20,000 a Year Shortfall of Engineers and Technically Qualified People - Recruitment News

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The UK’s engineering sector is in desperate need for additional skilled and qualified engineers and unless action is taken the shortage could dramatically impact the UK economy

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Consultant (Yorkshire)

0113 234 6047

In a report published by Engineering UK they stated that, despite the engineering sector playing a key role in the UK economy, there is currently a 20,000 a-year shortfall in engineers and technically qualified people.

Engineering graduates and those in full time engineering careers are well above the national average salary in 2015 with many graduates substantially more than the £22,000 a year average. Yet engineering employers are struggling to find the talent they need.

In a piece for TheEngineer online Rosie Tomlinson, a graduate mission systems engineer for Airbus Defence and Space argued that one of the reasons for the shortage is lack of company awareness. A large number of specialised, small scale and new engineering companies aren't publicly known, therefore both well experienced and graduate engineers are not aware of the job opportunities available to them, she said,

‘If people don’t know which area of engineering they want to go into, they won’t know which companies to apply to and what to put in their applications… Some people apply for the top 10 companies, they don’t get a job so they give up’.

With Brexit looming it is more important than ever that the engineering industry within the UK thrives. The Industry employs nearly 5.7 million people in theUK and contributed £486 billion to UK GDP in 2015. Encouraging young people to pursue engineering whilst protecting those working within companies should be a top priority of government and businesses.

To tackle the increasing employment crisis cooperation is needed between the government, the education system and businesses to commit to improve access to talented individuals and to increase the profile of rising companies. Good recruiters can, and do, play a big part in this process, their far-reaching knowledge of the sectors means they help companies to access the talent they need whilst supporting employees searching for opportunities.

There is no one size fits all solution to the engineer shortage but, with the crisis set to reach to a 211,000 shortfall by 2022, a more pro-active approach is needed quickly.

There are some fantastic job opportunities in the engineering sector and whether you are starting out in the industry or are an experienced engineer, Calibre Search could help you progress in your career.

Currently there is high demand for Engineers in the Yorkshire area. Our job page has the full list of our current vacancies. If you would like to learn more about the new vacancies in Yorkshire or across the UK please get in touch with our Engineering Consultants by calling our Leeds office on 0113 234 6047 or our Manchester office on 0161 660 2360.

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