Almost two thirds of Engineers in Ireland plan to seek a new job in 2017…

New research finds that 64% of engineers plan on looking for a new job in the next year and some 34% of engineers planning to change job say they expect a 10% salary increase, while one fifth are hoping for a 20% pay rise…

It also shows that a significant majority of those planning to look for a new job in Engineering say they are confident in finding a new engineering position when they are ready to make a change.

Despite the fact that many of the engineers surveyed about their job indicated that they are planning to explore new job opportunities, satisfaction with engineering as a career remains high, with 6% saying they are ‘extremely satisfied’ and 46% saying they are ‘satisfied’ with their choice of occupation in Engineering. In addition, 45% said they are ‘extremely likely’ to stay in the field of engineering for the duration of their career while 39% said they are ‘very likely’. Just 1% said they are ‘not likely’ to remain in the engineering sector.

Surveys show that engineers are also very confident in their ability to demand a higher wage, with 34% of respondents expecting a 10% salary increase and almost a fifth (18%) hoping to obtain a 20% increase. Interestingly, more than one in ten (11%) stated that they are not expecting a salary increase, indicating that some employees are motivated by other factors rather than monetary incentives.

In terms of job motivating factors, some 77% of engineers say work-life balance is the most important factor to be considered when deciding on a career move. Overall, top considerations when seeking a new position include:

1. Work life balance
2. Salary, bonuses and benefits
3. Work environment and culture
4. Location
5. Projects

We find that Engineers are looking for a strong work/life balance, good pay, better health and pension benefits and overall better work culture.

For those who choose to look for new opportunities, a high number of 69% of respondents look for job opportunities through recruitment agencies, which is even higher than those searching online via job boards, which came in at 59%. Increasing flexibility in the workplace is also attracting people to engineering, with almost 40% of those surveyed happy to take on contract work.

We are a team of specialist engineering recruitment consultants and we always have a high volume of exciting opportunities with the best leading companies nationwide. So please get in touch to discuss current openings – anna@hero.ie / 0864646665