How to secure the best engineering talent for your EV jobs

The electric vehicle (EV) industry is booming. There are now more than 1 million electric cars on the roads and the start of this year saw a 21% year-on-year increase in the number of registered battery-electric cars. This colossal rise in electric vehicles has led to a heightened demand for engineers who are trained to work with EV technology, batteries, infrastructure and charging points.

Competition for engineers is fierce across the entire sector, and the EV industry is no exception. Nearly every engineering organisation (97%) has experienced a shortage of key skills in the last 12 months, according to our latest salary guide, so organisations need to highlight their employee value proposition (EVP) at every stage of the recruitment process if they want to attract the best engineers.

Here’s how you can secure the best engineering talent for your EV jobs:

• Broaden your approach to talent acquisition
• Be open to hiring for future potential
• Ensure you’re offering a great employee value proposition (EVP)

Broaden your approach to talent acquisition

In a skills-short market, engineering organisations need to broaden their approach to talent acquisition. Ensuring diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) is considered at every stage of the hiring process is a key step to accessing the EV talent your organisation needs.

Partnership programmes, such as Hays Skills, can help employers bridge skills gaps and promote greater social mobility for employees.

Diverse engineering teams bring different perspectives to tasks, often leading to enhanced problem-solving capabilities and greater innovation. To ensure you’re not alienating diverse talent, including ex-forces personnel and engineers from overseas, inclusive language in your job adverts is a must. Skills programmes can help employers to bridge skills gaps and promote greater social mobility.

Be open to hiring for future potential

If you want to build a solid pipeline of engineering talent for your EV jobs, be open to hiring for future potential, rather than solely judging applicants on previous work experience and qualifications.

85% of engineering employers are open to hiring professionals who don’t have all the required skills for particular roles, with the intention of upskilling them (Hays UK Salary & Recruiting Trends 2024 guide).

85% of engineering employers surveyed in our salary guide are open to hiring professionals who don’t have all the required skills, with the intention of upskilling them – are you one of them? In the case of EV jobs, organisations can encourage peer-to-peer learning in the workplace or facilitate formal training for employees, including the City & Guilds course in electric vehicle charging installation for trained electricians.

Technical skills are necessary for many EV jobs, but the value of soft skills shouldn’t be underestimated. Engineers in the EV industry have to work with others to solve problems, pitch ideas to stakeholders and take ownership of projects. During the recruitment process, therefore, it’s important to look out for professionals who can demonstrate these soft skills:

• Critical thinking
• Problem-solving
• Communication
• Collaboration
• Leadership

Ensure you’re offering a great employee value proposition (EVP)

If you want to attract the best EV talent, you need to ensure you’re offering a great EVP and employee experience.

Let’s start with remuneration packages. You can use resources, like our salary guide, to make sure the advertised salaries for your EV jobs are competitive and comparable to the market average. For example, our latest research shows that more than nine in ten engineering organisations have raised their salaries in the last 12 months and wages across the sector have increased by an average of 3.6%.

More than nine in ten engineering organisations have raised their salaries in the last 12 months and wages across the sector have increased by an average of 3.6% (Hays UK Salary & Recruiting Trends 2024 guide).

Engineers are looking for more than just a competitive salary and benefits package from their employer – it’s important to also consider the other elements of your EVP. The adoption of electric vehicles is a necessary part of our society’s transition to a net zero future. Therefore, it’s unsurprising that purpose and sustainability are key considerations for job seekers in this sector. Be sure to communicate your company’s mission and sustainability strategies throughout the recruitment process for your EV jobs.

To learn more about how to secure the best engineering and automotive talent for your EV jobs, get in touch with one of our specialist consultants from our EV centre of excellence.