Going for growth

skills
skills

Looking for aerospace talent? Spencer Ogden’s head of aerospace, Chris Taylor reveals how the UK’s aerospace industry can overcome its chronic skills shortage.

The UK does not have enough aerospace engineers. Over half of the UK’s aerospace companies expect to grow by at least 10% over the next 12 months: this is good news, except given the industry’s skills shortage, most employers will be hard-pressed to find the right people to support this growth. In fact, one report found the local aerospace industry to be short by 69,000 engineers – and that’s just taking into account current demand.

This problem won’t be resolved in a few short years as new graduates enter the job market. Not enough students are enrolling in STEM courses and much more needs to be done to overcome this. The small number who do qualify will be in such high demand that the aerospace industry will have to fight other, comparatively more exciting, sectors to attract their attention.

The aerospace industry giants of the UK and the wider world have sat on their laurels for too long and need to realise that the top talent is no longer going to knock on their doors without good reason. These companies need to shake up their hiring practices, get active and go find the skills they need.

Aerospace firms need to acknowledge that new entrants to the workplace are not immediately attracted to aerospace engineering. Not only is there a greater choice of innovative, up and coming industries to work in, the demand for engineering skills across the board is incredibly high. In times like this, the job market favours the candidates and not the prospective employers.

How to attract the best talent

Generous salaries do help, but they’re not the answer - and not just because raising salaries throughout an industry as big as this one would cost millions. The new generation of engineers is attracted to companies that are developing innovative technologies and are not afraid to push boundaries.

Automotive players, for example, are fearlessly testing driverless cars and exploring the possibilities offered by the Internet of Things (IoT) to bring new features and functions to the market as soon as possible.

Chris Taylor, Spencer Ogden’s head of aerospace

Fin tech (Financial technology) is another enthusiastic game-changer. This relatively young industry already generates £20 billion of GDP to the UK economy and directly employs 135,000 people. It’s proven itself as a disruptive and exciting space to work in.

The aerospace industry, by comparison, has slowed down and become increasingly hampered by bureaucracy. When faced with a choice, and remember they do have a choice, ambitious engineering talent will instinctively overlook the company that sticks to antiquated systems and processes in favour of working on ground-breaking technologies that will improve how we live.

The aforementioned issue around STEM skills and the lack of interest in maths and engineering subjects is rooted in the education system and can’t be fixed solely by the private sector. That said, the aerospace industry needs to think long-term and wherever possible to encourage more students to engage with STEM subjects from a young age – as well as consider a career in aerospace. How? Companies must invest in increasing their presence at schools: offer bursaries, participate in career fairs and host open days on their premises for school day trips.

When it comes to recruitment, major companies and smaller players alike need to think innovatively and make a bigger effort when devising their hiring strategies. They shouldn’t rely on their reputation or big salaries to attract the top talent – seek out the skills you need and start building relationships with both active and passive candidates now.

There is more demand for fresh-thinking engineers than ever before; as far as they’re concerned the sky is the limit. Aerospace firms need to ensure that they can be the ones to take them there.

www.spencer-ogden.com

Company

Spencer Ogden

Tags
Related Articles

Monarch expands apprentice numbers

Monarch, a leading UK-based independent airline group, is to increase its intake of apprentices to its Engineering division this year to 22. In addition, it will also increase the number of adult learner traineeships to 12 – giving people already in the job market the opportunity to retrain in aircraft maintenance.
7 years ago News

Train to gain with ProfiTrainer

An advanced training machine designed to raise the skill level of horizontal machining centre operators away from the shopfloor has been introduced by Heller Machine Tools.
6 years ago Products
Most recent Articles

Carter enjoys success at HAI HELI-EXPO event

Acknowledged as the World’s largest vertical aviation conference and trade show, HAI HELI-EXPO 2024 provided precision bearing specialists Carter Manufacturing a perfect opportunity to exhibit its extensive range of aerospace bearing installation, removal and testing tools, along with PMA bearing options.
2 days ago News

Login / Sign up