This article discusses recruiting field engineers in a challenging job market. Deborah Loizou graduated with a master’s degree in Human Resource Management and Labour Relations. She has extensive experience recruiting many roles across different sectors and now works for Sartorius. Deborah helps define and executes future talent needs, including engagement, development, recruiting, and diversity priorities and objectives.

Sartorius are a leading international life science group and so recruit across the globe.

An opinion from an experienced Corporate Recruiter at Sartorius

Deborah is based in New York.
She shares her experience of the current market situation.

Current Market for Recruiting Field Engineers

How are you finding the market for field engineers at the moment?
At the present time, seeking qualified field engineers is challenging. I’m facing salary demands high or not the right experience fit for our culture.

Aftermath of Covid

What has changed since Covid?
I’ve only been with Sartorius since March 2022 however candidates including myself commanded working from home a priority. It’s life changing.
Are people more or less willing to travel?
Travel doesn’t seem to be an issue. The majority of my engineer vacancies are working from home. However, for the majority of the time, these engineer positions require living in the general vicinity in order to visit clients.

Recruiting field engineers from different industries

How do you attract people from different industries?
Many engineer positions require manufacturing, equipment service, installation, or maintenance experience. Therefore, sourcing from different industries such as military are targeted.
Is it becoming easier to attract women into field engineering?
Not really. However, I do three things to help in my search:
networking with specific women colleges
referrals from different people
working with women specific organizations

Travel and work life balance

Sometimes people new to field engineering view travel as being ‘like a holiday’. How do you make sure during the interview process that they realise that this is not really the case? In other words, how do you avoid a lengthy interview process and then an offer being declined because of work life balance?
I haven’t been faced with anyone viewing travel as being a holiday. Perhaps because our hires are more experienced.
However, my recruitment process through the offer stage is quite lengthy. Travel and work expectations are usually brought up in the beginning of the conversation.
Also, at Sartorius we are well known in the industry for our outstanding company culture and encouraging work life balance.

There is more information about the types of roles available at Sartorius at the moment, here.

Dress of Success Worldwide

Deborah also is a Resume (CV) Writer and Career Coach for Dress for Success Worldwide.
Dress for Success is a global not-for-profit organization that empowers women to achieve economic independence by providing a network of support, professional attire, and the development tools to help women thrive in work and in life.
Since starting operations in 1997, Dress for Success has expanded to 143 cities in 23 countries and has helped more than 1.3 million women work towards self-sufficiency.

Further reading on the challenges of recruiting field engineers

Ways to find the right people for your Field Engineering Teams

Why Ex-Military personnel transition into great civilian Field Service Engineers

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