Up to 5,000 job vacancies in Britain’s automotive industry could be vacant due to the skills shortage affecting the sector, claims a new report published by the Automotive Council.
The report, developed by SMMT Industry Forum for the Automotive Industrial Partnership, surveyed British-based automotive firms to identify the areas of employment most difficult to recruit, and provide the means for industry and government to tackle the skills issue. Just under a fifth (19%) of unfilled vacancies cited in the report are identified as ‘critical’ and having a significant impact on company operations.
Automotive companies are struggling to fill a range of engineering positions, with roles for design and production engineers being particularly difficult to fill. Consequently, companies are hiring temporary contractors and increasingly recruiting from abroad.
For vehicle production, 2015 was the best year in a decade with 1.59 million vehicles built, and volumes are forecast to reach an all-time record two million by 2020. The UK also achieved notable success in productivity levels, which have increased 40% since 2010 to make UK labour productivity the highest in Europe.
According to the report, this success could be undermined by the lack of skilled engineers to fill new jobs, despite efforts made by companies to increase training and apprenticeships.
“The automotive industry has already invested heavily in apprenticeships and training for existing staff to grow and develop a new generation of skilled workers,” said Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive. “However, even more support is needed. The struggle to fill vacancies is holding back growth and opportunities for business, and it is essential that both government and industry work together quickly to identify ways to plug this gap. Future schemes must focus on quality not just quantity – and more support is needed to promote STEM subjects in schools.”
In addition to the new personnel needed, there are also many new training requirements due to the adoption of new automotive technologies in the industry. According to the report, 71 different types of learning are required for more than 20,000 people working in the industry – 15% of whom have an immediate need for new training. The most critical training requirements are in lean manufacturing, advanced problem solving and tool making.
Real work Engineering in industry isn’t something you can learn in a few years of 30 hours a week, 30 weeks a year, from a few academics who have rarely worked in the environment. I’ve worked on blue chip projects for 20 years, and am still learning every day.
Companies need to accept they have to train to their requirements. Even transferring experienced engineers between projects or businesses requires training investment.
There isn’t a shortage of Lawyers, Accountants, Actuaries, and IT bods? Why? Pay and Training. This is where engineering (companies and the associations*) falls short.
*Want a days training with the IMechE? That’ll be a grand please. They even seem to think this is good value… If affordable courses were available (and locally, birdcage walk isn’t very convenient for most industrial locations) I am sure people would self fund.
The existing arrangement of schools and universities directed and funded by government needs a radical re-think.
I think the time is here for consortia of firms, research institutes, charitable and social trusts etc. to take not only the running and operation of schools out of the state’s hands but also curriculum setting.
This isn’t to say there’s no space for local authorities and the state but it seems to me that secondary and tertiary education is failing quite miserably to prepare students for the world of work and adapt courses etc. to the needs of both society and industry.
No facets of engineering is easy, and it is what makes up the heavy industry, hence to learn /study it is more challenging than law or accountancy. I chose engineering when I was young but, as faith had it back in the late 80s early 90s, slowly it was frowned upon as a low profile profession. The only degrees well received, even as we speak, were in psychology, accountancy, law (I had many invitations received to do such courses) but I did not because I still like engineering. And, as far as I’m concerned, without engineering our living standards sooner or later will start to decline. So, engineering is still the only way to go for us and our children!
After spending 30 years in the automotive industry, I have walked away from the industry and become a HGV Truck driver earning the same if not more money than mechanics / technicians / service or fleet managers. From being apprentice trained as a motor mechanic back in the mid 80’s till last year being in “middle” management, there has been and will always be a stagnation in the level of growth from the tools to senior management. Wages have not changed much for middle managers, as the guys on the tools are catching up to the same pay level. This is because of the shortage of technicians, and us starting our 50’s age group are moving on! Most of us qualified mechanics who are ambitious and want to climb the ladder of success are constantly fighting the older generation, who are “cemented” in their senior roles as there is no where else for them to grow or go.
It seems they need to train apprentices. In the 80s, when I started my apprenticeship, we were 900 apprentices in our company where a total of 9000 worked. That was corporate social responsibility long before the buzzword existed.
This is a common complaint, as though the entire education system should be geared up to produce fully qualified and competent workers for every single industry in large quantities! What about people who train for and gain skills, yet places are not available? Education gives people core skills and competencies, it is up to specific industries to train their staff in the skills and processes that suit those organisations. Clearly many companies expect to pull people in already trained and competent, so who does the basic training? All they end up doing is poaching people from one company to another, and complaining that there aren’t enough to go round. They end up encouraging immigration to meet these perceived shortfalls, taking skilled people away from their own host countries leaving an increasingly large pool of indiginous underskilled people to be supported by the benefit system, and then complain abouth high taxes! If companies took a more proactive approach to upskilling local staff then the issue would reduce if not disappear.
The problem is the interview process and how universities prepare candidates for interview. There are plenty of graduates out there, but they cannot get past the interview process to the real engineers to interview them, and the companies are not prepared to take graduates and train them. We then get people with the potential skills ending up in unskilled jobs and disillusioned with the whole system.
Looks like the real skill shortage is in HR departments.
I am a recent automotive engineering graduate and have been finding it extremely difficult to get my foot in door as they say. What everyone has mentioned above is completely true, too often when I am applying for jobs I see requirements for graduates to have so and so amount of experience in the industry, but how does someone fresh out of university get the experience and training when almost all the companies out there won’t hire you unless you already do? This is a major fault in the industry today that needs to be looked. I am now in a job where my skills and knowledge are going to waste and stuck with an excessive debt.
DH -sadly, as throughout history, you, as a young person, have been conned. Not quite as badly as those ‘sent to kill (or be killed by) a generation of other young men’: but just as hurtfully. Who did this?
Those who persuaded you
that ‘learn more, means earn more’
that persuaded you to morgage your future (grants and loans) for your present situation: debt and dispair? and few if any real prospects in your choosen field
that the future belongs to brave, bold, blessed…[As presently constituted it belongs to clerks.
Who are these persons? Those whose livelihoods depend on the conflict, not its outcome: and who have insulated themselves completely from the pressures of capitalism, market forces and democracy. Think about it?
Mike B
I’ve been fortunate enough to work with a foot in the aerospace and automotive sectors. I have noticed in the last few years that there have been some huge projects and this has driven an increase in demand for engineers. Unfortunately the engineering sector is ageing and despite a lot of graduates coming through there is a significant issue with recruiting experienced people around 30-45. There just aren’t enough out there. Pay has been rising hugely in this sector recently but some companies haven’t been keeping up with others. Innovation is the key to survival and innovators will go to jobs that offer the most intellectual stimulus and salary.
There is a lot to gain in new manufacturing sectors that are beginning to boom such as additive manufacturing. These offer big opportunities to develop new skills and IP for the next manufacturing boom. Those companies that fail to adapt will fail to succeed in the future.
Andy
Where are these jobs…? I “cut my teeth” at AWE in the 90s – MOD Multi-skilled Engineering apprenticeship, specialising as a Mechanical Engineer – and then as a Design Engineer in the – well – ‘aerospace’ field.
I have a huge list of successes both in Engineering and in the coporate Environ, and I cannot find a role.
IMHO, it appears that the gatekeepers and the keyholders have changed. Where you used to contact direct or walk-in and meet, this is now discouraged. You have so-called “professional reruiters” straight out of Uni studying their Arts degree (No offence intended…citing a friend who did exactly this) and start working at a recruitment agency in complex fields with a half-day’s specialist training. The other side is professional HR people who are recruiting against a spec they do not necessarily understand.
I have sent out now – in the last 4-5 years – over 4000 applications for roles…ONLY those I am capable of walking into at a competent, professional level. From all of those application I have had one interview (petrochem structural role). When the interview went in the direction of how to do the role, I started to explain the critical calculations required to ensure safety…the interviewers (both Directors) looked at each other, laughed and one said…”The guy we’re replacing just used 100mm legs on the gantry because we had them in stock…we’ve never had a problem”. They had NEVER undertaken a single documented calculation on the designs.
With – this year – 25 years in Engineering or engineering related roles, and the 25 years of CPD and keeping up with industry and technological trends, you’d think I’d be valuable to someone….instead I’m working as a self employed Electrician (don’t panic, i retrained), and even struggle to get work like that…
My heart’s in Design (if I’m honest, I am damn good at it too!), my skills Mechanical, I’m ATEX trained (during my apprenticeship) – explosives too, experience in R&D, personal interests in Aerodynamics, greentech, forensic engineering, 300 points into an MEng (my HNC was too old to count, otherwise it would be complete by now!), former DV holder, the list can go on and on…
…If anyone knows a company recruiting and struggling to find candidates, please do post…or email directly (I don’t know if this breaks the rules…but…) – gbreid@btinternet.com
As an HR/Talent Managemet expert some possible ways to address the skills shortages –
• Pay – Entry level pay is not as high as in other professional sectors.
• Training – What training opportunities are available within the profession? This is essential in Law, Medicine, Accountancy, etc. Why not in engineering? Whilst training is available to engineers if they are prepared to pay for it themselves, what do companies offer their employees?
• Up-skilling – is it really that difficult for a say a mechanical engineer with strong skills in one sector to move across into the automative industry utilizing his engineering skills?
• Routes to entry – currently apprenticeships/graduates – what about training existing staff with potential sought?
• As well as universities – work more with other learning institutions schools and colleges
• Encourage teams of all ages to work together – an experienced engineer is valuable to any company but so is someone young and enterprising with fresh ideas.
• Invest in training and development so you have an on-going talent pool within your business.