UK SpaceTech; Using the interview to gain a competitive advantage when recruiting embedded electronics talent in the UK
How can UK SpaceTech employers tailor processes to gain a competitive advantage when recruiting embedded electronics talent?
The UK SpaceTech industry is growing at an exponential rate and is fast gaining a reputation as one of the most vibrant hubs for innovation in the global space economy. For employers within this market the growth is creating opportunities, but also challenges; namely with finding niche skills to fill the ever-increasing number of specialist roles. And when these individuals are identified, organisations need to be able to use every tool at their disposal to convince them to join their brand, over a competitor. This includes the interview; but how can UK SpaceTech employers tailor processes to gain a competitive advantage when recruiting embedded electronics talent?
Using the interview to gain a competitive advantage
Outside of advertising roles across job boards, social media, events and networking, the interview itself represents the best opportunity to highlight why a candidate should choose one organisation over another.
As we’ve outlined in recent blogs, there are some core areas of improvement to focus on. But in a field with such tight talent pools, a negative interview process can have long-lasting ramifications, impact your future reputation, and subsequently, your ability to hire other engineers. Not many SpaceTech employers can afford to miss out on these skills, so getting it right matters.
Candidates will be turned off by hiring processes that are overly long or include too many different stages, meaning ensuring all relevant information is obtained in no more than two interviews should be the golden standard. However, this isn’t always easy, and getting the individual in front of all relevant stakeholders to gain internal commitment requires flexibility and often some careful diary management.
In such complex and niche roles, ensuring candidates have the requisite skills to deliver on the job is naturally critical. Technical tests are key, but prior to that employers need to speak to individuals directly in a more traditional interview format to ensure they have the right cultural fit too. Presentations and case studies can be useful tools; but keep the brief ‘open’ by asking the applicant to identify a problem they’ve faced in their career, what they’ve done to overcome it and what the end result was. This allows engineers to talk passionately about their work, highlight their strengths and opens up opportunities for your interviewers to ask relevant, less generic, questions.
Technical testing
When it does come to gauging technical ability, online and offline whiteboard testing takes time, but is worth the effort. But there are also other methods of ascertaining someone’s skills. We speak to engineers every day who are put off by employers who have been provided with GitHub profile details, but don’t review the publicly available work before the interview. If examples of engineers’ technical expertise are available free to access, why would you not do so?
Equally, remember that – even if this candidate isn’t right for a role now – they might be in the future, and giving them a glimpse into working environments and cultures can help to build a positive long-term relationship. While some employers have employee-only engineering spaces, providing a tour of the facilities or offering a meet-the-team video, for example, can go a long way in building this emotional connection and developing future talent pipelines.
Following the interview, ensure you provide constructive feedback individually and highlight specifically why they are or aren’t getting the role. This is not only the moral thing to do, but it can aid the candidate in their future job search. Don't be afraid to be too honest when giving feedback on technical tests. There's a misconception amongst some hirers that negative feedback automatically gives them a bad reputation, when in reality it’s often valued highly as it gives the candidate a chance to learn. After all, constructive and specific feedback is much better than no feedback at all.
The recruitment of embedded electronics specialists in the UK SpaceTech industry is tough and competitive, but these individuals can make the decisive difference in whether projects are delivered or not, and are therefore critical. In order to secure their skills, employers must use every tool at their disposal, including the interview to drive further innovation and support the growth of the UK’s position at the forefront of the global space industry.
Get in touch with our expert team to help source embedded electronics talent for the UK SpaceTech industry.
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