Partner Article

What does an engineering skills shortage mean for the UK?

Recruiting engineers, IT and technical recruits with the right skills is becoming increasingly difficult for employers. According to Engineering UK, by the time today’s primary school pupils are of working age, the UK will need two million additional engineers. If these roles aren’t filled, it will have a huge impact on the UK economy as the positions will move abroad.

According to research conducted by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), 42% of the companies interviewed said that recent engineering, IT and technical recruits did not meet reasonable expectations for levels of skill. As in previous years, the most serious problems are in recruiting senior staff, particularly for engineering (68%) and recruitment of engineering managers also appears to be a significant challenge (43%).

Engineering is central to securing future economic growth but factors such as skills gaps, shortages of people and an ageing workforce is what many of the UK’s engineering employers are facing. To develop and exploit emerging technologies, it is engineers that will enable UK companies to develop and employing the people they need is the only way we can succeed in these areas.

There are many actions that are being taken in schools and colleges and the IET and the engineering institutions are playing their role in promoting the profession to students and parents. Engineering careers can lead to good salaries and pay for full-time engineers is in the top 30% of UK salaries.

David Milner, one of our area managers has worked at Temp-Team for over 11 years and he’s built up an invaluable network of contacts and applicants. David says, ‘It’s great to see more and more companies considering applicants with the relevant qualifications but who aren’t necessarily in possession of the Company’s specific product knowledge. It’s also great to see more and more companies consider graduates at more of an entry level who are willing to put in the time and effort with new staff members.

‘The days of placing an advert in the local newspaper and expecting to fill key skilled positions this way are gone and in 2013 we placed 231 temporary and permanent engineering staff in the Tyne-Tees region. The need for experience and quality staff keeps on growing and it is vital that a company attracts the best possible candidates which is why Temp-Team recruits and provides the best skilled workers currently available in the marketplace’.

Temp-Team knows the difficulties that companies have in recruiting engineers but our technical division is our highest growth area. If you would like to discuss your companies recruitment needs, please contact us on 0191 493 1188.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Temp-Team .