The Great Resignation, digital nomads, and the alarming “quit rates” we’ve seen so far in 2022 don’t necessarily mean that everyone simply went home to rest on their laurels and sit on the couch. All of the above are the hallmarks of the hyper-competitive “intra-industry” competition for the world’s top talent.
High Caliber Engineers: Bridging the Gap Between Competing Industries
The top, accredited, experienced, industrial engineering talent tier knows exactly what it’s worth and those who bring that high-caliber talent to the table usually won’t hesitate to bridge the gap between competing industries to be compensated lavishly for their efforts.
The companies who put more weight on engineering accomplishments rather than on engineering titles or categories are opening the doors to 6 figure opportunities in engineering even for those with just a few years of quality experience in the field. In 2022, even 5 years of quality engineering experience can be enough to make a cross-industry move to execute a successful vertical launch up the engineering career ladder.
Here at Resource Erectors, we call that the “5 Golden Years of Experience” and we’ve got the lucrative job listings with industry-leading companies across the continent to back up that claim.
Career Versatility in Engineering
Career versatility is probably one of the perks that attracted the top-tier professional folks to the life in the first place. Every engineering course provider is quick to point out that flexibility with perfectly valid recruiting pitches like this:
“With its roots widely spread in the majority of domains like Civil, Computer Science, Electrical, Mechanical, etc, the career prospects in this field are immense.”- 20 Best Engineering Courses For the Future
Those who rise to career peaks in engineering are the guys and gals who thrive on challenge, eager for the chance to flex their engineering muscles in diverse projects while earning top-dollar salaries to do it.
So how high can an engineer go?
Career paths in engineering quite often lead to the C-suite.
In 2018, Harvard Business Review found that for the second consecutive year, there were more CEOs with engineering degrees than MBAs. 34 compared to 32. Corporate moguls Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk can be considered as two of the tie-breakers in the engineers’ favor.
Some sectors are being harder hit by Great Resignation fallout than others, namely Big Tech, where Google’s “return to office” policies proved to be controversial. In that case, the Alphabet giant was only asking for a mere 3 days of on-premise presence from employees who quickly made it clear that they would rather “phone it in” from home.
More troubling for the rest of US industry, not to mention anyone who uses the internet; the cybersecurity forces, those white hat guardians of the internet are “burning out” and moving out of the digital defensive lines in record numbers.
They see the cybersecurity sector as one fighting a losing battle, and many are relying only on the development of AI as the only solution for countering the relentless onslaught of cybercrime. Nearly half, 45% are quitting due to the stress of unrelenting 24/7/365 on-call duties, according to the June 2022 article at Total Security Advisor “The Great Cybersecurity Resignation? Stressed-Out Pros Consider Quitting”.
While many of these prospects can rightfully call themselves engineers, some traditionalists are calling foul on the misuse of the term as used loosely by Big Tech companies such as Facebook, where every entry-level coder is given the job title of “engineer”.
This 2015 article, Programmers: Stop Calling Yourselves Engineers, by Ian Bogost might be even more relevant for hiring managers today, as Big Tech refugees jump into the engineering talent pool.
“Somehow, everybody who isn’t in sales, marketing, or design became an engineer. “We’re hiring engineers,” read startup websites, which could mean anything from Javascript programmers to roboticists.”
That begs the question:
What do our industry-leading Resource Erectors company clients look for in an all-around engineer?
- An engineering degree isn’t always mandatory but it is unquestionably an advantage all other factors being equal.
- PE certification shows initiative and a personal level of professional self-improvement. A PE License is the Highest Standard of Competence, according to the National Society of Professional Engineers.
- CMRP Certified Maintenance and Reliability Professionals Preferred
Engineering skills are transferable between industries.
It’s fundamental knowledge for hiring managers but it’s up to the candidate to make a thorough skills inventory. List all the skills you use in your current job, such as analytical skills, advanced mathematics, project management, or knowledge of specific materials.
- Determine which other industries can use those skills. It’s unlikely to always be the same skillset, so choose sectors that are compatible with your strengths.
- Adapt your résumé and other professional materials. To avoid employers only associating you with your current industry, don’t list your specific job title. An engineer moving from manufacturing to mining for example can describe his current job with more clarity with a brief description such as “Mechanical engineer performing durability analysis on metal alloy parts.”
- Work with a specialized recruiter such as Resource Erectors who can facilitate your move to another industry. A recruiter with specialized experience in heavy industry engineering in sectors across the board knows how to disassemble, sort, and evaluate your work experience into skills to match what their employer clients are looking for.
About Resource Erectors
If you’re a skilled engineer looking for more diverse work experience, you can make moves between industries and Resource Erectors can help. We’ve got engineering opportunities in mining, aggregates, industrial minerals, bulk materials handling, concrete, civil construction, fleet management, and more. Many of our industry-leading clients also look to Resource Erectors to fill essential vacancies in sales, safety, and site management.
For heavy industry companies, Resource Erectors helps avoid the ongoing Cost of Vacancies in essential positions. We reduce the risk and costly disruptions of a bad hire.
Over 85% (and counting!) of Resource Erectors placed professional candidates continue to contribute to the success of their companies more than 5 years later, so don’t hesitate to contact us when it’s time to build or join your next engineering dream team.
