Why Engineering Recruitment Takes Longer Than Most Employers Expect

The Best Engineers Aren’t Necessarily Looking

There is a tendency to think of recruitment as advertising a vacancy, receiving applications, interviewing the best people and making an offer.

Sometimes it works exactly like that.

But in many of the specialist engineering markets we recruit within, the pool of genuinely suitable people can be surprisingly small.

The person with exactly the experience you need may be working perfectly happily for another automotive, motorsport, aerospace, defence or marine business. They aren’t checking job boards every evening and they certainly aren’t applying for ten jobs a week.

Finding them means knowing where those people are, approaching them and, crucially, giving them a reason to have a conversation.

That takes longer than posting an advert.

A Long List of Requirements Makes the Pool Smaller

I’ve written before about employers looking for the “perfect CV”, and technical recruitment is probably where this temptation is greatest.

A vacancy starts with five essential requirements.

Someone adds another three.

Then somebody remembers a particular software package they’d ideally like experience of.

Before long, we’re looking for an engineer with a very specific qualification, ten years’ experience, knowledge of a particular system, experience within precisely the right industry and who happens to live within 30 miles of the factory.

There may be somebody who meets every one of those requirements.

The question is whether they exist, whether they want to move and whether you can persuade them to join you.

Sometimes widening the brief slightly produces a far stronger shortlist.

Salary Is Only Part of the Conversation

Engineering candidates increasingly look at the whole opportunity.

Of course salary matters, but so does the work itself.

Is the project interesting? Is the technology interesting? Is there progression? How much autonomy will they have? What is the commute like? Is there flexibility? Is the company investing and growing?

For contractors, there are different considerations again. Project length, rate, working arrangements and the likelihood of extensions can all affect whether someone is interested.

Two apparently similar engineering vacancies can therefore attract completely different levels of interest.

Starting Earlier Gives You Choices

The biggest advantage an employer can give themselves is time.

If you know a programme is starting in three months and you’re likely to need additional engineers, start the conversation now.

That doesn’t necessarily mean making appointments immediately. It means understanding the market, checking whether your salary or contract rate is realistic and beginning to identify the people who might be available.

Waiting until somebody is desperately needed usually reduces your options.

Suddenly the person who can start next Monday becomes more attractive than the person who is actually right for the role.

That isn’t always a good trade.

At ASL Technical, we recruit across specialist engineering sectors including automotive, motorsport, aerospace, defence and marine. One of the advantages of working in these markets over a long period is that recruitment doesn’t have to begin with placing an advert.

Very often it begins with knowing who to talk to.

Final Thought

Specialist engineering recruitment isn’t necessarily slow. But finding the right engineer can take time.

If you know you’re going to need additional skills in the coming months, starting the conversation before the vacancy becomes urgent gives you a much better chance of finding the person you actually want — rather than simply the person who happens to be available.

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