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Employer Quotes
The quotes below are from employers in this industry: Engineering
They are talking about this topic: Workforce Trends & Challenges
The quotes below are about this issue:
Many employers face difficulty finding high-quality, entry-level applicants. This is especially true for mechanical and electrical engineering positions.
| "We're a supply company. We're not an engineering firm like some of you guys are, so we don't hire as many. But we've hired two engineers over the last two-and-a-half years. In both cases, it took six to eight months to find a qualified person. Our qualifications might be a little bit different. We're looking for communication skills, but we need that technical expertise, too, whether it's mechanical or chemical. We like process people. And we expect to be hiring more in the next 12 to 24 months. I don't see any change except that the [MnSCU] engineering program is free. Hopefully, that'll help fulfill some of our needs." | Northeast |
| "Employer 1: When we had to fill our last opening, we had to run ads two or three times. Employer 2: We tried that same approach. We also tried word-of-mouth; that's how we ended up doing it. Employer 3: We tried that, too." |
Northeast |
| "In our department, we went for a year before we hired our latest, in December." | Northeast |
| "We would disagree with what you said about the demand for chemical engineers waning or growing. Also, when we hired a production engineer, we had a very difficult time." | Northeast |
| "Question: I think what I'm hearing is that you don't agree with the data because there is a shortage of candidates, and that's true across the board? Employer: Oh, big-time." |
Northeast |
| "That's across the company, so we've probably hired eight or ten here in the last year. And I'm guessing we'll pick up another six this year, and that's just in Hibbing. It's all disciplines: mechanical, electrical, and civil." | Northeast |
| "The most difficult hiring for us is an electrical engineer. I was down at [non-MnSCU college] yesterday meeting with the engineering department, and they finally got an agreement where they can split the computer and electrical engineering degree into two types of degrees. The electrical engineers are extremely difficult to find. There are a lot of schools that have mechanical programs, but to find the electricals in the numbers that we need is tough. So the [non-MnSCU college] is moving in the right direction." | Northeast |
| "Six months ago, we did a little presentation for some high school kids. We did a random survey of openings, and I think around that time we had 40 or 50 openings in northern Minnesota between area companies. That's a shortage. It's real. We didn't look at specific disciplines for that data. We just wanted to give the kids a feel for it. So, yeah, there is opportunity in northern Minnesota." | Northeast |
| "One of the things in mining, from my experience, is that they would love to have mechanical engineers and other engineers in operations and maintenance positions. This is not just engineers these guys are hiring. These are people that they want to move into operations and production. Although, if available, they would prefer engineers in most cases." | Northeast |
| "We struggle to find mechanical engineering techs." | Northeast |
| "There's a lot of opportunity, and that doesn't include the positions that will open up when retirements happen. So, that might be what's making us a little different up here in northern Minnesota versus southern Minnesota is that we have tremendous, tremendous need up here for technical and skilled work." | Northeast |
| "Well, I've got my demographics here just for Hibbing, and you can probably multiply it by the six mining companies on the Range. In our management area, we've got 36 people that can retire today. And in our hourly group we've got 168 that can retire today. And for our hourly group, we require a two-year degree or the equivalent." | Northeast |
| "They've got so many options now that it's amazing to me, especially the new grads. Talk to them and, well, they like us, but they have three other offers they're considering. And they've got to put the whole package together of what the opportunity is. And you talk about all the fringe benefits. We've got a whole different setting for our value. So, you have to be able to sell it to them. It's just so competitive right now. They may have five or six offers." | Northeast |
| "Are graduates taking positions all over the state? In southern Minnesota? Do they want to move away from the Iron Range for a while?" | Northeast |
| "So, in addition to the mechanical and the electrical engineers—we're a unique animal, too, in that we're going back underground after 50 years—so we need mining engineers. Our processing on the back end—the whole hydrobath and autoclave—we really need electrical and metallurgical engineers." | Northeast |