15 June 2011
Recruiting Trends in Engineering
Mike Astell,
Director, Centrica Energy
Mike Astell has both engineering and business qualifications,
the latter he gained through his MBA study thanks to a hefty
bursary from Sainsbury Management Fellows which champions the idea
of having engineers in board positions because they bring a
multiplicity of skills to these roles.
Mikes' MBA enabled him to transition into senior management
posts where his is responsible for hiring a diversity of staff
including engineers. Mike's view on current recruitment is
that "Engineering recruitment is at a turning point. A major
shift is taking place within graduate recruitment as many
more are seeing engineering as an exciting long term career
choice.
"Our industry has long lamented the fact that large numbers of
talented engineering graduates have not seen their careers in
engineering roles and have been lured by City employers which offer
big incentives and salaries to attract people with strategic,
analytical and project management skills.
"The failure of so many financial institutions has led to the
restructuring of the economy (eg headcount reductions,
divestments) and engineering graduates are starting to look at
things differently. They are exploring engineering roles more
carefully and beginning to appreciate the potential for challenging
careers with long term prospects for advancement.
"This shift in perspective has increased the pool of graduate
talent from which to select the very best engineering graduates,
creating a very competitive market - many graduates are having to
do work placements or part time work to improve their
competitiveness. Now we are recruiting some amazing
graduates; not only in terms of their academic achievements, but
their energy and enthusiasm to contribute to industry.
"And it's not just engineering graduates. The upheaval in the
job market has resulted in a large churn and highly experience
engineers who may have stayed at one firm for a long time, becoming
frustrated at not progressing, have joined the candidate market,
creating even more opportunities for employers to access the best
engineers. This diversion of talent into industry will most
definitely help to rebuild the British economy."
