Future-proof your talent strategy

The #space #economy grew at the fastest rate in years to over $450 billion in 2021 and is expected to reach $1 trillion in revenue by 2040 with manufacturing, #launch services and #ground equipment making up the majority of the growth in the #satellite sector. However the fastest growth rate is expected to come from #NewSpace #applications and industries with revenues to rise to over $100 billion by #2040.

This is all well and good however from a #talent perspective how do we keep pace?

I’ve been recruiting globally into the space sector for around 15 years. In this time I’ve placed many C-Level executives and helped to build from the ground up numerous satellite operators and dozens of #NewSpace ventures around the world, as well as placing many space #engineers / #scientists into the space agencies across #Europe. During this time I have never seen such a talent #shortage as we see today. In this article I’m going to briefly cover how #HR #leaders should try and #future-proof your #talent #strategy by being proactive rather than reactive.

Over the last decade I’ve spoken with many CEO’s / CFO’s who have said raising capital was seamlessly easy compared to recruitment. Let’s be honest, if you’re a new venture, you think everyone will come and work for you, why wouldn’t they? You’re a cool new company, new innovation, you give unlimited holiday, free fruit, finish early on a Friday and just a generally trendy company to work for. This is where the shock comes in when you start to struggle to attract people; there are hundreds of other new ventures doing exactly the same or similar to you. Even many of the corporations are having to follow suit in order to retain their talent.

Unless you’re one of the heavily backed ventures which have deep pockets, you won’t be able to compete on salaries as it’s just unsustainable. Many SME’s in the industry who have been established for 20+ years are struggling to attract talent which is why they are choosing to outsource their #recruitment functions to specialist space recruitment firms who not only have the network but can also help with the long term strategy of talent attraction. Many of the major primes who have large framework agreements with the space #agencies are also fighting it out between themselves for minimal margins. So it doesn't matter where you are in the supply chain, you will certainly face your own challenges when it comes to talent attraction.

Why is there suddenly a talent shortage?

If we look back to last year, space #infrastructure companies received $14.5 billion of private investment, a new annual record that was up more than 50% from 2020. That includes a record-setting fourth quarter, which brought in $4.3 billion thanks to "mega-rounds" of $250 million or more by Sierra Space , SpaceX and Planet .?Okay, I don’t think that record will be beaten in 2022 however with so much investment, in which every company needs to scale quickly, where do we find all of this talent?

We’ve seen a huge rise in the need for #cloud engineers, seeing six figure salaries for people with as little as three or four years experience however space #system engineers with ten years experience are on lower salaries, how can that be? ?

I currently lead a strong talent acquisition team across #Europe who are placing the very best #software and #hardware engineers into the space sector. We have seen purely through our Statement of Works with our #RPO customers that our recruiters have to approach up to ten times more candidates than they were doing in 2021.

For some positions it’s now the norm to contact over two hundred candidates to fill one position. Of course remote working has recently come into the mix over the last few years due to COVID-19. Some employers have embraced the remote/hybrid working style, some have not. This means from a candidate perspective (especially within software engineering) they can pick and choose where they want to work because they are inundated with offers.

Pipeline Candidates

Future planning for your business is hard because the goal posts change all the time, what was priority recruitment may get put on hold because of a supply chain issue, or funding, however usually you should know each year what headcount you need, where in the business takes priority, how hard it is to source those positions and what lead time you require to get those people onboard.

This is where #pipelining your future talent comes in, sourcing for positions six to twelve months ahead of time. Being reactive will evidently cost your business money as I’m sure most businesses have had first-hand experience where for a key hire it can take up to six months or longer to get the right person onboard. If you get that recruitment wrong then that will cost your business a lot of money. So why are so many companies not building pipeline's of candidates for future business needs? Generally the answer is because their current internal recruitment team do not have the capacity to do so, they are usually already swamped with requirements and struggling to find people in an already highly competitive market.

Any space recruiter will tell you, this is currently a candidate lead market and if you blink the candidate is gone. This is not going to go away for the foreseeable future so it’s critical that internally you are on top of your game. Your hiring managers are inline with your internal recruitment processes, the time-frames are short and being kept too, the offer process and on-boarding is smooth and enjoyable for the prospective employee.

Due to the pressurised environments we find ourselves working in, it can easily seem transactional when approaching candidates or even sending them offers because you’re under pressure to hit the numbers the business requires. A lot of senior executives do not get involved in recruitment so do not see the day to day talent shortage that say us recruiters see. Sometimes recruitment is even looked down on in certain people’s eyes however without recruitment you have no business. I would go as far to say your recruiters are not far down the ladder from the CFO in terms of importance to the business.

Due to the importance of talent many companies are #outsourcing their #recruitment through an #RPO model which means they can upscale or downscale as and when the business needs. This is a simple solution that takes the pressure of your internal recruitment team and still allows for rapid growth as and when you need. By all means check out this video on the #RPO Serco Space Services - Europe Careers offer our customers involved in the space sector.

Invest

Invest in a good #ATS system and a decent talent acquisition team that will be the face of your organisation. A good ATS system will allow you to create hotlists and pipeline candidates for future opportunities within the business. Recruiters can not do it alone, they also need help from HR, help from marketing to get brand exposure, so people see the business as one they want to join.

#Diversity, #Equality and #Inclusion is also just as important, do companies invest enough time in this area. Many of the large corporations will now have a dedicated division within their HR department that are focused on DE&I. Do smaller companies see this as a luxury and added cost or do they feel it’s important enough to hire someone dedicated to DE&I.

I’m fortunate enough to work for Serco group where we believe there is a place here for everyone. Diversity & Inclusion at Serco is based on a culture where every voice is heard and every employee feels valued. Working together as one team, we can enhance the experience of our people and teams, improve the value of our solutions to better serve the missions of our customers, and make a difference in our world. Check out our video?below.

Future-proof talent

In a challenging market we understand that everyone is fighting it out for the same talent so here are my top tips on how you should try and future-proof your talent strategy

• Invest in a good Applicant Tracking System (ATS)
• Invest in a strong Talent Acquisition team (If not invest internally then outsource through Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) to a reputable space recruitment firm)
• Pipeline candidates six months ahead of time
• Get your stakeholders buy-in to your talent strategy
• Streamline recruitment process across the business
• Enjoyable candidate experience not transactional
• Strength through Diversity
• Career paths mapped out

Sapienza Consulting is part of the Serco group and is among the leading Space Industry and Services Companies. We have over 40 years’ experience in supporting the space sector: Since the creation of the European Space Agency - ESA (ESA), our employees have been providing everyday their technical, scientific and management skills to support the full range of European cornerstone #space #missions.

If you would like to consider a space career with Serco then please check out this video below. If you would like to discuss outsourcing your recruitment to Sapienza / Serco then please contact me on the contact details at the bottom of the article.

Ian Stammers, Head of Workforce Solutions and RPO Services

[email protected] / [email protected]

Subscribe to our space newsletter