How to Attract The Best Engineering College Grads

Enscicon Corporation – Award-Winning Engineering & Construction Staffing and Recruiting Agency

Denver, Colorado

HOW TO ATTRACT THE BEST ENGINEERING COLLEGE GRADS

All businesses, whether you are a giant, international corporation or a smaller, local firm, are looking for the same thing when hiring for entry-level positions. You want to find and attract the best new engineering college graduates possible. Here is how any firm can attract the best new college grads in the engineering field.  

Highlight Advancement, Responsibility, and Learning 

In many cases with new college grads, sometimes your company may not be able to compete financially with offers given out by other companies. If this is the case, you need to focus on other aspects of the job that are enticing to your engineers. One of the things you may be able to offer is faster advancement to a more senior role. In today’s market, new college grads want to make their journey from entry-level to an executive as fast as possible. Offering this expedited path can be a huge advantage for some companies.   

Also, if you can offer a new college grad a better role with more responsibility, you can differentiate your firm from other ones. The ability for an employee to have their hands in more pieces of the project or organization is enticing. This added responsibility and experience can be invaluable to employees just starting their careers and should be valued as such. This gives more opportunity for learning which will not only benefit the new hire but your organization as well.   

Sell Your Corporate Culture 

Young engineers are not just attracted to a paycheck nowadays, they want to like where they work and feel valued. This is the reason “corporate culture” has become such a buzzword in recent years. You do not have to be Google or Facebook to offer a great corporate culture. If your company is a great place to work, make sure new college grads know this. Things like flexible schedules, telecommuting options, free lunches, company outings, and more can all be enticing to a younger generation of grads. If you have ever received an award for being a “Best Place to Work” or something like that, make sure you promote that to grads as well.   

Also, the way new college grads are treated in your organization can be a big selling point. Young engineers want to feel like their opinions are valued and their ideas are heard and at least given consideration. The word “entrepreneurial” is attractive to recent college grads in a job posting too. Even though they are part of your organization, if you advertise an entrepreneurial culture, it will tell job seekers they will have more freedom.   

Get Creative with Compensation  

Most companies just think of compensation and benefits as salary and insurance. If you cannot compete with other firms in these areas, or even if you can, you can still give your company a leg up on the competition by getting creative with how you structure these elements. One way to do this may be with stock options. If you cannot give the new grads the money in their paycheck upfront, give them some type of ownership in the company. Not only will this entice long-term-thinking candidates but it will also get you employees who are more invested in the overall success of the company. Another way to compete in today’s new college grad market is to offer student loan assistance programs for grads. Engineering students generally graduate with some sort of student debt and helping them pay it off or taking care of it fully as a sign-on bonus is very attractive to recent grads.   

There are tons of other non-monetary benefits that new college grads will love. To make yourself more competitive for these modern workers, you can offer benefits and perks like gym memberships, sabbaticals, free parking, maybe even table tennis and ping pong in the office to relieve stress. Whatever you offer, just make sure these things mentioned in the job description upfront so they will catch the new grad’s eye.   

Work with a Specialized Staffing Company 

When you work with a company like Enscicon that specializes in recruiting top-tier engineering talent for our clients, you will have access to an unparalleled database of new college grads to consider for your engineering, procurement, and construction sector positions. You will not have to visit career fairs or invest in a major on-campus recruiting program. When you work with us, you have access to our streamlined process and technology that allows us to find the best college talent and match them with companies that are a good fit for both employer and employee.   

Conclusion 

To compete for the best college grads, you need to be creative and work with a company to get access to the top talent. By thinking outside the box and contacting Enscicon for help, you will be able to compete with any company in the engineering, procurement and construction sector for the best new college grads.