Engineering job openings are piling up in many sectors as recruiting increases and workers become scarce in the fast-growing economy. Therefore, you need to take aggressive recruiting steps to ensure you land the ideal engineer for your engineering job opening.
The number of available jobs grew by nearly 750,000 this spring, compared with a year earlier, according to recently released Labor Department data. There were 6.7 million job openings on average in the three months ended in June.
This was the highest quarterly level on record dating back to 2001. Economists often look at three-month averages for openings because the month to month data is often choppy.
Unfilled jobs are growing in nearly every industry because an expanding economy is demanding more labor. Last month’s historically low unemployment rate of 3.9% means fewer workers are available. In June, the overall number of available jobs exceeded the number of unemployed Americans by nearly 100,000.
Nowhere was this more acute than with engineering job openings.
The problem is most acute in a few fields, led by transportation. Growing consumer spending and manufacturing output are supporting demand for engineering employees.
Our engineering recruiters have noticed this trend growing over the past 18 months. Now, the 20 broad groupings tracked by the Labor Department confirm this with hard data.
Aggressive Engineer Recruiting Needed
I have sounded the alarm bells about the mounting ‘War For Talent’ for engineering expertise on many of my recent media job recruitment appearances. This includes my recent remarks on Chicago CBS Radio affiliate WBBM News Radio 780.
To attract more engineers many have had to resort to extraordinary measures. Employers need to take a very aggressive, year-round approach to engineering recruitment. The strategy must include actively recruiting engineers even when you do not have an actual engineer job opening.
