While several industries are battling against the challenging macroeconomic environment, there are some markets that continue to see growth. Defence and marine are two such fields, and competition for the niche, specialist talent is fierce. With this in mind, what do employers seeking defence and marine engineering talent need to know, and how can they leverage their employer brands to source skills ahead of competitors?

Geopolitical factors driving growth

Much of the growth in both the defence and marine markets can be attributed to geopolitical conflicts taking place in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Everyone recognises that the past few years have been challenging which has led to increased international tension, and countries bolstering their defence budgets accordingly. There has also been sustained growth in marine and shipping markets. Between 2013 and 2021, the capacity of the worldwide merchant fleet grew by 43%, and continued growth of around 2% is anticipated every year until 2029. This pace could pick up further; in Q3 2024 growth rates were as high as 5%. Barring Donald Trump following through on his promise to seize and rename the Panama Canal, it’s likely that the brief downturn seen in 2022 will remain the anomaly, and the marine industry will continue to scale up.

This is good news for almost everyone, except hiring teams looking to bolster their engineering teams to match market growth. As anyone operating within the defence and marine talent markets – and indeed most STEM industries - will recognise, skills shortages continue to have a real impact and, along with supply chain holdups, are the single biggest factor driving delays and productivity downturns.

The fact that these markets are highly specialised, and talent pools remain limited in scale, means that employers are all are asking the same question: “how do we secure the skills we need ahead of the dozens of other firms we’re competing with?”

Leveraging employer brands in defence and marine engineering

Increasing pay rates is off the table for most employers, so being creative and leveraging available resources is key. A strong employer brand can help. Many companies, especially those further down the supply chain, struggle to stand out from competitors. They often rely solely on technical credentials to attract talent, making the job market feel uniform to candidates.

Employers don’t need to be overly brash, but they do need to hone in on the elements that make them an attractive employer, and communicate them effectively to the right people. Authenticity is key. Exaggerating or misrepresenting the employer brand proposition will only lead to disappointment and damaged trust when candidates discover the reality.

Gathering feedback from your current workforce on the benefits of working for your firm can help shape an honest, compelling message. Equally, promoting elements like working cultures, the mission-driven nature of the work being undertaken, and the technical platforms engineers will have the chance to work with, can all be effective in helping your organisation stand out from other comparable businesses.

Security protocols

It’s important for employers to recognise that they’re not only competing with rivals in their sector for skills, but also organisations in other parallel fields. Within defence specifically this can create real issues because of the need for security clearances. Attracting a candidate and convincing them to take on a role is difficult enough, and the last thing you want is to lose that individual during the – often lengthy – vetting process. The best way of tackling this is by being up front and realistic about the timescales required and then assessing the individual’s likelihood of dropping out, before it becomes a reality. It also benefits organisations to get offers on the table more quickly than in other markets in order to account for any delays. Professionals are unlikely to hang around for an extensive period of time if they have another comparable offers available to them where they can get their feet under the desk elsewhere far more quickly, and not have to gain clearance.

Of course, in many roles, the best specialists will be passive and hard to reach. This makes partnering with a specialist that knows the market even more critical. Not only can this partner help you identify talent in a challenging environment and navigate the various vetting hoops to be jumped through, but they can also act as an advocate for your brand on your behalf —helping convince sought-after professionals to choose you over competitors.

Our work in the defence and marine industries

We have extensive experience of supporting firms in securing niche and hard to find skill sets, like specialist engineers. Our work with defence and transport specialist SEA started with a single electrical design vacancy, but soon expanded to cover contract resources across the firm’s entire engineering lifecycle. We helped the organisation to find contractors for positions both in and outside of IR35, and with varying security clearance requirements including BPSS, DBS and SC. Our comprehensive consulting covered role briefings, market analysis, talent identification, end-to-end management and contractor support, and meant that SEA could access top-tier talent across all of its engineering projects.

Equally, our work with Ontic enabled the firm to source hard to find RF and radar engineering consultants at short notice to rectify issues with a highly sensitive product recently acquired from an OEM. Within 24 hours we had identified two suitable candidates and, in 72, interviews were held and offers made. We then supported the organisation with necessary drug and alcohol testing, secured clearances and clarified onboarding requirements with candidates so they could get started and hit the ground running. Despite having long-standing relationships in place with other suppliers, Ontic turned to Engineering by Murray to fill these positions where other firms had struggled because of our understanding of the market.

Anyone operating within the defence and marine electronics markets knows that recruitment is one of the most significant issues facing the industry. However, by partnering with the right firm these problems can be overcome, and professionals can be identified, hired and onboarded quickly in order to meet the rapid pace of the wider markets.

We are currently working on our 2025 Labour Engineering Report and your insights would make a big difference. As a thank you for filling in our survey you will gain early access. Access the survey here.

If you are looking for your next game-changing engineering specialist, get in touch with our expert team.

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