I am an engineering manager in the consulting engineer business. I do run across cultural nepotism occasionally; but, right now, there is a shortage of good engineering talent.
In my business, money is rarely the issue . . . it is expertise. I have two large engineering firms to draw from, AECOM in the US and Atkins in GB fortunately. In our local group, most of the engineers are around 60 years old. Most of us are systems engineers with communications and transportation experience. We are presently taking in kids right out of school and training them; but, people who have a good work ethic are getting hard to find. There seems to be a prevaling sense of entitlement in this generation.
