How to Find and Retain Engineering Talent

There’s a shortage of engineers and designers. This is a story heard practically every day. Companies large and small are all saying that they have trouble finding the talent they need to help realize their business goals. Indeed, the market for technical talent is tight, but that doesn’t mean that gaps can’t be filled. There are strategies that companies should be using to help feed the talent pipeline like with any other type of critical supply chain.

Our firm, Intelligent Product Solutions (IPS), created and sustains a pipeline of entry-level engineering talent by establishing relationships with nearby educational institutions. When done right, almost any company can realize a similar pipeline of top new college grads and entry-level talent (and retain them). What are the key factors for success? Here are five recommended elements of the strategy:

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1. Be Selective About Which Universities to Target

IPS had to pick which schools to focus on. Small companies like ours can’t afford to invest time and effort using a shotgun approach. As a result of our location in Hauppauge, N.Y., we have access to a dozen very high-quality engineering and design institutions. Our firm targeted three local institutions with high-quality talent, with a specific reason for each:

Stony Brook University

This is the largest engineering-oriented institution in our area and one that draws an incredibly diverse and talented student body from all over the world. This university has tentacles into much of the economic activity in our area on Long Island. Stony Brook University is only minutes from our office, which makes meeting with university staff and supporting its student activities a breeze.

New York Institute of Technology

This is a smaller institution than Stony Brook University but one that has a talented pool of students. NYIT gives us a channel for recruiting and establishing business relationships in New York City. This school also has a very strong outreach to women in STEM careers and to under-represented engineering-oriented students.

St. Joseph’s College

This institution is only providing us with computer science students. Although it is not a classically engineering-oriented institution, and although it is a small university without national or even regional brand recognition, the students are of high caliber and have proven to be outstanding as we throw them into action alongside graduates of bigger-name institutions. Since this is fundamentally a commuter college, almost all students have their own transportation. Why is this important? When we need interns, they need to be able to get to our workplace. St. Joseph’s is an underrated institution which remains on our short list.

2. Develop Broad University Relationships (From Leadership to the Career Center)

One element of professional/talent pipeline management is to invest in relationships with university leadership. We put particular effort into getting to know the dean of the school, the department chairpersons, and the faculty. Relationships with the engineering school administration and staff get us recommendations on the best students to pursue and student referrals.

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These relationships also provide collateral insights into technology and research, which can then be applied to the benefit of our clients. Moreover, we spend time building relationships with the career centers at these target institutions. Career centers have connections to the student body, help promote our company, and find ways for us to engage in school volunteer activities that get our staff face-to-face time with potential interns and graduating students.

3. Invest Time in Student Activities (Clubs, Competitions, etc.)

Since a small firm like ours cannot hope to compete with deep-pocketed large companies apples to apples, we build our brand recognition through having our engineering and design teams involved in student activities. The value of big, full-page ads in the student newspaper pales in comparison to the marketing buzz we get from direct interaction between IPS engineers and the student body.

For example, we support the student clubs of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and the Society of Women Engineers by providing coaching and mentorship along with interviewing and resume-building skills. Also, we offer to provide coaching and materials for student team technology competitions. Supporting students’ extracurricular activities helps build word-of-mouth recognition and gets prospective new grads engaged with our staff in a more personal way.

One more thing: We go to career fairs. Virtually every university has them, and this is yet another venue to get in front of students. It is valuable to participate in these events every year, and, if a school conducts two events per year (as many universities do), we go to both. You say budgets are tight? Go anyway. Do it even if you are not sure you will need interns or new grads. Showing up at every career fair consistently, year after year, displays commitment in good times and bad.