The tight technical labour market: what you can do about it as an employer

Maintenance technician, electromechanic, project engineer: for years technical roles have topped the Belgian bottleneck profession lists, and nothing points to a quick turnaround. The pool isn't getting bigger. The difference is made by employers who adapt their approach instead of fishing harder in the same water.

The first lever is your requirements list. Vacancies for bottleneck profiles often demand a degree, ten years of experience, three languages and experience with exactly your machine park. Every requirement that isn't a real must halves your candidate pool. Ask for every line: can we teach this, or does it really have to be there on day one?

The second is training as a recruitment strategy. Whoever trains a motivated career switcher from an adjacent sector, a school leaver or an operator with technical aptitude builds more loyal employees than whoever only looks for ready-made experience. It takes a mentor, a plan and patience, but it's often faster than a vacancy that stays open for a year.

The third lever is your appeal to those not actively looking. The biggest part of technical talent is employed and doesn't apply, but is open to a better story: more interesting technology, clear growth, transparent pay. You don't reach those people with a job site, but with a targeted, personal approach. That's exactly our daily work: we know the technicians and engineers who would move tomorrow for the right story, even if they haven't ticked 'job seeking' anywhere today.