This week alone has seen several dire warnings of skills shortages in the engineering sector because it seems too few people are taking engineering degrees and apprenticeships. But in fact it’s still an attractive career to many graduates. Employers are simply missing a vital recruitment trick and don’t need to pay inflated salaries to get the best graduate talent, according to one graduate recruitment expert.
‘Graduates often leave university with their sights fixed on working for one of maybe three top firms. But there are many mid-range practices that are winning new civils contracts and expanding at a rate of knots - but they are virtually unheard of by many graduates. Ironically some of these firms are exactly the right place for an ambitious engineering graduate to build their future,’ explained Sarah Evans at Discovery Recruitment.
‘Employers need to make themselves more visible if they are going to win the best graduates away from the few very largest firms that usually get first pickings. A partnership approach to recruitment, where a company’s ethos and reputation is shared with a candidate, is as important as simply offering more money - and as has been reported, “golden hellos” - to woo candidates,’ she explained.
Discovery has always said that graduate recruitment is more than simply a numbers game. ‘Qualifications are one thing, experience is another. But whether it’s skills shortages or a surplus of candidates, you still need to think of recruitment as a marketing exercise, so work closely with sources of good graduates, who are close to the talent to get the best,’ Sarah advised.