Engineering Skills Shortage Reveals Challenges Of Recruitment In Renewables Market
December 11 2009 - Engineering skills shortages in the Renewables market necessitates recruitment by sourcing of staff
based on transferable talent and enhanced training.
The claim has come from experts at ATA Energy, a division of ATA Recruitment, the UK ’s leading engineering, rail, technical sales and construction recruitment specialists.
Experts at ATA Energy said that they are capable of filling the gaps through encouraging employers in the renewable sector to look within a number of key industry areas during its drive to recruit the best people.
Gary Hewett, Managing Director, ATA Energy, said: "The renewable energy sector is looking towards a future of exponential growth but is facing real challenges in terms of the recruitment of adequately trained staff. The sector will only flourish by adopting a long-term vision for recruiting, retraining and retaining key people.
"Tens of thousands of new jobs are expected to be created across Europe by the expansion of wind farms alone. Indeed, Lord Hunt,
the UK ’s Energy and Climate Minister, announced that up to 70,000 new jobs would be created in the wind industry just within the UK . Given these
figures, the pan-European workforce will be huge."
"With wind power, solar power, nuclear energy, wave power and many other emerging new technologies coming into the equation it is widely recognised that the renewable sector is suffering a skills shortage."
ATA Energy is urging renewable companies to retrain engineers with the aptitude and attitude from other sectors to help plug the skills gap.
"If we look towards traditional sectors such as power generation, transmission and distribution, oil and gas, construction, civil engineering, utilities, telecoms, defence and aerospace as well as to the Armed Forces, we can find a huge pool of highly skilled talent," adds Gary Hewett.
"Some of these engineers and technicians will be well placed to readily transfer their skills to the renewable energy sector. The problem lies in having the knowledge to recognise those that are genuinely transferable, against those that simply have the desire."
"When done successfully, bringing these people into the green energy sector will enable its continued rapid growth. It is the only way that we are going to be able to bridge the skills gap until the next generation of specifically trained renewable energy engineers comes through."
It is also vital for organisations to monitor existing staff with regular appraisals to develop their teams to maintain a happy and motivated workforce.
Gary Hewett says: "Retaining current staff and new recruits should also be high on the list of priorities of all employers in the renewable energy sector. It’s a crucial time to monitor staff to ensure their continued performance and wellbeing It’s of little benefit to recruit highly skilled individuals if they soon become disillusioned or discontent and so leave."
"Employers must ensure their career development aspirations are met so that they remain motivated and in post. At the recruitment stage it is therefore vital to understand exactly what the candidate is looking for from the immediate role as well as their longer term career ambitions."
ATA has suggested that failing to continue to invest in recruiting and training graduates during the recession, will leave companies languishing during the recovery period and spending billions to catch up with competitors."
Gary Hewett continued: "In other energy sectors, previous recessions have taught us that those who slash investment in recruitment are left with an aging workforce dictating the market and the conditions of employment, commanding high salaries on a contract basis. This has bred a culture where young talented engineers chase short term high value contract roles, which has cost the oil and gas sector dearly and is a lesson from which the renewable sector should learn.
"A standardised system of safety accreditation and training is also worth looking into, helping make the sector more attractive to potential employees. For the renewables sector to remain attractive, it needs to preserve its reputation for safeguarding its workers, potentially within a regulatory framework.
"In essence, the future growth potential for renewables is bright but not without its challenges in recruiting adequately skilled staff. But by taking a long-term view and working together we can make the UK the world leader in the emerging renewable technologies."
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