2021 Hiring Trends in the Engineering Sector
Publié le 13 September 2021
The 2021 hiring trends in the engineering sector will play a large role in how firms and aspiring engineers will be able to connect and work together to continue achieving larger goals as the industry moves forward.
Approaches to hiring have been evolving in parallel to the development of newer technologies across all industries, engineering included. The traditional “word of mouth” strategies still amount to something, although they’ve been largely replaced by AI automation, computerized background checks, and related tech-assisted trends.
Both on-field and consulting engineering teams in the year 2021 need to be flexible, but there also needs to be an emphasis on providing security and stability to potential employees, especially given that the pandemic has put a huge question mark over thousands upon thousands of job positions.
Today we’ll talk about the 2021 hiring trends in the engineering sector that are currently most popular and — arguably — the most effective, so without any further ado, let’s dive straight in.
2021 Hiring Trends In The Engineering Sector
- Virtual-enabled workplaces and interviews
- Courses for managers
- Employer/employee reviewing platforms
- Global recruitment
- Diversity programs
Virtual-Enabled Workplaces and Interviews
The COVID-19 pandemic essentially changed the rulebook for all but essential workers (such as healthcare workers and emergency services).
In response, many engineering firms have committed to using digital solutions that would allow virtual-enabled workplaces to, at least temporarily, allow engineers to continue working as safely as possible.
Namely, digital communication programs, such as Zoom, Skype, and similar platforms have been crucial for all companies that have decided to go with this approach, as meetings, job delegations, and reports were able to continue in a slightly different fashion, but to similar results.
When it comes to interviews, digital communication tools have proven to be almost as effective as in-person dialogues. The problems revolving around poor internet connections and poor-quality cameras/microphones have made this situation a bit problematic for aspiring engineering employees, although these issues are fairly solvable in almost all scenarios.
Courses For Managers
Newer brands and firms were able to adapt to the virtual interviews much easier than more traditional companies who are deeply accustomed to sitting with potential employees face-to-face, observing their body language, and inspecting the ‘feel’ of individuals based on instinct and experience.
The latter, obviously, plays a much smaller role nowadays, as virtual interviews held over Skype and similar video conferencing programs are nowhere near as formal.
Managers who aren’t too tech-savvy are often facing awkward situations by not knowing how to handle this ‘new’ type of technology, so many brands have decided to provide educational courses regarding internet interviews, digital communication tools, and generally how the hiring process should function in the digital age.
Whether it be through seminars or webinars, these courses are enabling hiring managers to properly host interviews with a much higher ‘accuracy’ of discovering new talents.
Employer/Employee Reviewing Platforms
All spheres of the industry are striving to learn as much about their potential employees before deciding to take them under their wing.
A few decades ago, employees who were offboarded due to bad work ethics and poor social skills could simply relocate to another town with a blank slate for a fresh new start. With the advent of technology that paved the way for rapid streams of information, such situations are hardly feasible.
More and more engineering companies have taken their HR teams to scour the internet for credible, and relevant, job reviewing platforms. Companies that a potential candidate has worked for now have access to platforms where they can essentially rate past employees, just like employees can voice their opinions regarding their experiences with that particular firm.
Given that this approach is relatively new, there are a few loopholes that are sparsely exploited, such as fake reviews, and even fake reviewing websites. Fortunately, there are also numerous defense mechanisms that are tirelessly working to put such platforms at the very bottom of the Google rankings page, such as Trustpilot and similar companies.
Global Recruitment
The engineering world wasn’t known for a local-exclusive roster of professionals in the first place; serious companies and bigger brands would often invest in reputable engineers, regardless of where they are from and where they currently live. However, these hiring instances weren’t as common as today.
In the past several decades, only the most crucial unfilled slots, such as associates and seniors, would be reserved for international professionals. In this day and age, an engineering company does not need to invest as much money to hire staff at entry-level from abroad.
Online interviews coupled with digital workplaces are essentially very cheap to incorporate. However, there are a few drawbacks to this trend as well.
First and foremost, local communities are always relying on local companies for jobs. The proportion of local and international engineering slots is now more unbalanced than it ever was.
Secondly, the global perception of supply and demand in terms of the engineering workforce is also somewhat imbalanced. Employers are slowly realizing that employees are not easy to replace while employees are realizing that their skills and abilities will help to ensure that will continue to have a much better chance of gaining employment in the engineering sector.
Consequentially, engineering companies are struggling with a harsh choice – try to persuade prospective professionals through higher salaries, or offboard them and hope another candidate will be able to fill the job role.
Diversity Programs
Diverse workplaces are better workplaces. The need for cultural and racial inclusiveness is becoming more prominent in 2021, although it’s been steadily rising in the past several years. Certain countries have passed inclusion bills while a number of organizations and companies are embracing the concept because of the many benefits.
Diversity programs have a much bigger role among the 2021 hiring trends in the engineering sector. Namely, global recruitment and online interviews are now filling the roster of engineering firms with unique individuals of all cultures, which deserve to be treated with as much respect as employees from a firm’s home country.
Many companies are hosting educational webinars that are meant to provide a more comfortable and more inclusive environment for newcomers. Diversity programs aren’t just meant to show a company’s initiative, they’re supposed to educate and provide valuable information regarding new team members.
Learning more about holidays and culturally important events, as well as learning more about different religions and traditions is soul empowering, in addition to being a necessity for the current landscape of hiring practices. People are more likely to want to work for an organization which can demonstrate care and respect for the cultural traditions that play an important role in their daily lives.
We hope that this guide was useful to you and that you have learned something new today on the 2021 hiring trends in the engineering sector. Make sure you are staying safe in these times we are all going through and we wish engineering firms and aspiring engineers all the success in the future.
