The disconnect between tech talent and recruitment

Technical trades are booming; Syntec-Ingénierie anticipates 27,000 net job creations by 2021. Yet the reality on the ground in terms of employment and recruitment is complex. According to the "Industry: the new face of recruitment" conducted by Page Personnel, a subsidiary of PageGroup, 70% of active search and standby candidates now consider it difficult to find a job.

With this study, Page Personnel was interested in the background and expectations of Engineers and Technicians in a labor market that is particularly favorable to candidates. Are they already employed? Do they hope to change jobs soon? How is their job searching done? Through the results obtained and daily exchanges with companies seeking to recruit on these trades, a real gap emerges between the realities of candidates, and those of recruiters.

Engineers & Technicians: A dynamic and identified labor market

The Barometer Syntec-Engineering published earlier this year confirms that the engineering sector is doing well: companies plan to recruit 50 to 60,000 employees per year between 2018 and 2021.

Conversely, employees are aware of this positive dynamic: 86% of respondents in office say they have been seeking opportunity or standby in the last 12 months. 83% even plan to change jobs in the coming year.

Despite its dynamism, the industry sector is struggling to match supply and demand.

Job search found difficult by candidates

In spite of the numerous recruitment needs expressed by companies on technical profiles, 70% of the candidates actively searching or in standby attest that it is difficult to find a job.

In detail, 48% of respondents who are not in office say they have been actively looking for more than three months, and 16% have been for more than a year - a height in a market in tension.

The profiles that seem to make the most of the game are young graduates and less experienced profiles. Indeed, 58% of profiles with more than 10 years of experience have been in limbo for at least 3 months - a percentage that drops to 39% for profiles with less than 5 years of experience. 

Understanding the divide: differences in perceptions between candidates and recruiters

Paradoxically, while 91% of jobseekers feel that they have the required skills for the job and 87% have significant experience, nearly half (46%) think that if they have trouble finding a job is because their profile does not match the expectations of recruiters. How is this gap explained?

"While technical specialties are always essential to attract recruiters, they are now increasingly demanding on the personality of candidates and their soft skills: they seek more and more motivated profiles, adaptable and autonomous. Personal qualities that usually show up during the interview. However, it is generally noted that, through their initial training, the technical profiles are not always sufficiently well equipped to meet the requirements of the recruitment process and do not necessarily master the codes of the job interview. In our study, nearly 40% of the technical profiles stated that they were not selected after an interview."

Tanguy Prigent, Executive Manager of the Engineers & Technicians division at Page Personnel

"The company is not only looking for a person capable of performing a list of tasks, but a person who is able to do differently, to win time, to work collaboratively, to adapt quickly to new tools. What she wants is not just someone doing the work, but a person who can help her understand how to do it better, to fulfill the purpose."

Isabelle Bastide, President of PageGroup

Thus, developing vocational training to work on "soft skills" in a sector where technical skills take precedence in initial training would certainly make the candidate pool more employable. All the more so because they are taking up qualifying training: 58% of Engineers and Technicians cite the evolution and training perspectives as criteria in the choice of their next position in front of the remuneration (53%).

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