Throughout the world there have been various employment-based demographic shifts, the most common being engineering related.
In the not-too-distant past school leaving males gravitated towards engineering disciplines, simply because it was expected, and then on a large scale it just stopped, and a return in vast numbers, at least for now, seems unlikely.
The reasons for the cessation are numerous, here are a few:
- IT became very popular, a lucrative area to operate in
- De-nationalisation
- Physically demanding work
- Scrapping of apprenticeship schemes
- Unattractive salary levels
On the corporate side, cyclical changes are common and normal. This means opportunities in certain engineering disciplines is healthy, still manpower problems remain.
Skills Provision specialise in sourcing suitable engineers, with emphasis on the word ‘suitable’.
We consider ourselves different to other agencies, and not because we operate internationally, more because we have a unique and fresh approach to engineering recruitment.
For starters, we often disregard client instructions, this sounds fairly incendiary, but actually makes perfect sense. Clients provide us with their requirements often without taking into account the bigger picture and legalities, this includes churn, loyalty, stability, flexibility, adaptability and most importantly equality, so we add these factors in ourselves. We are the recruitment experts, it’s what we are good at.
At Skills Provision we have our own unique Client Zone, in here we present a cross section of engineers, those we deem suitable, all supplemented with various forms of benchmark scoring and related comments. We look to cover both genders, various age groups, ethnicity, and where possible disabled workers. Video presentations are also commonplace. We fully understand and appreciate the final choice will always lie with the employer. We are the coaches of this team, not the manager.
The locations covered are related to the availability of engineers. Imagine tossing a pebble into a perfectly still lake. The ripples flowing outwards are indicative of the areas we cover. Starting locally, then nationally and if needed international. Throughout the entire process visa support is available, if needed.
The strongest candidate, on paper, is not necessarily the most suitable. A newly placed engineer making a positive impact in their new surroundings, hardworking and loyal to the company, over a prolonged period of time may have been a young worker, a weak candidate when starting out, but retrospectively turned out to be the perfect choice. In essence we have to be proficient, and we are, at predicting. The more data we collect, and process, the stronger and more accurate our predictions become.
The biggest problem we face is the same for every engineering company and supporting agency, that being the lack of suitable, available workers. We are very creative in our work but make no mistake engineering recruitment is difficult and as time ticks on it will only get tougher.
The answer to these problems is training, retention and incentives.
On a global scale the training and preparation of young workers needs to be factored in otherwise where will the next generation come from? If tackling this problem is left too late, it will become unfixable. Government support and a stronger emphasis on preparing young people for their working life is the answer.
Retention and incentives is a simpler problem to fix, but not an easy one, it requires hierarchy and managers to have the foresight to see where improvements can be made and then actioning.
In summary, there are many problems within engineering recruitment and only if these are tacked head-on, by the right people, with the right motives will positive change be seen.
Peter Arkwright
Head of Online & Data
Skills Provision
