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January 28, 2016

Building Your Engineering Team: Tips on Finding and Retaining Entry-Level Talent

By Mitch Maiman, President and Co-founder Intelligent Product Solutions

There’s a shortage of engineers and designers. This is a story heard practically every day. Companies large and small are all complaining that they have trouble finding the staff they need to help realize their product visions and growth potential. Indeed, the market for technical talent is tight but that doesn’t mean you can’t fill the gaps. There are strategies you can use to help feed the pipeline so that you can rapidly expand your teams.



Part 1 of this article will focus on creating a pipeline of entry-level engineering team talent.  Done right, almost any company can realize a pipeline that helps them find and land top, new college grads and entry-level talent (and retain them). What are the key factors for success when so many are striking out? Here are five recommended elements of the strategy:

1.Be Selective About Which Universities to Target (News - Alert)

First, pick which educational institutions will be the focus of a talent recruitment effort. For a small company, it is impractical and inefficient to invest time and effort using a shotgun approach. For a small or large firm, one should identify specific institutions for a specific purpose. Don’t be swayed into only selecting “name brand” institutions. Be intentional. Here are a couple of examples of the types of universities you might want as part of your portfolio:

A Large to Middle-sized/Top-Tier University

These can draw an incredibly diverse and talented student body from all over the world. Such universities can contribute to much of the economic activity in your region, and have a research focus that may be of interest to your firm.

A Small Private University

Though a small university may not come with an established “brand” name, the students may be also of high caliber and stand up quite well in job performance alongside graduates of bigger-name institutions. Since these may often be, fundamentally, “commuter colleges”, the students almost all have their own transportation. Why is this important? If you are looking to bring on interns, they need to be able to get to or from your workplace. No problem for most of these students.

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. First, get to know the Dean of the particular school, department chair people and faculty. Relationships with the engineering school administration and staff can get you recommendations of the best students to pursue and student referrals. Collaterally, these relationships also provide insights into technology and research which can then be applied to the benefit of clients. Secondly, do not forget to build a relationship with the career center at your target institution. They also have connections into the student body, can help promote your company, and find ways to engage your company in volunteer activities that can get your staff face-to-face with the potential interns and graduating students.

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

Since a small firm cannot hope to compete with the budgets of large companies, get brand-recognition through your engineering and design teams getting involved in student activities. The value of big, full page ads in the student newspaper pales in comparison to the marketing “buzz” one gets from direct employer engineer interaction with the student body. For example, support student clubs by providing coaching and mentorship along with interviewing and resume-building skills.  Also, offer to provide coaching and materials for student team product development competitions. Supporting students’ extra-curricular activities helps build “word of mouth” recognition of your company, and gets prospective new grads engaged with your staff in a more personal way.

One more thing -- do not forget to 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 they have two events per year as many universities do, go to both events. You say budgets are tight? Go anyway. Do it even if you are not sure you will need interns or new grads in the upcoming semester or summer. Showing up at every career fair, consistently, year after year displays a commitment in good times and bad.

4.Offer Meaningful Internships

Creating an internship program is one of the best ways to build a pipeline of recent college grads. Done right, intern engagements give the students a chance to live and breathe the culture, build relationships with company team members, and gain expertise and competence in real world projects. There are a few “musts” for internships to work for your company. Frist, you have to pay the students. Forget all the self-serving nonsense about your giving the student valuable experience and that this should be their reward. Pay them and pay them fairly. Second, get them aligned with a mentor. Does it take time from your more senior staff? Yes, it does, but if you want a pipeline of new grads, you have to invest in them. Make sure that your mentors have good coaching skills, so that you don’t sour a student’s internship experience. Third, have the interns work on meaningful and challenging projects. Don’t use your interns to do mindless grunt work, word will get around and it can poison the well for you.

Internships are your way to build individual relationships. However, realize that done well, your interns will spread good word about you within their student peers and other students. Done poorly, your interns will spread bad news for your recruiting efforts.  As an added component, establish a practice to hire your best student interns when they graduate – this good news spreads like wildfire from student to student, graduating class to class.

All this is accomplished without placing a single ad in the student paper, posting on bulletin boards or large endowments/grants

5.Create an Enticing Work Environment

This is important for your regular staff as well as your new grad recruiting effort. While firms do not need to offer as many perks as the most generous firms in Silicon Valley, companies are in competition for talent. All things being equal, a fun and engaging work environment is a recruiting tool. This does not need to be expensive but, as with anything else, it is an investment. Collaterally, this will help with attracting and retaining your experienced staff as well.

The strategies outlined are the secret sauce used by successful firms. Through these strategies, your firm can have a solid pipeline of current and prospective entry level staff. This pipeline means that gaps at the entry level can be rapidly filled with qualified, creative and talented engineers and designers. With internships done well, you will have a known pool of talent you can call on at moment’s notice to generate entry level staff. It is not easy but, with a long term, focused investment in the process, companies can build a sustainable pipeline of recent college grad with engineering and technology skills. 




Edited by Kyle Piscioniere
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