Pigeonholed: Why Good Engineers Are Missing Out in a Quieter Market

Two things have been true on our Structural and Civil desk at the same time this year, and at first glance they don't sit together.

After the hiring boom that followed Covid, decisions are more considered, and consultancies are more conservative about who they move on. And yet the gap between what those consultancies need in an experienced engineer and what's actually available hasn't closed. Fewer roles, much the same appetite. What's shifted is the qualities the market is looking for.

That's an uncomfortable combination for a lot of capable engineers, because what the what's screening them out often isn't a reflection of their ability.

Why Are Good Engineers Missing Out?

"One of the most common reasons candidates miss out is because they are pigeonholed in specific project types, design capabilities and client or stakeholder management duties," says Luis Andres, who leads the Structural and Civil Engineering desk at Ivory Group.

That's rarely a choice anyone makes deliberately. It's usually just how a few years in one part of a business plays out. When the market was running hotter, gaps like that mattered less than they do now. In a more conservative one, they can be enough to keep a strong CV sitting on the pile a little longer. Same engineer, same experience, but in a more selective market, the way that experience is interpreted can lead to a very different outcome.

Beyond the Project List

A CV tends to record the projects someone was assigned, not everything they picked up along the way. Plenty of engineers have had more client contact, or more say in a delivery, than their project list suggests. Some have rather less than it implies.

"Be transparent with your pain points at your current employer, your career goals, personal circumstances, your skill strengths and weaknesses," Luis says. 

That's the conversation worth having properly. A good recruiter should be able to help you work out where your experience genuinely carries across into another project type or another kind of work, and where a gap is real enough to be worth closing first. It's also how someone reaches a client as more than a document, which tends to matter most for the engineer whose best work doesn't reduce neatly to a line on a page.

Where the Value Moved

For experienced hires, hands-on design and technical capability are increasingly the baseline rather than the only differentiator. What tends to carry weight now sits around client-facing work, business development, project management, stakeholder liaison and team management.

That doesn't make technical depth less important. It means clients are increasingly looking at what sits around that technical capability. For an engineer whose exposure stopped at the design package, that's exactly where the interview goes quiet.

Why the First Move Is Often Internal

This is where the advice runs against the grain a little, coming from a recruiter. Waiting for progression to arrive rarely works, but leaving isn't automatically the answer either.

"Assess where your current skills are at, where there may be gaps, and see if you can tackle them with your current employer," Luis says. "Otherwise, it may be time to explore the market where it gives you the platform to develop."

In practice, that looks like asking for the responsibilities that would close the gap. Sitting in on client meetings. Taking a piece of the stakeholder liaison. Carrying part of a delivery rather than just a design package.

In our experience, plenty of employers are open to that conversation. Even as hiring has cooled, we're still seeing consultancies think carefully about retention, succession and developing the experienced engineers already in the business. An engineer asking for broader exposure may be asking for exactly the kind of development the business needs to create simultaneously.

The engineers who come out of this well don't choose between technical depth and broader capability. Strong fundamentals, plus the adaptability and commercial awareness to be useful in the room with a client. Not one or the other.

What Makes a Move Worth It?

If that internal door keeps closing, the platform may not be there, and it's fair to go looking for one that is.

Working out which consultancies genuinely give engineers client exposure, rather than simply describing it well in an interview, isn't always straightforward. That's where knowing how different businesses actually develop their people matters. It's a two-way street. A business worth moving for should be able to show you the platform, not just talk about it, and you should be able to show them what changes when you're in the room.

In a quieter market, a strong CV still matters. But so does being able to show the capability you've built beyond the box your experience might put you in.

If you're weighing up your next move in Structural or Civil Engineering, connect with Luis Andres here.

This piece was contributed to by Luis Andres, Structural and Civil Engineering Recruitment Specialist at Ivory Group.

Two things have been true on our Structural and Civil desk at the same time this year, and at first glance they don't sit together.

After the hiring boom that followed Covid, decisions are more considered, and consultancies are more conservative about who they move on. And yet the gap between what those consultancies need in an experienced engineer and what's actually available hasn't closed. Fewer roles, much the same appetite. What's shifted is the qualities the market is looking for.

That's an uncomfortable combination for a lot of capable engineers, because what the what's screening them out often isn't a reflection of their ability.

Why Are Good Engineers Missing Out?

"One of the most common reasons candidates miss out is because they are pigeonholed in specific project types, design capabilities and client or stakeholder management duties," says Luis Andres, who leads the Structural and Civil Engineering desk at Ivory Group.

That's rarely a choice anyone makes deliberately. It's usually just how a few years in one part of a business plays out. When the market was running hotter, gaps like that mattered less than they do now. In a more conservative one, they can be enough to keep a strong CV sitting on the pile a little longer. Same engineer, same experience, but in a more selective market, the way that experience is interpreted can lead to a very different outcome.

Beyond the Project List

A CV tends to record the projects someone was assigned, not everything they picked up along the way. Plenty of engineers have had more client contact, or more say in a delivery, than their project list suggests. Some have rather less than it implies.

"Be transparent with your pain points at your current employer, your career goals, personal circumstances, your skill strengths and weaknesses," Luis says. 

That's the conversation worth having properly. A good recruiter should be able to help you work out where your experience genuinely carries across into another project type or another kind of work, and where a gap is real enough to be worth closing first. It's also how someone reaches a client as more than a document, which tends to matter most for the engineer whose best work doesn't reduce neatly to a line on a page.

Where the Value Moved

For experienced hires, hands-on design and technical capability are increasingly the baseline rather than the only differentiator. What tends to carry weight now sits around client-facing work, business development, project management, stakeholder liaison and team management.

That doesn't make technical depth less important. It means clients are increasingly looking at what sits around that technical capability. For an engineer whose exposure stopped at the design package, that's exactly where the interview goes quiet.

Why the First Move Is Often Internal

This is where the advice runs against the grain a little, coming from a recruiter. Waiting for progression to arrive rarely works, but leaving isn't automatically the answer either.

"Assess where your current skills are at, where there may be gaps, and see if you can tackle them with your current employer," Luis says. "Otherwise, it may be time to explore the market where it gives you the platform to develop."

In practice, that looks like asking for the responsibilities that would close the gap. Sitting in on client meetings. Taking a piece of the stakeholder liaison. Carrying part of a delivery rather than just a design package.

In our experience, plenty of employers are open to that conversation. Even as hiring has cooled, we're still seeing consultancies think carefully about retention, succession and developing the experienced engineers already in the business. An engineer asking for broader exposure may be asking for exactly the kind of development the business needs to create simultaneously.

The engineers who come out of this well don't choose between technical depth and broader capability. Strong fundamentals, plus the adaptability and commercial awareness to be useful in the room with a client. Not one or the other.

What Makes a Move Worth It?

If that internal door keeps closing, the platform may not be there, and it's fair to go looking for one that is.

Working out which consultancies genuinely give engineers client exposure, rather than simply describing it well in an interview, isn't always straightforward. That's where knowing how different businesses actually develop their people matters. It's a two-way street. A business worth moving for should be able to show you the platform, not just talk about it, and you should be able to show them what changes when you're in the room.

In a quieter market, a strong CV still matters. But so does being able to show the capability you've built beyond the box your experience might put you in.

If you're weighing up your next move in Structural or Civil Engineering, connect with Luis Andres here.

This piece was contributed to by Luis Andres, Structural and Civil Engineering Recruitment Specialist at Ivory Group.