Skills shortage or skills mismatch?

28 April, 2016

Would a wiser business decision be to evaluate how long it would take to get a return on that investment from a motivated engineer, learning new skills? Many businesses have become so pre-occupied with the fear of making a mistake in their hiring process; they are missing out on our current highly skilled workforce.

What of the thousands of engineers within the UK oil & gas market, who have seen their whole landscape shift? Which employers across the UK manufacturing sector will be willing to utilise the years of experience that is currently flooding the market? The resources are there, but to take advantage it will take a change in mindset and some forthright decision making.

The responsibility does not lay solely with the employer; if a particular expertise is no longer in demand, applicants need to consider other options. This may mean they have to demonstrate flexibility in their financial demands, in return for new gained skills from future employers.

Foundations in place

Foundations have been put in place at grassroots level to promote engineering within the education sector, so we will have more engineers graduating and forging careers in the segment. However, this alone will not suffice. With the advent of Industry 4.0, there will be an ever present need to re-educate our existing workforce. We must ensure we are optimising the skills we currently have and are continually challenging what our existing engineers can offer. I believe businesses and employees alike must demonstrate confidence and willingness to train and advance our already highly skilled industry. If we do not adapt and react to this evolving and dynamic market, we will inevitably find ourselves lacking on the world stage.