There are some quests where second best might be acceptable. Finding an engineer to work for your company is not one of them. Whether you're in building and construction, software development, or automotive, the engineer position is a key to all of your operations, the main reason why you will either put out the quality or sub-par products. Support positions around the engineer in manufacturing or distribution can be filled with almost anyone, but the man or woman responsible for developing new products and making sure everything works properly and efficiently is one of a kind.
How do you attract a top engineer to your company? You could go to the well and get one right out of school, but that's always a gamble. You could also do a massive recruitment drive, but you'll need state-of-the-art hiring software engineer to do that. Your best bet is a combination of the two, combined with some word of mouth advertising and networking within your respective field. Both will pay dividends. If nothing else, they'll keep you plugged into what's going on in your industry.
Webster's defines the term engineer as someone who plans, constructs, or manages. What they do that to will be industry and even company-specific, so the term is used very generally by recruiters and human resource managers. Only you know what the responsibilities of your engineer will be, so take some time to create a thorough job description before you start the recruiting process. You may even find that the person you're looking for is right under your nose in the office, just waiting to be promoted to get his or her shot. Going that route will save you a whole lot in recruiting costs.
Should you decide to recruit outside your company, a professional headhunter might be the solution for you. They have their own hiring software to do the job with, along with some really cool recruiting software. You could hire them to handle the search for you, but you'll have to interview the candidates yourself to make sure the final choice is the right person for the job. A human resource department inside your company provided with the same technology and software a headhunter has would do a better job. Why? No one knows your company better than someone who already works there.
Social networking has also become a useful tool in the recruitment process. You're not likely to find an engineer on Facebook, but you can view plenty of qualified candidates on Linked In and other professional networks. If you want the very best in your field, you'll need to do some research and utilize all the tools available to you. Make sure you know exactly what you're looking for, install some recruiting or hiring software to keep track of it all, and you'll have a much larger pool of candidates to choose from. That's how you'll find that top engineer that you need to be the leader in your industry.