Why your engineering vacancy has been open for 3 months
If your engineering vacancy has been open for more than eight weeks and you have not made an offer, the problem is almost certainly within your control. Here are the most common reasons roles stall, and what to do about each one.
The salary is below market
A below-market salary is the single most common reason an engineering vacancy stays open past eight weeks. A mechanical design engineer with five years of experience and SolidWorks proficiency now earns £44,000 to £48,000 across Yorkshire and the North West, so an advertised £40,000 to £44,000 is invisible to the right candidates. Benchmark against live placement data, not job boards.
This is the most common reason. It is also the one most hiring managers resist hearing.
KPMG and REC data from early 2026 confirms what we see on the ground: engineering is one of the only sectors showing consistent growth in permanent placement demand. That means candidates have genuine choice. If your salary band was set eighteen months ago and has not been reviewed, it is likely already below what comparable roles are paying now.
A concrete example: a mechanical design engineer with five years’ experience and SolidWorks proficiency is currently earning £44,000 to £48,000 across Yorkshire and the North West. If your job ad says £40,000 to £44,000, you are not getting shortlisted on their radar, let alone their application.
The fix is straightforward but uncomfortable: benchmark against live placement data, not job boards. Job board data lags reality by three to six months. Talk to a specialist who can tell you what comparable roles actually closed at last quarter.
The job description is written for an HR system, not a candidate
Most engineering job descriptions are a list of requirements assembled to satisfy an ATS or a procurement process. They do not answer the question a candidate actually asks, which is: “Why would I leave my current job for this one?”
Candidates want to know what they will be working on, who they will be working with, and what changes for them in two years if they perform well. Generic bullet points about “a dynamic team environment” and “opportunities for growth” answer none of these questions.
Rewrite the description from the candidate’s perspective. Name the product line, the project, or the technology stack they will be working with. Give the team size. Be specific about what progression looks like. Cut the list of requirements down to the five that actually matter.
The experience requirements are unrealistic
If you are asking for ten years’ experience in a role that pays £42,000, you are describing someone who already earns £55,000. They will not apply.
Requirements creep happens in every organisation. Each hiring manager adds one more “essential” criterion, the list grows, and eventually the person described does not exist or does not need the job you are advertising.
Go through the job description and mark each requirement as genuinely essential or simply preferable. Then cut the preferable list entirely, or move it to a clearly labelled “nice to have” section. You will double your qualified applicant pool without changing anything else.
The interview process is too slow
An engineering interview process running beyond three weeks or an offer approval taking longer than 48 hours is the second most common reason vacancies stall. Strong candidates in 2026 typically have two or three live processes running simultaneously, and a three-week internal approval delay after a final interview consistently loses them to faster competitors.
The best engineering candidates in 2026 typically have two or three live processes running simultaneously. If your process involves an application form, a telephone screen, a technical assessment, a first interview, a second interview, and then a two-week decision period, you will lose candidates between stages.
We have seen clients lose strong candidates because their internal approval process took three weeks after a final interview. The candidate accepted elsewhere. That role then stayed open for another six weeks.
The fix: compress your process to three stages maximum. A brief initial conversation, a technical interview, and an offer. If you need a second technical opinion, bring both technical stakeholders into the same interview. Make a verbal offer within 48 hours of the final stage. Follow up in writing within 24 hours of that.
What does a good hiring process look like?
Roles that fill quickly share a few characteristics. The salary is at or above market. The job description is specific and honest. The process moves in under three weeks from first contact to offer. And the hiring manager can articulate clearly why this role is worth taking.
None of these require a larger budget or a longer process. They require better decisions earlier.
Our engineering sector page has more context on current market conditions. If you want to discuss a specific vacancy that has stalled, talk to us about our approach to engineering recruitment.