Overcoming Recruitment Challenges in Utility Engineering

The Client

Our client is a leading multidisciplinary engineering firm specializing in engineering, design, construction management, construction materials inspection and testing and environmental professional services.

The Challenge

The client faced significant challenges due to the absence of a local internal hiring team, which hindered their ability to quickly onboard candidates with utility-specific experience. Reliance on referrals or the need to train inexperienced individuals slowed their growth. Additionally, the increasing Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) contractual spend by 5-7% annually for the nation’s largest utility company forced the client to outsource work to diverse firms or find creative ways to capture spend. This often resulted in a lack of control over designs – leading to re-work, overpayments and delays in submittals.

Without a solution, the client was missing out on opportunities and market share. Competing engineers of choice, with their strategic hiring and larger headcounts, posed a threat to the client. Additionally, hiring experienced talent that could make an immediate impact was difficult due to tight labor market conditions.

The Actalent Solution

Actalent’s strategic partnership with Populus Group, a staffing and recruiting company, enabled the provision of diverse spend credit, aligning with the DBE initiative. This collaboration was essential in meeting the contractual requirements set by the nation’s largest utility company. Actalent was chosen for our strong local recruiting presence and together with Populus Group, we presented a comprehensive joint solution.

The primary goals Actalent aimed to achieve for the client were to increase their overall diversity spend and meet hiring quotas to scale with customer demand. To support these objectives, Actalent’s recruiters, who had a deep understanding of the client and the industry, utilized advanced recruiting software to organize and identify suitable professionals. They also established a talent pipeline through local community colleges, which was crucial in training and developing new skilled designers for the utility workforce.

By providing diverse spending credit, Actalent helped the client meet their goals and service-level agreements on projects for multiple utility companies. This solution enabled the client to add internal headcount, train and develop new drafters and designers, and maintain oversight of deliverables without fully outsourcing the capabilities.

The Results

The impact of this project has been significant to multiple dimensions. Actalent and Populus Group’s solution has successfully placed capable talent who have enhanced efficiencies within the design space for utility reliability, capital improvement and new service projects. The talent placed has directly led to more reliable power in our geographic area, stabilized utility bills and improved capital infrastructure, benefiting the entire community.

This organic growth and skill enhancement have positioned our client as a dependable partner for Maryland’s largest gas and electricity utility services. As many utilities face the challenge of losing key employees to retirement, our client has been able to rely on a steady influx of skilled designers, reducing the need for outsourcing. Notably, we have achieved 154 total placements since 2017, maintained a 100% fill to ratio for five consecutive years and captured $8.3 million in diverse spend since 2017.