Engineering is one of the best professions available. The highly skilled are able to take their careers as far as they like. The top skills, though, for recruiters evaluating engineering candidates might actually surprise you. Technical skills are a must-have, but hiring candidates squarely based on their technical skillset isn’t enough for long-term success. That’s why balancing hard skills with relevant soft skills is what makes for the best candidates. Here are the skills recruiters are really looking for.
Attention to Detail
So-called soft skills like great attention to detail are key differentiators which can turn a good engineer into a great engineer. This shows up in all aspects of work, starting from requirement gathering and design to automating processes or using existing processes, to development and delivery and, finally, quality control. A detail-oriented candidate spots inefficiencies and opportunities to improve workflow, which others might miss. These incremental improvements have the potential for aggregating and delivering a large optimization gain in the end-to-end pipeline.
Patience and Problem Solving
A high-quality engineer is methodical and takes a thoughtful approach to problem-solving. They portray a lot of patience in their work. Rushing to a solution is often how errors and inaccuracies seep in. Patience is a virtue, and this is true in mechanical engineering candidates as well.
Project Management
Great project management skills are an asset in any industry. This is especially true for engineering, where time is often money. A candidate with a great project management skillset can make the difference between landing a large project on time and on budget. On the other hand, the lack of this key skill set can not only delay and detail a project, but it can also damage the company’s reputation with the client and can potentially cause monetary damage.
Collaboration and Communication Are Key
A high-quality engineer is methodical and takes a thoughtful approach to problem-solving. They portray a lot of patience in their work. Rushing to a solution is often how errors and inaccuracies seep in. Patience is a virtue, and this is true in engineers as well as teachers. Similarly, great project management skills are a critical asset in any industry. A candidate with a great project management skillset can make the difference between landing a large project on time and on budget. On the other hand, the lack of this key skill set can not only delay and derail a project, but it can also damage the company’s reputation with the client and can potentially cause monetary damage. It doesn’t matter how great you may be with numbers. If you can’t communicate or collaborate effectively, you are not serving the business.
Teamwork Is How Work Gets Done
Whether you are a recent graduate looking to start a career or a seasoned professional who has been in the industry for several years, the importance of teamwork skills is difficult to overstate. Great teamwork is at the heart of any successful organization. A good team player can get others around him or her excited about the project and deliver work that is exponentially greater than any one individual can achieve. This is a critical skill in managers where the success of the team and the company depends on working as a team and fostering a collaborative work environment. But it’s also important in technical workers who will inevitably need to work well with others in order to accomplish team goals.
For more advice on how to find your next engineering opportunity, connect with the recruiters at ESGI today.
