On the face of things, the engineering industry is in great shape. Technology is making waves in almost every area of life – and the world – and it’s never been a better time to get started with what could be a highly lucrative engineering business. But there is a problem that entrepreneurs with interest in engineering need to face. The simple truth is that the industry is failing to attract graduates, who are turning to other careers instead.

For engineering startups, this is clearly a major issue. You can have all the greatest ideas in the world, but if you don’t have the right team behind you, it might never come to fruition. It’s also an issue because of the graduates that want to work in the industry, most will choose a to work with a business that has been around for longer than the average startup.

To counteract these issues, it’s important for startup engineering companies to understand why graduates aren’t taking jobs. Using this knowledge, you should be able to work out ways to make your ideas and overall business a lot more appealing – and build the talented teams you need. Let’s take a look.

Low unemployment

Unemployment levels amongst graduate engineers are almost non-existent. Graduates have highly desirable skills and demand for them is outstripping supply by a significant amount. As a startup, you need to make sure that your company is appealing to those same graduates. And while you can’t match our competitors with wages just yet, there are other methods of enticement. Profit shares are always a big draw, and if you can create an exceptional benefits package, it will also be a more tempting offer.

An increasingly advanced industry

Part of the problem with technology moving on so quickly is that by the time students leave university, their coursework is close to redundancy. It leaves graduates fighting over similar roles that they are qualified to do, and they don’t feel they have the skills to take on other, more advanced positions. You can tackle this issue by ensuring that candidates understand your startup is committed to their learning and development.

Safety

The simple fact is that many engineering jobs are dangerous. And, given a choice between an easier job with an established company or hazardous work with, say, a drilling startup, it’s not much of a surprise that graduates take the money and run. If your startup involves working in a dangerous environment, it’s essential that you impress on them that you take your responsibilities seriously. Make sure that you are following American engineering standards. Explain your insurance cover. And also make sure that you can offer them enough regarding benefits that it counteracts any dangerous working environments.

Competition

As we have mentioned several times already, there is a lot of competition in the engineering sector to attract graduates. But there are many other areas starting to appeal to graduates, too. However, as a rule, people in engineering are poor at marketing their businesses for job roles, and if you want to stand out, it shouldn’t be too difficult when you take a look at the competition. Be the best, and you should find your fair share of qualified engineers willing to commit – and learn.

This post has been contributed by Ryan Gatt, it may contain affiliate links.