At Design & Build we’re very fortunate to have a team dedicated to understanding all they can about the people, companies and trends within their recruitment sector. This is not by chance. Our consultants know that building trust starts with researching and sharing our gained knowledge across the Australian talent marketplace.

This week we have sat down with Luke Thompson, our Mechanical & Electrical Recruitment Specialist, to get a deep dive into what’s happening in the M&E market and share some advice for M&E candidates. 

Take it away Luke…

According to Federal Government's JobOutlook.com.au website, there are likely to be around 8,000 Mechanical & Electrical job openings over the next 5 years (that's about 1,600 a year). As a recruiter, what are your thoughts on the growth of the Mechanical & Electrical talent pool? 

It's great to see that the M&E market is expected to continue its buoyancy. I’ve personally been very busy over the last couple of years. It would be interesting to see what level of seniority these positions would be at. We’re seeing lots of young, talented engineers coming through from the likes of UTS & UNSW. Conversely, there is still a distinct lack of talent at the Senior end of the market, especially D&C Contractor focused Engineers. 

What advice would you give to an experienced Mechanical or Electrical Engineer who is entering the talent market for the first time in several years? 

If you’re coming into the employment market for the first time in a number of years, the first thing that you could be tempted to do is start firing resumes across to positions on SEEK. My advice would be to be a bit more careful about where you’re sending your resume, and ideally speak to a few agencies and then choose one recruiter to work within finding your next position. 

It makes a lot of sense for 3 key reasons…

1. If you’ve sent your resume out to 5 different agencies, you’ll have 5 different agencies calling you – sometimes about the same job.
2. It’s attractive from an employer’s perspective – it’s more common than it should be for employers to receive the same resume from multiple job agencies. You want to maintain a level of exclusivity really.
3. If you work with just the one recruiter, they’ll be able to spend more time drilling down into the main motivators in looking for a new position, and more closely matching the companies that would suit you best.

What are some of the standout strategies employers within the Mechanical & Electrical industry are utilising to attract and retain the best talent? 

More and more companies in the mechanical & electrical industry are spending time and money on their digital presence in order to help with both talent attraction & their overall perception of the market. If you’ve got a professional on-line presence, this can definitely help with talent attraction. Recruiters also play a huge role in companies identifying & attracting top talent.

Even with all the money being spent on transport infrastructure, Sydney can still be a nightmare in getting to and from work. 

I’ve seen more companies encouraging flexible working hours & working from home options for their workers. People care about flexible working, and companies offering this will see positive effects on both their attraction and retention of employees.

A client asks you in a consultation meeting "Luke, what is the number one motivator Mechanical & Electrical candidates have to change jobs?", what do you say? 

Whilst every one person is different, the main motivator I see from the people I place into permanent positions is career progression – whether that be into more senior positions, or the ability to work on larger more interesting projects.

What are the top 3 Mechanical & Electrical opportunities you are working on right now and what makes them unique?

The first is a Senior Mechanical Engineering role with a tier 1 mechanical contractor. This is a particularly interesting one due to the focus being predominantly in the data centre market, one which is growing in NSW.

Secondly, I’m working on a Senior Electrical Engineering role with a tier 1 electrical contracting company where the right candidate will get exposure to some of the best projects in both Buildings & Infrastructure.

The final great role I’m working on is a Senior HVAC Construction Project Management role with a tier 2 company. These guys are clinical in the execution of their jobs, utilising all of the latest Building Information modelling into their design & construction processes.

Are you an M&E professional with a burning career question? Or a building contractor looking for the best talent? Connect with Luke today on luke@designandbuild.com.au or 0468 958 529.