What are the Top Engineering Talent Looking for in Their Careers?

Finding, hiring, and retaining the best in emerging engineering talent is a challenge for many companies, large and small. No longer do employees expect to stay with one company throughout their career – a situation becoming even more pronounced with the millennial generation. Considering the extensive costs involved in the hiring process, your organization needs to do whatever it takes to retain its top employees.

Knowing what the top engineering talent is looking for in regards to their careers helps your organization in its attempts to retain those important workers. Let’s take a closer look.

Not Every Engineer Wants to Work at a Big Company

Many tech pundits like to talk about how Facebook, Apple, and Google dominate when it comes to hiring the best engineering graduates in Silicon Valley. However, not every engineer wants to merely be a cog in a very large wheel. If your company is growing and offers a chance for a new engineer to make a meaningful difference, your organization stands a great shot of convincing them to become an employee.

If stock options are a part of your company’s compensation package, some of the best available engineering talent will jump at the chance to contribute to your company’s success – and potentially their own. This early chance for both professional and financial accomplishment makes many newer engineering graduates look at small and medium-sized companies soon after graduation. The bottom line for your company is to offer your engineers interesting project work and to generously reward success.

Flat Company Structures Allow for More Chances to Contribute

If your company is organized in a flat hierarchical structure, this fosters collaboration between different areas of your company, allowing engineers to offer input in a variety of areas and giving them a better chance to contribute. This is another advantage smaller firms hold over their larger brethren. Many top engineers want to work in an office known for collaboration and camaraderie. Offer them that chance if you want to employ and retain the best and brightest.

So not all of the top engineers want to work for the Apples of the world. Building a positive corporate culture at your company – one that emphasizes teamwork and honesty – goes a long way in attracting talent to your firm. Additionally, make sure to offer a copious amount of interesting projects and to reward success on both a financial and professional basis, and you’ll have no problem in building a top notch engineering team.

If your company needs additional insight on hiring the most talented engineers, talk to the experts at The Talley Group. As one of the top engineering staffing agencies in the country, we also are a great source for Seattle engineering jobs. Schedule some time with us today!