of these situations from past or current issues your company has experienced. Present this problem to the candidates and ask them to solve it using any approach or method they want.
Once the candidates have come up with the solution, ask them to explain it and walk you through their decision making process. You will then get a more accurate assessment of the applicant once you hear their answers.
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Send your job offer as quickly as possible
Finally, once you find a qualified engineer that would be a great fit for your company, send your offer immediately.
Keep in mind that a candidate may still say no, even if he or she passed the whole recruitment stage. Because of this, you need to work fast to keep them interested in joining your company.
Discuss the compensation package openly and always stay in touch with the candidate. Additionally, remind the candidate of your company’s story and why he or she should be excited to be a part of it.
Hiring new engineers doesn’t have to be an impossible feat. To avoid all the stress that comes with the recruitment process and find the best candidates that will fit into your company culture, follow the tips above.
AUTHOR BIO:
David Mackenzie, a recruitment professional with over 20 years’ experience in the field and a record of entrepreneurial accomplishment, is Managing Director and Head of HR at Mackenzie Jones. As the Group MD, David is responsible for the overall direction of the Mackenzie Jones Group, including Mackenzie Jones, MumsAtWork, MENA Solutions, Simply Digital and ThinkTech.
