Engineering Talent Acquisition Reimagined · 2019-04-09 · A talent acquisition quality management system (TAQMS) allows organizations to identify, measure, control, and improve

EngineeringTalent AcquisitionReimagined

Guide for 21st-Century

Engineering, Manufacturing,

& Technical Organizations

ENGINEERINGt a l e n t s o l u t i o n s180

Table of Contents

Introduction .................................................................................................................................................... 3

Part 1 – Systems and Structures to Win the Battle for Engineering Talent ..................................................... 4

Utilizing Engineering and Product Development Concepts to Strengthen Talent Acquisition ................... 4

Position Development & Recruitment Process Design ............................................................................. 4

Talent Acquisition Stage-Gate Process .................................................................................................... 6

Assign & Empower a Talent Acquisition Project Manager ........................................................................ 6

Talent Acquisition Quality Management System (TAQMS) ........................................................................ 7

Part 2 – Thriving Among Uncertain Talent Acquisition Needs ........................................................................ 9

The State of Engineering Talent Acquisition Survey Results ....................................................................10

21st Century Talent Management – Optimized for Uncertainty ............................................................. 11

A Supply Chain of Talent ....................................................................................................................... 11

Preparing for More than One Possible Future ........................................................................................ 12

Talent Acquisition Fuels the Supply Chain of Talent .............................................................................. 13

Potential Sources for Talent Supply ....................................................................................................... 13

Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................... 14

About 180 Engineering ................................................................................................................................. 15

E N G I N E E R I N G T A L E N T A C Q U I S I T I O N R E I M A G I N E D 2

The Engineering Talent Acquisition Reimagined Guide can be

accessed and downloaded by your colleagues at:

www.180engineering.com/talent-acquisition-download


http://www.180engineering.com/talent-acquisition-download

Engineering TalentAcquisition ReimaginedGuide for 21st Century Engineering,Manufacturing & Technical Executives

Two forces are causing disruptive change and challenge within the engineering talent acquisition

market: competition for engineering talent and difficulty predicting and planning for necessary

engineering talent.

TechServe Alliance data is showing engineering unemployment hovering around 1 percent, creating

fierce competition for talent. Secondly, often driven by new technologies, today’s markets are

extremely unpredictable, making talent management and talent acquisition planning very difficult.

It’s time for fundamentally new approaches to talent acquisition that take into account both

the great uncertainty under which organizations are operating and the fierce competition for

engineering talent. While some firms are avoiding these new market realities and are hoping old

methods like “post and pray” will work, other thought-leading organizations are reimagining

and updating their talent acquisition approaches to position themselves for success amidst

this constant change.

With an understanding that engineering talent shortages will continue and that the pace of

change will not slow, CEOs and other executive managers are becoming increasingly involved

with efforts to rethink enterprise talent management and talent acquisition strategies.

This guide was designed to serve as a tool to help engineering organizations rethink and

reimagine both of these critical areas. Part 1 discusses how engineering and quality approaches

can be applied to talent acquisition to improve the quality, efficiency, and speed of talent

acquisition processes, allowing organizations to better compete within an environment that

demands decisive actions, repeatable processes, and quality outcomes.

Part 2 of this guide will discuss concepts and ideas that many organizations find helpful to

strategically respond within the inherent unpredictability of today’s markets.

E N G I N E E R I N G T A L E N T A C Q U I S I T I O N R E I M A G I N E D 3ENGINEERINGt a l e n t s o l u t i o n s180

Part 1Systems & Structures to Win the Battlefor Engineering TalentUtilizing Engineering and Product Development Concepts toStrengthen Talent Acquisition

Our toolbox of corporate and organizational skills is incredibly diverse, but engineering and product development

concepts are particularly interesting ideas to apply to the practice of talent acquisition. Why?

As outlined within the introduction of this piece, the competition for engineering talent is fierce, and this competition will

likely only continue to escalate. However, we need to look no further than tried and true approaches within the field of engi-

neering for product, project management, and quality systems practices that help bring structure, discipline, and repeatabil-

ity to our talent acquisition processes. Applying these concepts to engineering talent acquisition allows companies to move

faster, improve the candidate experience during the recruiting process, and facilitate securing more top-level talent.

Position Definition & Recruitment Process Design

As any engineer will tell you, product development projects most often go awry in the requirements phase. If the supporting

business case of the product is not compelling or if the requirements are in flux, the product is doomed for failure. The same is

true for the position definition process. But, because the position definition process in most organizations is not as mature or as

well defined as the product development process, the same discipline is often not applied, resulting in murky and fluid position

descriptions and an inefficient—and sometimes ineffective—process.

By applying traditional product development phases to position definition, a more robust process starts to take shape.


Product Development Position Definition

Project Management Talent Acquisition Stage Gate Process

Quality Systems Talent Acquisition Quality Management System

Engineering Concept Applied to Engineering Talent Acquisition


Position Development Phases

Fuzzy Front-End (FFE): the set of activities before the formal position requirements

are completed. A high-level view of what the position should accomplish and how

it should fit into the overall objectives and structure of the organization is compiled

during this phase. Activities during the FFE stage might include team brainstorm-

ing, interviews with key organizational stakeholders, and discussions with others

holding similar positions within the company.

Position Design: this phase should include a detailed description of the position,

including the specific objectives and responsibilities, seniority level, reporting

structure, compensation package, and the many other details associated with

a given position. Depending on the organizational experience with the position

and market competitiveness, market research might need to be conducted and/

or the support of external recruiting partners tapped to determine how to most

effectively recruit.

A basic checklist of elements to include within the position design phase include:

• Position Objective

• Inputs and Outputs

• Job Description

• Key Work Partners

• Committed Budget

• Compensation Plan (salary, bonus, ceiling)

• Position Location

• Reporting Structure

Recruitment Planning & Implementation: similar to the product implementation

phase within the new product development process, this is where the broader vision

and position design must be combined with a detailed talent acquisition execution

plan. For example, when does the person need to be hired? Who are the offer

extension decision makers? What role will the different players assume during the

talent acquisition process? What are the expectations for each set of constituents,

and how with they be held accountable?


1

2

3

A basic checklist of elements to include within the recruitment planning & implementation phase include:

_____ Time to Fill Commitment - when does this position need to be filled?

_____ Interview Process Design - which interviewers will screen for which key requirements and alignment on screening techniques (e.g. technical test, personality test)?

_____ Commitment of timeframe for candidate pool to be available.

_____ Interview Slots – get time slot commitments up front from key stakeholders in the interviewing process.

_____ Candidate Communication – who will be charged with communicating with candidates throughout the recruitment and hiring decision making process?

_____ Decision Process – agreement on how the hiring decision will be made, who will weigh in, how will that input be provided.

_____ Checkpoints – establish agreed to checkpoints to keep the team aligned during the recruitment process and hold one another accountable.


Talent Acquisition Stage-Gate Process

A stage-gate process model is a common project management technique used by engineering organizations in which an

initiative or project is divided into stages or phases, separated by gates. At each gate, the continuation of the process/project is

decided by a manager, task force, or other assigned stakeholder. The decision is based on the information available at the time,

including the business case, risk analysis, and availability of necessary resources (e.g., money, people with correct competen-

cies). The value of a stage-gate process is that it forces check-ins and purposeful decision making to guide a project—in this

case a talent acquisition effort—without allowing the process to veer too far off course.

A stage-gate process applied to talent acquisition results in gates or decision points placed at pivotal positions within the re-

cruitment effort. At the conclusion of each of gate, the decision must be made as to whether or not the talent acquisition process

moves forward or if fundamental changes in approach are needed.

The passing from gate to gate can be accomplished either formally, with some sort of documentation, or informally, based on the

preferences and culture within the organization. While this process may seem like a burden or unnecessary “red tape,” organi-

zations that implement a disciplined talent acquisition stage-gate process achieve much greater efficiency and keep recruiting

efforts on track.

The following includes descriptions of the four gates within a typical recruiting scenario:

Assign & Empower a Talent Acquisition Project Manager

Filling a position has many moving parts and assigning a project manager is crucial to the process. In engineering project

management offices (PMOs), accountability is clear, and while PMOs have different models of accountability, the important

factor is that accountability and authority are established up front. This same clarity needs to be created for the talent

acquisition project manager.


Gate: 1

Position & Recruitment Process Definition – appropriate management and other key stakeholders should be in alignment on the position as developed, the recruitment process and assigned stakeholder responsibilities before moving to Gate Two.

Gate: 2

Shortlist – shortlist of candidates (at least one) making it to a face-to-face, in-depth interview. Stakeholders and decision makers should convene to assure that the talent needed can be found within the shortlist of candidates. If the needed talent is not included within the shortlist of candidates, the talent acquisition process cannot move beyond this gate.

Gate: 3

Offer Stage –all appropriate stakeholders including internal and external stakeholders need to play their defined role within the offer stage.

Gate: 4

Offer Acceptance –offer accepted and start date commitment secured with candidate.


For example, a firm might decide to assign project management (PM) responsibility to the

talent acquisition (TA) member sourcing for that role. That PM then works with stakeholders

to gain buy-in of the stage-gate plan for the talent acquisition project. The stage-gate plan in

this instance is similar to a talent acquisition project plan, and in most organizations, the key

stakeholders would at least include the hiring manager, the hiring manager’s boss, the PM (TA),

and the TA’s boss.

Much like for any project, the PM is accountable for schedule, cost, and quality execution.

This includes status reporting and taking leadership in overcoming obstacles that might be

encountered during the process of filling the role. When removal of the recruiting obstacle is

not successful, or when the obstacle is another stakeholder, the PM has commitment from

sponsor stakeholders to do what needs to be done to remove the obstacle(s).

Some obstacles can be as simple as designated stakeholders reviewing resumes. In this candi-

date-driven market, waiting more than 48 hours to review a resume might result in the candi-

date being snapped up by competing organizations. What recourse does the PM have if the hiring

manager is simply too busy to interview? Perhaps resume turnaround time is a requirement

specified in gate one. Failing to turn resumes around three times in a row moves the position to

the back of the pack. No talent sourcer will work on the project, and it moves into reactive mode

(e.g., if a good resume comes in, it will be forwarded to the hiring manager for action).

This is just one example, but outlining clear accountability rules and giving the PM the power

to implement them will have a very positive impact.

Talent Acquisition Quality Management System (TAQMS)

We’ve discussed processes for developing and filling individual positions, but oversight is

needed to make sure that the entirety of an engineering recruitment system is performing on

a consistent basis. Engineering organizations establish quality management systems (QMS)

to meet this need, and the same principles can be applied to engineering talent acquisition.

A talent acquisition quality management system (TAQMS) allows organizations to identify,

measure, control, and improve the processes that lead to optimized talent acquisition.

A key to establishing an effective TAQMS is identifying the metrics that will be used to determine

if talent acquisition processes are in control or out of control. Many metrics are available, but we

recommend selecting five key metrics (more than five tends to overwhelm organizations and shifts

too much focus to data analysis).


Talent Acquisition Project Manager Responsibilities:

_____ Define the stage-gate plan and gain cross organizational buy-in.

_____ Own overall execution of the plan (schedule, cost, and quality) and empowered to take steps to make it happen.

_____ Ensure each task has clear owners with due dates.

_____ Remove obstacles or communicate to management when support is needed.

_____ Generate and distribute recruitment status reports.

_____ Host meetings with appropriate stakeholders at agreed to intervals for updating and collaboration purposes.


Some examples of talent acquisition metrics to insure that your process is in control:

Time to Fill (TTF) Target

If your average TTF is longer than target, the root cause of the friction and/or inefficiency

within your talent acquisition process must be identified and solved. Friction and/or

inefficiency could be coming from multiple areas, including: poorly defined positions,

an under resourced talent acquisition team, ineffective recruiting agency partners,

insufficient understanding of the market, and many other possibilities.

Submittals to Hire Ratio (SHR)

Shows how well talent acquisition teams are delivering quality candidates to hiring

managers. It is measured by taking the ratio of candidates submitted to the hiring

manager for consideration against the number of hires.

“On Hold” Position Percentage

What is the level of positions that get put on hold after the recruitment process has

started? A high on hold position percentage generally reflects weaknesses within the

position development process and likely points to organizational ineffectiveness issues.

Position Requirements Change Percentage

What percentage of positions experience requirements changes after the talent acquisi-

tion process has begun? As with the on hold position percentage, a high percentage of

positions experiencing requirements changes is likely pointing to weaknesses within the

position definition process.

Offer Acceptance Rate (OA)

If the offer acceptance rate is lower than goal, an exploration to learn more about this

weakness should be conducted. Is your recruiting process too slow or unfriendly for

candidates, are your compensation and/or benefit packages non-competitive, are there

employer branding weaknesses that must be addressed? OA is simply a calculation of

the number of candidates presented with a verbal or written offer versus the number of

candidates who accept the offer.

As with any quality system, establishing a process for root cause analysis (RCA) is critical.

Reporting talent acquisition quality system metrics to executives and other appropriate

stakeholders should be an assigned part of talent acquisition project management. If any key

metrics are not meeting expectations, RCA should be done to determine where the breakdowns

are occurring, apply process adjustments, and continue monitoring to assure that the adjust-

ments repaired the problem.


Talent AcquisitionCompetitiveness Takeaways:

• As quality systems do for engineering endeavors, instituting a talent acquisition quality management system (TAQMS) will ensure that talent acquisition processes stay in control. Metrics should be used to drive process improvement and assure recruiting process consistency.

• The combination of position definition, talent acquisition stage-gate project management and a TAQMS is an extremely powerful combination that will better equip your organization to move quickly, with high quality talent acquisition processes that allow you to better succeed within today’s very competitive engineering talent market.


Part 2Thriving among UncertainTalent Acquisition NeedsProgressive Companies Must Foster Organizational Agility to Respond to Uncertain Talent Needs

Organizations, and arguably the human species in general, systematically strive to avoid risk

and uncertainty. We like to know what to expect so we can plan and be well prepared for the

opportunities and challenges on the horizon. However, the world and market climate today is

highly uncertain, and that state will not change.

Long-arch strategic plans, including long-range talent plans, that have been an important

part of corporate talent management for decades are simply not very useful within today’s

climate. Rather, nimble, data-driven models and plans are required.

To better prepare ourselves to thrive within an unknown world, it is useful to understand the

critically important difference between risk and uncertainty.

Risk

Risk analysis and risk management are highly useful constructs for known probability. For

example, based on historical data analysis, we know an X percent chance exists that a main-

tenance engineer will be injured while repairing a given piece of equipment on the factory floor

on any given day. Or perhaps we have calculated the likelihood of key employees quitting after

an announcement of a vacation policy change.

Risks are identifiable and manageable. Risks are not necessarily easy to manage, and some-

times we get it wrong. But, they do involve known factors influenced by a set of inputs, and we

can strategically work to lessen the likelihood of negative outcomes.

Uncertainty

Uncertainty, in contrast, is quite different from risk. Uncertainty can involve “known unknowns”

or “unknown unknowns.” For instance, we may know that a competitor is working on a product

that will make our current product offering obsolete, resulting in our engineer team being

behind and possibility lacking the knowledge or skills to catch up. However, we may not know

when the competitive product is scheduled for release, the likelihood of the product truly making

our product line obsolete, the consumer rate of acceptance of our competitor’s new product, etc.


Thriving within uncertainty requires very different ap-

proaches from those used when the world and market

climate were more predictable and simply did not

change as fast. An “uncertainty-optimized” organiza-

tion will develop ways to quickly respond to changing

market conditions and is especially good at strategi-

cally operating based on “known unknowns”—cases

where it is known that the market will change, but no

one is sure how quickly it will change.

“Unknown unknowns” do occasionally pop up—cases

where we did not know what we did not know. Maybe

a new manufacturing material was in secret develop-

ment by a key market player, released to the surprise

of everyone, and drastically changed a segment of the

manufacturing industry seemingly overnight. While

this type of uncertainty is difficult for any organization

to manage, uncertainty-optimized organizations are

agile enough to respond in a timely manner.

Risks can be managed, and tools like project and

quality management discussed earlier in this guide

are excellent risk and overall process management

tools. Positioning an organization to thrive within un-

certainty, however, requires very different approaches.

An uncertainty-optimized organization will develop

ways to quickly and seamlessly respond to several

different possible future scenarios.


The State of Engineering Talent Acquisition Survey From our experience working with clients, 180 Engineering has witnessed firsthand the challenges, competition, and uncertainties in the world of engineering talent acquisition and management. However, we wanted to develop and share an empirical perspective, rather than solely relying on our own anecdotal experiences and observations. We sur-veyed a cross-section of engineering hiring managers and professionals responsible for acquiring engineering talent in attempt to gain this perspective.

In the aggregate, the survey results supported what we are seeing in the market – a lack of confidence that engineering talent needs can be accurately predicted and an engineering talent acquisition environment that the industry views as either“extremely” or “somewhat” competitive.

Not surprisingly, no respondents indicated that that engineering talent acquisition market is “not competitive at all.”

“Recruiting some types of engineers is definitely more challenging than others and this dynamic seems to be constantly changing. So, we are working on better systems to respond quickly and increase our recruiting effectiveness. We are getting there,” shared one survey respondent.

The most interesting learning from the survey is the divide between organizations that do or do not feel well-positioned in this competitive, uncertain market. The results were nearly evenly split between organizations that feel prepared for the current market and those that do not, with slightly more companies feeling that their talent acquisition

processes are not well-suited for this new climate.

“The market is often very competitive for the engineering talent we need, but competition ebbs and flows a bit. Our space is also in a constant state of change, so we really don’t have a concrete view of the skills we will need three years from now and we recognized that it was not in our company’s DNA to build out a really nimble HR and talent acquisi-tion team. So, we work with a team of external recruiters and contract staffing organiza-tions that allow us to move quickly when we need to,” stated another survey respondent.

180 Engineering Talent Acquisition Survey Results

Do you believe that your organization can accurately predict the engineer-ing/technical talent and skills that will be needed in 3 years?

Yes

No

Is it concerning to you/your organiza-tion that the specific talent required in 3 years is not known?

Yes

No

Do you believe your organization’s talent acquisition processes are well-suited for recruiting within a competitive engineer-ing/technical talent environment?

Yes

No

How would you describe the current competitive environment for acquiring the engineering/technical talent you need?

Extremely competitive

Somewhat competitive

Not competitive at all

28.6%

71.4% 68.2%

31.8%

53%

47%

51.4%

48.6%


21st-Century Talent Management—Optimized for Uncertainty

Clearly, the concepts of both risk and uncertainty are critical for twenty-first-century talent management. Risk can be calculated

and managed for organizations, for example, questioning if they have enough team members possessing specific skills. Addition-

ally, organizations must have talent management and talent acquisition practices that facilitate quick and efficient action once

uncertain talent needs become definitive.

A Supply Chain of Talent

Supply chain practices have been perfected over the course of recent decades and are very useful for responding to uncertain

market needs. The characteristics of today’s uncertain markets (e.g., uncertainty like specific product and geographic product de-

mands) have a great deal in common with the uncertainty of sourcing needed talent. Therefore, applying supply chain concepts

and practices to talent management and acquisition—creating a supply chain of talent—provides many opportunities to learn.

The job of a first-rate supply chain is to manage the flow and transformation of goods from raw materials, often through global

and complex production processes, to the end user. As mentioned, an effective supply chain must be optimized for uncertainty

such as changes in demand for a product, shortages of materials, changes in regulations, disruptions in transportation, and

many other factors.

The role of a supply chain of talent is similar—transform skill sets within the organization to meet needs (training/development),

acquire needed skillsets from the outside (talent acquisition), or supplement the current workforce with possibly temporary

sources (e.g., contract workers). Because talent requirements are much more uncertain and fast moving than they used to be,

organizations often do not have years to execute traditionally constructed succession plans. Rather, an agile supply chain of

talent—like supply chains for goods and services—is needed.

Because the future is uncertain, many organizations err on the side of too much high-priced talent sitting on their payrolls. Or

they err on the side of very risky shortages of talent in key areas. For instance, many HR organizations focus on reducing open

requisitions and any open requisition is viewed as a failure of sorts.

However, if you consider the issue of inventory through the lens of supply chain management principles, supply chain practitioners

often don’t think that way about inventories of goods and materials. Generally, supply chain experts accept occasionally running

short of noncritical materials. However, specially designed contingency plans are built for extremely important materials that

might put the entire operation at risk.

The same holds true for talent within organizations. Different roles have different risk structures. Some roles are very easy to fill

when vacancies arise, while other positions can be open for some length of time without significant disruption to the organiza-

tion. But some roles are critical to the present or future livelihood of the organization.

HR professionals within this talent supply construct accept, when acceptable, open requisitions or unfilled positions. So fill time,

a historically key metric of HR departments, may or may not be an appropriate metric in all cases when working to optimize talent

supply. A better approach is to compare the benefits of filling given positions with the costs of making sure they are filled all the time.


Preparing for More than One Possible Future

Many organizations try to reduce the risks of gaps in leadership or key positions by urging employees down a designated development

path. Traditionally, this grooming often takes the form of a job rotation program that lasts for a given number of years so that the

promising future leader is well prepared to assume management responsibilities. Development programs for future executives are

fairly standard across an organization and are not built to respond to changing market conditions.


Exponential Pattern of Technological Change

Disruptions through technological breakthroughs and rapid adoption of new technology will lead businesses to respond with faster and more accurate adaptation to rapid reinvention. The workforce will drive this force through their behaviors and preferences, but it will also bring job loss and skill obsolescence. This will lead to continuous worker adaptation to new models of work and organization.

1

Social & Organizational Reconfiguration

As the workforce exerts more control over how work is accomplished, their increased autonomy and decision-making authority will make the workplace more power-balanced and less authoritative, as well as structured more through social networks and less through hierarchy. Work relationships will be more project-based and less exclusively employment-based. Workers will join or engage with organizations based on aligned purposes rather than filling a job. Organizations will tap more diverse avenues for sourcing and engaging talent that extend beyond traditional employment.

2

A Truly Connected World

Information will be more abundant, richer, and more available to everyone. Work will be accomplished from anywhere, creating a truly global talent ecosystem. New media will enable increasingly seamless global and real-time communication, creating much faster ideation and product development, more diverse go-to-market strategies, and shorter product/strategy durations. Organizational reputation becomes a pivotal currency in customer and work markets and can be enhanced or destroyed in real time.

3

All Inclusive, More Diverse Talent Market

Multiple generations will increasingly participate as workers, today’s minority segments will become majorities, older individuals will work longer, and work will be seamlessly distributed around the globe through 24/7 operations. Organizations that win will develop new employment contracts and hone new leadership styles and worker engagement approaches to address the varied cultural preferences in policies, practices, work design, rewards, and benefits.

4

Human & Machine Collaboration

Analytics, algorithms, and automation will become increasingly adept at enhancing productivity and human decisions. Big data will be used to access knowledge, gain insights, and uncover deeper connections. An increasing array of tasks and work will be automated, increasing the pace of discovery and reducing the half-life of knowledge. Organizations will evolve from considering “people versus machines” to optimally designing tasks that people and computers successfully share.

Source: CHREATE.net

5

These Five Forces of Change of Driving Engineering Market Uncertainty


However, supply chain practitioners think in terms of the flow of goods and materials through

a system that often consists of different paths based on demand and other factors. They

also tend to think about the risk of bottlenecks in the system and are comfortable with some

components skipping certain stages, depending on demand. For example, maintaining a

stock of unfinished goods that are quickly finished only as the market demands may be one

aspect of the system.

In an uncertain world, most organizations will benefit by having a selection of succession and

talent supply options ready for more than one future. That might mean waiting until the future

is clearer to take some people’s training to the next level. The objective is to be ready for the

future as it unfolds, and that may mean that some people in line are not completely ready for

the future, but we have a way to get them ready quickly as needed.

Talent Acquisition Fuels the Talent Supply

Many organizations might wait until their talent acquisition needs are clearer to bring

someone in from the outside for a given role on a just-in-time basis. Just-in-time talent

acquisition or fast-tracked training and development might be more costly when the scenario

is considered in isolation, but it might be more cost effective in total.

For example, maybe a company knows that, based on likely market movements, they will

probably need to acquire three additional embedded software engineers in eighteen months.

These additional embedded software engineers are not critical or even needed by the orga-

nization today but will likely be critical in eighteen months. They determine that in this job

market it will take four to six months to fill these positions given their budget; they know they

have a six-month ramp time for junior engineers to be fully productive; and they weigh these

factors against waiting fifteen months to begin recruiting, which will likely require paying

premiums for highly experienced engineers that can ramp faster and may require paying

recruiting agencies to find the engineers. Based on the overall analysis, including financials,

the decision is made to begin the process now rather than wait.

If waiting and filling positions in a more just-in-time manner is the selected approach,

internal and external recruiters and contract staffing organizations will be essential talent

acquisition resources to quickly supply needed talent.


Potential Sources for a SupplyChain of Talent

Talent now often needs to be acquired from both traditional and non-traditional sources. Some talent supply sources include:

• Recruitment by internal recruiters

• Recruitment by external recruiting partners

• Internal talent/skill development

• Contract workers

• Collaborations with partners, customers & suppliers

• Social platforms facilitating collaboration

Supply Chain of Talent Takeaways:

• Supply chain concepts and practices, which are by their nature designed to respond to changing conditions, provide very effective constructs to think about how talent management must be re-tooled for the twenty-first-century.

• Long-term or even mid-term succession planning is not an effective strategy for many of today’s engineering and technology organizations given the uncertainty of talent and skills that will be needed.

• Organizations must be prepared with talent management and talent acquisition strategies that allow them to thrive in more than one possible future.

• Dynamic talent acquisition strategies are needed to quickly respond as talent needs become known.


Conclusion

The leading twenty-first-century engineering and technical organizations will be those that can survive

and thrive within highly competitive, uncertain and rapidly changing market conditions. Executives lead-

ing engineering-driving organizations are discovering that the tools for success within this new reality

can be found by applying what we already know.

Product development, project management and quality systems approaches engineering organizations

have perfected for decades can be very effectively applied to position development, talent acquisition

stage-gate project management and talent acquisition quality systems. These approaches allow orga-

nizations to move quickly and efficiently, as well as to systematically continuously improve within a very

competitive engineering talent market.

Additionally, supply chain practices that facilitate nimble responsiveness to changing product markets

are excellent concepts to apply to the engineering talent acquisition process.

Fast, efficient, continually improving and agile – these are the traits required for successful engineering

talent management and talent acquisition in the twenty-first-century.


39%24%


Our percentage placement perjob order vs. national average

About 180 Engineering180 Engineering is exclusively focused on identifying and engaging top engineering and technicaltalent either with specific job opportunities or simply building our talent network so that we can quickly andeffectively fill positions for our clients when the need arises.

Why hiring organizations work with 180 Engineering?

• Fast time to fill for direct hire and contract talent - 53 days compared to 90+ days• High percentage of placements per job order - 39% compared to 24% national average• High percentage of fills per contract - 42% compared to 24% national average• Low candidate introductions to hire ratios - 27% candidate submittals to hire compared to 16% national average• High contractor retention rates - 98% contractor retention rates compared to 70% national average

Why candidates work with 180 Engineering?

• Deep matching of candidates’ skills and personalities to opportunities• High direct hire and contractor retention rates reflect attention to both the needs of candidates and hiring organizations• Individualized coaching and interview preparation• Dedication to the engineering and technical fields offers a robust ongoing career management resource

The Engineering Talent Acquisition Reimagined Guide can be

accessed and downloaded by your colleagues at:

www.180engineering.com/talent-acquisition-download

180 Engineering

4300 Commerce Court, Ste 315, Lisle, IL 60532

[email protected]

Phone: 877-977-0377

© 2017 copyright 180 Engineering. All rights reserved.

180-TA-100-Rev-1

Seeking new engineering opportunities or seeking an engineeringtalent recruitment partner?

Contact 180 Engineering. We’re looking forward toworking with you for mutual success.



mailto:info%40180engineering.com?subject=

Documents

Engineering Talent Acquisition Reimagined · 2019-04-09 · A talent acquisition quality management system (TAQMS) allows organizations to identify, measure, control, and improve