Four Ways to Find Top Engineering Talent
Every technology leader wants to attract and hire the best engineering talent. After all, it’s the people that make a business thrive.
However, tracking down engineering job candidates who are a good fit for your company and culture has proven to be one of the most difficult recruitment challenges. In this blog, we discuss four ways to find top engineering talent for your organization.
Top tech talent is scarce. That’s why seeking out a diverse and inclusive talent pool isn’t just the right thing to do—it’s also the most realistic way of finding the most candidates.
On top of that, a recent survey of 1,000 employees showed that 48 percent would consider switching to another company if it had a well-developed diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) plan. In short, offering a diverse and inclusive workplace is an important factor in attracting top engineering talent.
In addition, consider sourcing beyond typical groups such as college graduates with a computer science degree. A growing number of businesses are finding that some of the best engineering job candidates have coding boot camp certificates and top-rated coding work samples on GitHub.
You can determine a candidate’s suitability for a position by objectively testing for capabilities and skills. During the interview process, you can mention a challenge your company faced in the past and ask the candidate how they would solve it. This will give you solid insights into their aptitude.
Many companies are looking for senior-level engineers with years of experience to help drive their business to the next level. Of course, this type of talent is knowledgeable and experienced—but also typically very difficult to find.
Senior-level engineers are in such high demand that most are continuously approached with job offers—even though they’re already employed. And then they may be so entrenched within their current project and organization that they simply don’t want to make a change.
Because senior-level engineering talent is such a hot commodity, they’re also expensive. They command some of the highest non-executive salaries on the market today. As a result, it can be a stretch or even impossible for companies to hire them full-time.
An alternative solution is to source top junior-level engineering talent full-time—and pair them with senior engineering consultants for a relatively short period. The senior consultants can oversee the design and start of a project and then instruct the junior engineers as to how to proceed.
This strategy offers four distinct benefits.
First, it contains costs in the long run, since the more expensive talent are only hired on a temporary basis.
Second, it provides businesses with peace of mind that projects they’re investing in are well-designed. In addition, they can be confident the junior talent will have the necessary knowledge and skills to do a good job by the time they’re flying solo.
Third, by hiring junior talent, helping them upskill, and offering them work experience, companies stand a better chance of retaining them as loyal, long-term employees.
And fourth, it helps the junior engineers feel more engaged and invested. By having a mentor they can turn to with any questions or concerns, they can do their best without being afraid of making mistakes. And when the project is proceeding as planned, they have the opportunity to take over managing it when the consultant is gone.
Top engineering talent have their pick of the job market, so it’s critical to offer them an outstanding company culture. The field of technology moves at a fast pace, and engineers need to be nimble and adaptable, no matter where they are in their careers.
That’s why providing structured, ongoing coaching and development opportunities is a good way to engage Millennial and Gen Z engineering talent.
At the same time, some well-known companies—like HubSpot—are having success with ditching annual performance in favor of social performance management. This involves letting employees receive ongoing, instantaneous feedback from anyone in the organization—and encourages continuous skill development.
Top engineering talent is smart, highly-driven individuals who want to be on the cutting edge of innovation and advancing in their careers. During the interviewing process, describe clearly what career paths are available within your company.
Explain your business’s goals and how the candidate could help you attain them now and in the future.
It’s almost inevitable that an engineer will move on to a new position after a while. However, by offering them an outlook as to what new challenges and remuneration they can expect throughout their career with your company, you increase the odds of them staying for a longer period of time.
The single best way to find the best engineering talent is to work with a recruitment partner that specializes in engineering employment services.
Our team here at OSI Engineering consists of professionals with an engineering background who know what skills, experience, and characteristics to look for in a candidate. Contact us for more information.