Outdated Recruiting Practices Costing You the Best Engineering Talent 

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

Denver, Colorado

Outdated Recruiting Practices Costing You the Best Engineering Talent

Some people live by the motto, “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.” Those people are obviously not engineers. Engineers look at things and see what is not working and evaluate multiple options to try and figure out the best way to approach a problem. Most importantly, when something is not working, they fix it. If you are relying on outdated recruiting practices, your system may not be “broken” but you are costing your company a shot with the best talent in the engineering industry. If you are utilizing outdated techniques like the ones outlined below, you need to start thinking more like an engineer and fix it! 

Posting Vague Job Descriptions  

Every hiring manager wants to fill their job with a “hard worker” who “thinks outside the box” and is “detail-oriented.” While those are all admirable qualities, putting them in your job description is not going to attract top engineering talent. In order to write a job description that catches the eye of the engineers you want to attract, make sure the description matches the exact responsibilities and requirements of the job. 

Many hiring managers worry if they are too specific they will not cast a wide enough net and miss out on good candidates. However, if you write a posting that takes into account the role, the technical requirements, and most importantly, the expectations and outcomes, you will actually attract more qualified candidates than with a general post. A good way to ensure you get the specifications your looking for just right is to enlist the help of the position’s manager. This way, you can craft a posting where the description will match the actual expectations.   

Not Offering Flexibility 

There are instances where flexibility is just not an option. A hands-on project in Texas may not allow telecommuting from California. What you need to know though is that many other companies are offering all kinds of flexibility to top talent where they can. Things like telecommuting, remote work, flexible schedules, and variable PTO plans are all small things that can allow you to compete with top firms or even give you an advantage over ones who have not come around on the value of offering flexibility yet.  

Not Measuring Results  

Do you know why your last hire didn’t work out great? Do you know why the one before that did? If you do not study the results of your hiring process, you are shooting darts in the dark. A simple post-mortem on your last few hires can do wonders for your next one. Understanding where the candidate came from and the skills they presented that did or did not translate to success can help you better tailor your search next time.  

If you want to take it even one step further, you can invest in technology that will help you collect all kinds of big data on the hiring process and create an even more streamlined process that generates better and better results over time. Hiring data platforms allows recruiters and the hiring team to manage ad platforms, screening practices, onboarding and talent management. It also helps manage candidate data securely so you do not have to worry about an embarrassing or costly data hack.   

Only Focusing on Active Job Seekers 

Studies show that at any given time, about 20% of the overall workforce is actively seeking a new job. However, surveys by LinkedIn show that up to 85% of all workers are open to moving if presented with the right offer. Doing some simple math, that means that if you are only focusing on recruiting active job seekers, you are missing out on 65% of the talent that may be willing to move if presented with a great opportunity.   

The best way to connect with passive job seekers is to tap into a database of contact and resumes from your industry. If you have that information on hand from previous job searches, you already have a head start. If not, you want to partner with an engineering staffing firm that already has a comprehensive database of the top talent in the industry.  

Not Working with a Specialized Staffing Firm 

Speaking of finding top talent by working with an award-winning, industry leader in the engineering staffing field, if you are not working with a recruiting firm that is among the best in the industry, you are missing out on some of the best talent. The best recruiters know, you cannot go it alone anymore. In today’s competitive job market, you need a partner who focuses solely on providing employers with the best fits for their organization. 

At Ensciscon, we specialize in some of the engineering and construction world’s hottest niches including oil and gas, power, mining and minerals, environmental, transportation infrastructure, and water and wastewater. We have specialized in these types of technical jobs and careers for 25 years and can help you make sure that during your next hiring cycle, you do not miss out on the most talented candidates in your industry.