If the success of your business depends on your ability to land engineering contracts for short and long term projects, you’ll obviously need great engineers on your team. But you’ll need more than just basic technical skill sets if you plan to gain an edge in an intensely competitive marketplace. Here are a few of the qualities you’ll want to take into account as you focus on your business development efforts.
Your Engineering Staffing Strategy: Qualities to look For
1. Horizontal management skills. When your engineers need information, updates, schedule confirmation, or anything else from support staff or coworkers, make sure they have what it takes to get it. Horizontal influence is a key sign of strong project management skill, and even at the junior level, engineers should have the will and diplomacy to get what they need from others, even without direct authority.
2. Presentation. The best way to win new contracts is to leverage the best and most relevant work you’ve completed in the past. Your project proposals should contain resumes of core players and beautifully, professionally presented portfolios of your firm’s proudest work. In addition to engineers and drafters, hire marketing pros who can present your project storylines to a non-technical audience.
3. Diversity and flexibility. Relying on one star athlete with one set of relevant skills might work when it comes to winning small contracts. But when you’re past the startup level and your target projects become larger, longer and more complex, diversity is key. You’ll need to prove that your teams have a broad, comprehensive range of skills and backgrounds, and multiple interdependent strengths. Trust is paramount, and trust is easier to gain when you have a team with complex specialties and perspectives. And every detail counts. Make sure your teams represent varied ages, genders, and ethnicities as well as varied focus areas.
4. Don’t just hire engineers. Your candidate may have earned A’s in school, but in a modern job marketplace, A’s just aren’t enough. If you want your business to grow, not just survive, you’ll need engineers who are also talkers, thinkers, writers, artists and salespeople. It’s a tall order, but don’t afraid to set a high bar. Use your interviews to assess confidence and personality, not just basic technical qualifications.
To build your business and expand into new markets, you’ll need a staffing strategy that goes the distance. Reach out to the hiring and management pros at Techneeds for guidance and leads. If you are looking for engineering recruiters in New Hampshire, contact us today.