Why are Engineering Roles So Hard to Fill?

The American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) reported that 88% of engineering firms have at least one open position. The same report also found that 65% of firm leaders expected hiring to increase over the following 12 months. 

For staffing agencies, this means: You need to fill current vacancies while building pipelines for future demand.  

But when clients need specific technical skills, relevant experience, and professional credentials, finding the right candidates takes more than posting a job and waiting for applications. 

So, what makes engineering recruitment in the USA so challenging? 

In the next few minutes, we’ll explain the five major factors that make engineering roles harder to fill than ever, plus the offshore strategy to navigate it. 

Understanding the engineering talent shortage in the United States 

The United States faces a shortage of at least 18,000 engineers annually. But the engineering talent shortage isn’t just about not having enough available candidates. 

It also comes down to relevant experience, specialized skill requirements, location of qualified candidates, and other availability and security constraints.  

For example, a defense client may need a Cisco certified network engineer with experience in VPNs (IPSec, SSL), Access Control Lists (ACLs), and Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA). But they also need 5 days on-site at their facility in Florida, 10+ years of experience, CompTIA Security+ CE certified, and ability to lead. 

Now, you’re no longer looking for just a network engineer. You’re looking for someone who meets a very specific combination of technical, professional, and location requirements within an already constrained talent pool. Most importantly, it means finding a candidate that meets your client’s expectations at all levels. 

But finding such an engineer who checks every box takes time. And the longer it takes to find the right match, the longer the role stays open. 

The number reflects this challenge: engineering and technical roles average 62 days to fill, with niche roles like firmware taking up to 102 days. 

5 reasons hiring for certain engineering roles is so difficult 

Let’s look at five reasons engineering recruitment is becoming increasingly difficult for staffing firms. 

#1 The gap between industry demand vs fresh engineering graduates 

In the USA, there are currently 679,500 open engineering positions, while only 141,000 fresh engineering graduates enter the workforce each year. 

This creates a supply and demand gap in engineering at the very root level. 

Here’s a breakdown of industry demand vs. fresh graduates’ supply for individual engineering fields. 

Source: BLS & ASEE 

#2 Widening gap in engineering experience 

A growing pool of Senior engineers are approaching retirement or leaving the profession. These are the people with decades of product expertise, familiarity with legacy systems, and context behind engineering decisions.  

And when they leave, they take all this knowledge with them. 

Meanwhile, a significantly smaller pool of fresh graduates is entering the ecosystem who lacks hand-on experience. This is creating a “gray wave” where the mid-tier engineers are disappearing rapidly and compounding the knowledge gap. 

For staffing firms, this means a shrinking experienced candidate pool to choose from which ultimately pushes the time-to-fill even further.  

#3 Rapidly advancing technology outpacing specialized skills

At the same time, the pace of technology advancements and product innovation is increasing. And with them, the skillset requirements are shifting. 

In fact, nearly 50% of the infrastructure work-related skills are expected to change in the next five years. 

With AI in the picture, engineering environments are changing too, where leaner teams are asked to do more using more complex technical systems. 

The growing knowledge gap combined with these advancing engineering requirements is outpacing the available skillset in the market, which has made engineering recruitment more difficult than ever. 

#4 Security clearance bottlenecks 

Many engineering roles in critical projects (e.g. defense, aerospace, and government projects) require candidates to hold specific security clearances. This further narrows the pool of eligible candidates. 

Even when you find an engineer with the right technical skills, they may not simply have the clearance your client requires, or it may have expired.  

The clearance process also involves background checks and additional reviews. These steps can extend hiring timelines and make the process difficult, especially when clients need engineers to start quickly. 

One way to solve this is to build a qualified talent pipeline with updated clearance requirements before even sourcing begins. It’s also important to build relationships with candidates irrespective of open requisitions, so when a role finally opens, you can send them forward. 

#5 Geographic and relocation constraints 

Engineering talent isn’t evenly distributed across the USA. Certain regions have stronger talent pools for specific industries, while others have fewer qualified candidates. 

For example, a client may need an experienced manufacturing engineer at a facility in Texas or Florida. Even when you find a suitable candidate elsewhere, relocation costs, family commitments, and location preferences can prevent them from accepting the role. 

On-site requirements can make the candidate search even harder. You may find qualified engineers who prefer remote or hybrid work, while your client requires them to work at a plant, laboratory, or project site. 

On top of it, only 9% of international engineering students have gained H-1B visas over the years. This number is likely to decrease as the US administration has introduced major restrictions and heavy fees for H-1B visas, narrowing the pool to only local candidates. 

How the right offshore recruitment partner can help you manage the engineer shortage in USA 

The challenges above make engineering recruitment resource-intensive and time-consuming.  

To find a single qualified engineering talent, your internal recruiters may need to: 

• Search multiple channels 
• Assess specialized skills for niche roles 
• Maintain updated candidate databases and credentials 
• Build and maintain candidate relationships beyond open roles 

This can quickly become complicated as your recruiters must manage both candidate experience and client expectations, often across several open requisitions. 

An offshore recruitment partner changes that equation by helping you flexibly extend your recruitment capacity without requiring you to hire new recruiters in-house. 

A dedicated offshore recruitment team can support both full-cycle recruitment or specific hiring tasks including candidate sourcing, database management, credentialing, or market research, so your onshore team can focus on more strategic tasks. 

The key is to work with the right partner that understands your target market and engineering recruitment workflows.  

At IMS People Possible, we’ve ready-to-work recruiters experienced in engineering industry and the USA market. All you need is to choose the resource of your choice, set clear expectations, and get started. 

Have questions or want to explore how we can support your recruitment needs? Get in touch with us today. 

FAQs 

1. What’s the average time to hire an engineer in the USA?

The time it takes to hire an engineer in the USA can vary by role, experience level, location, and employer requirements. However, according to Gem’s recruiting benchmarks, engineering and technical roles take an average of 62 days to fill. 

2. Which engineering roles are hardest-to-fill right now?

Engineering roles requiring security clearance, particularly in defense and aerospace, can be hard to fill. Firmware roles take up to 102 days to fill, while cybersecurity roles can take three to six months. Research scientists and computer vision engineers are also challenging to hire due to their specialized skills and experience requirements. 

3. How can staffing firms build resilient candidate pipelines?

Start by identifying the engineering disciplines and locations your clients hire for most often. Build talent pools around technical skills, experience levels, certifications, and work preferences. 

Once a candidate enters your ATS, ensure their profiles are updated and maintain regular contact with qualified professionals.  

4. How to use offshore recruitment process outsourcing services for engineering?

Staffing firms can use offshore recruitment process outsourcing services for candidate sourcing, database management, credentialing, market mapping, or even full-cycle recruitment. This helps you scale your recruiting capacity to meet client demands or place talent for hard-to-fill roles faster.