Why aren't more people on LinkedIn with enough information for someone to find them. 15

[SandwichEngine]

I have a paid LinkedIn account so I can message anyone, whether or not they're connected to me. I want to search for people with a variety of specific skill sets and give them a raise while allowing them to work from home. All anyone has to do to get consistent raises far beyond what one employer will give to retain someone is to just make themselves findable on LinkedIn. It frustrates me so much that the vast majority of people don't do this and I don't understand why.

Granted, I'm not giving this advice to people that work for me but I would think this would be common knowledge by now and also would be part of Engineering 101 at university.

 

[BridgeEngineer21]

I wouldn't take the group answering this thread as representative. Age, location, and the type of personality that's predisposed to post on an engineering forum may be skewing the results. In the city where I live, people of all ages are jumping companies all the time, everyone sees it as part of business. It's rare to find the couple of old timers who still feel loyalty to a company - employee loyalty, in all fields, mostly went away around the time pensions disappeared and corporations switched to a "shareholder interests first/only" neoliberal business model. Of course, there are exceptions, and I'm happy for anyone who's found those places, but from what I've seen the industry is only moving further down that path these days.

 

[DayRooster]

SandwichEngine - You just mentioned one specific thing. You are looking for the top 10% of structural engineers knowledgeable in a specific PEMB software. And you state that people do not list this skill so it's easily searchable on LinkedIn. Now it sounds like you have the money to retain these people but that still sounds like an uphill battle. I would imagine this is already a very small percentage of the whole structural engineering community. Any idea how many people in the US fit this requirement?

As an example, if I were looking for a transmission line structural engineer that was within the top 10% of PLS-CADD then I imagine this would be difficult to flush out. I would probably need to look beyond just LinkedIn to find these special people. I would venture to guess they are probably not spending too much time on LinkedIn either. It takes a different type of engineer to be in the top 10% and want to stay there. To be in the top 10% of your niche: you probably need to live, eat and breathe that niche. I would be looking towards trade groups and associations; while also researching competitive companies to see if that can produce some names to explore further. It doesn't hurt to shoot out a message to online forums but I am not sure that would be the most effective unless it was targeted towards the niche and not the broad community.

Also, for what is worth, I take a different approach to recruit. I don't look for the top 10% and I do not limit people to a specific skill set within structural engineer. I look for a structural engineer that show the ability to learn and demonstrates that they are self motivated. Then I offer them a competitive wage/benefits and proceed to develop a training and learning plan so that they can reach their full potential. We also allow them to live in many different locations around the US. Now this is a much wider net that I am casting. And its worth noting that even with this very wide net, we are still struggling to get more than two applications for each job posting. So I can only imagine how hard it would be to chase the top 10% of a niche.

What I am getting at is: yes, you are taking on a challenging task and this route is probably not going to be easy. I do agree that if you are "open to work" then it is beneficial to make your LinkedIn more appealing. Only thing I would have recommended is to make the original post less of a "complaint" post and more of a "educational" post. Instead of talking about how "frustrated" you are with people not doing "XYZ", you could explain the position you are in and how you recommend that people should update their LinkedIn profiles because you never know what the return on investment could yield. People online read into every word of a post with emotion and feed off the emotion you bring to the table. That's probably why you ended up getting some push back from people on this forum that are associating you with some "frustrated boss" that was angry at the "worker bees" for not doing "XYZ". As the old saying goes, you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.

Overall, I hope you do end up finding the team you are looking for and wish you future success. Just keep in mind you do have an uphill battle, especially in this market. I do think if you invest enough time then you will find your people but again I have to imagine it will not be easy. And yes this will be frustrating on multiple levels. But nothing worth having comes easy.

 

[JLNJ]

Don't look a gift horse in the mouth. Imagine what it would be like WITHOUT LinkedIn.

 

[rb1957]

would it be worth it talking to the s/ware c/-, who have licenses near me ?

would it be worth it going to trade shows where this s/ware is promoted ? who's showing interest ? advertise yourself there ??

another day in paradise, or is paradise one day closer ?

 

[SandwichEngine]

Dayrooster,

You're 100% correct that I shouldn't have started this thread by complaining. Started a bad tone. Never post when you're frustrated.

Earlier, I posted that I think around 200 or so individuals in the US fit the mold. For me, top 10% doesn't mean technically. It means you have a PE, you have what it takes to become very good and most importantly, you have the right type of attitude to do well at my company. That last part can't be seen on a resume. For me, it means that you're actively trying to make projects successful, whether or not you view an issue as "your job" or not. Plenty of super experienced and technically proficient people who aren't interested in helping if they think it's someone else's job. "It's my job to design buildings, not to try to explain to the non-engineer construction guy why it has to be this way." "Sales figured out what we're providing and even though it totally doesn't work, It's not my job to teach them to understand." I can't use people like that.

I also would usually be open to people with a more diverse background who I feel can eventually get there. Right now though, the company's business is increasing at an alarming rate. We've tripled in the last 3-4 years and I currently need people who can land on their feet and immediately start contributing with very little learning curve. In a more stable environment, this wouldn't be as much of an issue.

One thing I'll also point out is that you don't need to be checking LinkedIn to have it work for you. You'll receive an email anytime someone messages you so it's really about whether people check their emails, not LinkedIn.

 

[phamENG]

SandwichEngine - I feel for you. I'm a solo and wanted to expand, but could get nowhere with hiring. Over 60 job postings in my area for structural engineers. So I gave up. Can't imagine what it would be like to be in such a niche.

As for sending out resumes with no job posting, absolutely. I did it right out of college. Didn't get me anywhere, but I did it. Once I had a job for a manufacturer of building components for a few months with a job title of "Structural Engineer" (my idea - though in retrospect I may have been a little too close to the edge of regulatory controls on titles...), I did it again. Though I focused on companies that had job openings - just not entry level because nobody would talk to an entry level structural engineer. They were a little surprised in the interview to find out I'd only graduated 5 months prior (the job posting had a mandatory minimum of 5 years experience), but I talked my way into a job.

I disagree with a lot of sentiments about LinkedIn. I don't love it, but it's useful. And the random job offers? What else could a mid-level engineer ask for? Every time I got one, I'd bring it up in a conversation within earshot of my boss - only to my boss if it was a local competitor. I was never going to take them, but I didn't tell him that - and so I kept getting nice raises every year.

Keep at it - you'll find them, maybe. Or you'll have to do what I did...scale back to a manageable level where I can actually provide the promised service. Or invest the time in training, painful though it may be. One advantage to a niche market - you don't have as many competitors to poach your people. And if you're the only one doing fully remote, you may have the advantage of getting a new engineer not colocated with a competitor, making it even harder for them steal them away.

 

[ThomasH]

I have followed this thread with some interest. And there is one thing that got me curious .

The term "PEMB Engineer" has been mentioned. That may be a common term in the US but for me it is new. I Googled and wonder, does it mean Pre Engineered Metal Buildings? Doesn't that, perhaps simplified, mean an engineer working with (primarily) prefabricated steel buildings?

I may be way of base in my guess but if it is correct, I know people in Europe that work in similar positions. It can be steel, concrete or timber but my point is that in my experience, the people working in those "communities" usually know each other. There are user groups for software and other forums where "competitors" become "colleagues". This forum also has groups for software but since it is anonymous it is useless for recruiting .

There are software forums on Linkedin also but I know that some of them are more "private". Perhaps to avoid the recruiters .

Thomas