Everett recruitment firm helps businesses find engineers

Published 1:30 am Monday, November 21, 2016

Got an engineer?

Engineers are on the list of the top 10 hardest jobs to fill, even with the recent emphasis in getting students interested in STEM careers. For smaller, local companies participating in the upswing in the aerospace and other industries, it’s especially challenging to find engineers to meet the growing demands of their customers.

That is where an Everett recruiting firm, Enginuity Advantage, comes in. Enginuity Advantage recruits many different types of engineers, from civil and industrial to aerospace and environmental.

Enginuity was founded in 2008 in the heart of the recession. The two founders, Kelly Hatfield and April Taylor, had extensive experience with a large, franchised staffing firm. They decided to take that experience and create a firm that would do a better job of serving clients. Hatfield and Taylor survived the recession, and their company is now thriving as an important connector between small to mid-size firms and engineering talent.

I recently met with Kelly Hatfield to discuss her experience building their business. She shared some lessons that would help any new entrepreneur.

Q. What were your biggest challenges when you first started Enginuity Advantage?

A. We started Enginuity Advantage in the depths of the recession. Companies were not hiring and our business is recruiting, so needless to say, it was tough. It taught us how to be resourceful, creative and it was the best training ground to develop grit and resilience, which are critical to both entrepreneurship and leadership.

Q. What strategies do you use to market your business?

A. Our business has primarily been built on referrals. We’re focused on a positive outcome and doing right by our clients and that has served us well. That being said, about a year and a half ago, we hired a business developer and put together a structured marketing and sales strategy and that has proven very effective.

Q. What is most stressful about running your business? How do you suggest minimize that?

A. I think managing your psychology as an entrepreneur is key. There are so many components to running a business and it’s easy to get overwhelmed. It’s important to have an organized and focused way that you go through your day and manage your time, otherwise your day can get away from you quickly without you having achieved your vital priorities.

Q. What failures have taught you the most and why?

A. The word failure is not part of our vocabulary. Failure would have been to not start our businesses to begin with. Instead, we look at setbacks as a way to grow and improve.

Anytime something doesn’t go as expected, we evaluate the situation and look for the lessons. We ask ourselves “How could we have gotten a better result?” Hindsight being 20/20, were there signs along the way that would have indicated this outcome? We analyze, we learn and then we carry it on to the next venture or situation.

Most of the time, a setback is a way of showing you the path to greater success. You just have to be open to being brutally honest and owning it so that you can see gifts that come with things not going your way. We are firm believers that we’re on this entrepreneurial journey for a reason and that things are unfolding and showing up exactly as they’re supposed to.

Pat Sisneros is vice president of College Services at Everett Community College and former small business owner. Please send your comments to psisneros@everettcc.edu.