Building Automation - Who's Hiring

May 2020 - This is the first of what will be once-monthly articles for the benefit of both hiring companies and candidates in the world of Building Automation. The goal is to share broad trends, plus some more specific information and advice for all of us, based on what we are seeing around the USA. We'll discuss current hiring activity versus the norm, who is hiring and who is not (regionally or by specific business profile), and how to be proactive in the next month. Why would you consider reading about OUR take on things? We are career Building Automation people who are now recruiters and matchmakers. Our clients are companies run by long-time friends and colleagues from this industry, and the candidates we find do the jobs we used to do ourselves. We live in this industry day-to-day, have done so for years, and have a unique perspective because of the honest conversations we must have with everyone every day.

Current Hiring Activity: This may or may not shock you, but current hiring activity for this specific industry is about 10% of the norm. The common word we hear from our clients is that they are on "pause" at the moment. Even those in the best shape right now are a bit more cautious. Here and there though, we have some remarkably busy clients. The number one hire with these clients is the "Controls Engineer" (and depending on the company, the title can vary to "Project Engineer" or "Application Engineer" as well). Versus a pure hands-on Field Technician or Specialist, it is an individual that can be handed a job from Sales, team up with a field installation person, and make it happen.

Who is Hiring (and Who is Not): Right now, this can vary regionally. If you are watching the news, it simply goes hand in hand with what is being reported about stay-at-home orders and shutdowns. The less dense the population, the more likely right now a contractor is closer to business as usual. The other factor is the profile of the business. By the profile of the business, this could be the balance of new construction contracting versus predictable/repeatable service, or it could be the specific type of customer base they have. Building Automation companies with a significant new construction focus are being hit the hardest of course, where there is a dependence on the job sites being open for multiple (or any) contractors being on site. Those with a more significant service base have more flexibility in sending individuals to client sites, varying the time they go, or altering what's included in service (think online training for client facilities people, software updates and remote tuning vs. on-site maintenance). Not all new-construction-focused contractors are slow though. Those with municipalities, or state and federal clients are quite busy right now for the most part. Healthcare-focused contractors and those doing work with data centers can also find themselves with plenty to do right now. Our energy services clients seem to be the busiest, with ultimate flexibility in scheduling work and subcontractors in the existing buildings, plus that client focus on operational and energy savings that comes with tougher financial times. We are not recession-proof in this industry of course, but a salesperson that has worked across the good and bad years know that the people writing the checks are looking for paybacks versus building more buildings in the challenging times.

How to be Proactive: If you are a Building Automation contractor, you have obvious things to talk about, just figuring out where you can physically work or what can be done remotely. Especially with online training, many are taking advantage of the forced downtime for engineers, programmers, and technicians to complete training they have not had the bandwidth for in the last few years. Regarding remote work, companies that have not previously dialed in their capabilities with remote meetings are figuring it out, plus strategizing about how it will remain as part of their best practices. For the healthiest and most growth-focused clients of ours they are watching closely to predict a more fully active business environment, then making key hires out in front of it. It is not easy to predict, but those that make the first moves will find some great, experienced individuals currently "on the bench". One company is predicting being able to do 90% of their normal business, one way or another, by mid-July. We are working to make two key application engineers / programmer hires here in May, get them trained, then have them ready to contribute after the Fourth of July weekend.

Each month, we will do an update here on LinkedIn. Everything is indicating our own controls-focused recruiting business will 40% of normal after the July 4th Holiday. We are predicting it will be 75% of normal after Labor Day. It is not optimism or pessimism, but just the realism based on feedback from about twenty clients and dozens of candidates (currently employed or not). Hiring activity goes hand-in-hand with optimism, proactive growth efforts and the "rising tide floating all boats" of course. Hopefully, we will give everyone here some forecasting help as things change (or not) with our own recruiting and placement success.

We welcome any feedback here! This is one company's take on the Building Automation / Energy Management / HVAC Controls Industry, and we are always interested in what we hear from our friends and colleagues out there.