Grand Rapids engineering, architectural firm creates 33 new positions

By: Deborah Johnson Wood

Despite the struggling economy, Grand Rapids’ Fishbeck, Thompson, Carr & Huber hired 33 employees last year—all to fill newly-created positions in the Grand Rapids office. While many of the positions were for architects and environmental scientists, the majority were for engineers.

Jim Susan, senior vice president, says the quest to fill positions with qualified civil, mechanical and structural engineers has been all but impossible.

“Over the last several years there’s been strong demand for engineers throughout the country,” says Susan. “In some areas, like the southwest and Florida, the growth has been robust and the need for new infrastructure and roadways has been so great engineers have been migrating to those areas. In Michigan, growth hasn’t been so robust and in general we’ve seen a migration [of engineers] out of the state.”

Part of the difficulty is that FTC&H engineers need more than excellent engineering skills—they also need the people skills to develop meaningful relationships with clients. The result is that when the company finds the right person, they hire them and worry about placing them on jobs later.

“When we find individuals who can fill a need near-term we bring them on with the idea that we can find the work for them,” Susan says.

FTC&H has three other offices in Lansing, Farmington Hills and Cincinnati, Ohio. Some 240 of its 360 employees work out of the Grand Rapids office. The firm still has job openings as a result of some employees retiring.

As for predictions on hiring trends in the coming year?

“We don’t have any more of a crystal ball than anybody else,” Susan says. “We’re cautiously optimistic that we’ll hold our own and even grow a little bit, but we’re not immune to the challenges every other business is dealing with.”

Source: Jim Susan, Fishbeck, Thompson, Carr & Huber

Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].