Engineering firms and defence contractors in the United Kingdom need to realize the issues that their potential employees have to face in finding the best jobs. While many firms will advertise their vacancies in trade publications or online job sites, engineering graduates often have trouble finding the full range of possibilities available to them. Graduates looking for engineering or defence jobs have to sift through hundreds of jobs on online job sites, many which they do not qualify for or are overqualified for. Firms in the engineering sector should see this problem as one not only experienced by applicants but by themselves, as they are missing out on talented professionals.

Engineering and defence firms often rely on their public profile, word of mouth, and a review of the Careers page on their web site to land talented applicants. However, these methods are insufficient to take advantage of the wide range of talent available in the United Kingdom. Active recruiting is not only an immense help to talented engineering professionals but an investment in company success down the road.

Active recruiting requires a multi-tiered approach to finding the best talent. Engineering firms cannot simply follow one method or another in finding talented professionals, no matter how many short term successes they may experience. The recruiting effort by these firms needs to be dynamic in order to draw in a dynamic group of applicants.

One tool in the active recruitment kit is the use of enthusiastic and personable recruiters to head out into the university and job fair setting. Recruiters are invaluable resources for engineering firms, as they understand their company's personnel needs while possessing the skills to communicate with graduates. These recruiters can perform impromptu interviews, take in applications and CVs, and make notes about candidates they would recommend.

Another tool for active recruitment is an effort by firms to get their name out into the university community. Firms can sponsor events, provide giveaways at football games, or help fund research at a school's engineering department. These efforts require various levels of financial commitment but they will ensure that professionals know about potential employers upon leaving school.

Finally, engineering and defence firms looking to actively recruit professionals should work with recruiting firms. Firms need to understand that they do not have to shut down their recruiting efforts while using a firm. Rather, managers and executives should maintain their own recruiting presence at job fairs while experimenting with recruiting firms to see the best path toward talented applicants.