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With skills shortages impacting many industry sectors, it’s time for businesses to think differently about their recruitment approach – NRL Director Rebecca Graves tells in-Cumbria business magazine In-Cumbria business magazine.
In sectors such as nuclear and renewable energy, new technological and engineering advances are causing a disconnect between skills needed and availability within the direct talent pool. For specialist engineering recruiters NRL, who have over 40 year’s expertise, it’s a situation they’re all too familiar with – and one that director Rebecca Graves believes requires businesses to adopt a more strategic talent acquisition plan.
“The future of our industrial sectors lies not just in the technologies we develop, but in the people who’ll make them a reality. To meet the demands of the future, we must rethink how we attract, develop, and retain talent.”
Identifying transferrable skills
One strategy is to identify core competencies that are common across different sectors. For instance, project management, analytical reasoning, and critical thinking are universally valued skills that can be adapted to various industry sectors. By prioritising these skills during the recruitment process, companies can attract experienced professionals who, while new to the specific industry, bring a wealth of knowledge and expertise that can be refined, whilst providing a fresh perspective.
Paying attention to diversity and inclusion
If those roles that are difficult to fill have primarily been held by men, for example, consider why that is. Are their barriers that you haven’t necessarily noticed, or changes that can be made to make the discipline more accessible to women? If you have an ageing workforce, do you have a training programme in place to recruit people leaving education, with on-the-job training to teach them the profession? Where you are advertising your roles also plays a part in how many candidates you’ll attract. Factors such as these may unintentionally narrow down the talent pool.
Creating opportunities to upskill
Mentor and training programmes are a powerful way to attract new people into industry sectors, whilst providing opportunities to upskill. These can also be beneficial when used within your existing organisation to support career development. It’s crucial to spend time identifying people who are already working in your company who are interested in progressing into more technical roles. Those in junior or administrative positions may not realise that support is available for them to upskill their knowledge and grow their career.
If you’d like to discuss how NRL can help your business bridge skills gaps, then reach out to Rebecca Graves at rgraves@nrl.co.uk
You can read the full August issue of In-Cumbria business magazine online.