Engineering a Future!!

2020 has been a struggle for a lot of us. Many have had to lay people off, turnover is down and there is little vision on what is over the horizon.

I am an optimist at heart, and I see a bright future for Engineering and STEM jobs and careers in our area. I think Covid-19 has accelerated the inevitable decline and death of the high street as we know it and it will have to evolve to maintain any relevance going forward. From speaking with many business owners and managers within the Engineering sector it appears that many of us have not had that hard of a time in comparison. There are obviously exceptions.

The job market is changing and there seems to be a great opportunity to restructure people’s opinions on making Engineering the choice for their career. We must act now! We must think about the thousands of students currently in education that are not going to be able to go into retail and hospitality as they once could. We have a duty to our children and the future of our businesses and employees to take advantage of this situation and turn it into a positive.

Most of the world's growing economies are in the ascend as they manufacture…. Not just for their own needs but for everyone else in the world. As these economies become richer and with it, their labour becomes more expensive the tide will turn and manufacturing on our own shores will become more viable again. This will not be any use if we do not have a labour force. If we want to grow, we need to build and manufacture!

Many U.K. companies struggle when a long-serving employee retires. Replacing 30 years plus of on the job experience is almost impossible unless we seriously start now.

What can we do?

We could try to bring back people into engineering that have left to pursue other career paths. But… you must ask yourself why they moved on in the first place.

We could train more people. But… no one in any great number wants to take up engineering as a career even though there is a massive deficit in the number of engineers needed in the U.K. and the number being turned out.

Fundamentally we have an issue… the second option is the most sustainable long term but…. We are letting our children down. Many Educational institutions are simply not selling Engineering as a viable career path and the school system is more concerned about getting as many students to University and maintaining their high success marks for Ofsted rather than look objectively at the job market, people’s needs, and what’s needed in the local area. We were at risk of having a workforce mainly populated by degree qualified fast-food workers and till operators. These should be degree qualified Doctors, Engineers, and Scientists.

I have had first-hand experience with a few educational institutions that seems to have a stubborn determination to promote low skilled courses that are easy to pass and divert many resources to these departments only to have the few growth sector-related courses struggle with materials, staff and promotion.

I openly request that Colleges look closely at where the job markets are shifting and look at what provision you can provide and most importantly look what you should do as a responsible provider who has a massive influence on what young people decide as a career path. Sometimes doing things you do not like is not pleasant, but it is the right thing to do. I feel we are cheating our children out of long, viable careers by not marketing these paths more aggressively. Many of the young people I see have what I call the gift… you can tell by the way they use their hands, solve problems but they have never thought of a career in Engineering or STEM because they don’t know anything about it. So, if every college could have an effort to advertise all their engineering courses then it’s a start.

It would really help if this could be shared.

Question your local education providers about engineering in your area.

Contact me if you or your children might like any advice on an engineering career

Let us make a change in the right direction.