In my previous Thoughts From the Road blog, I wrote about the value of apprentices when recruiting at entry level, this pairs nicely with another market trend which seems to touch a nerve every time I mention it. Resources, or more specifically, the lack of resources.
I have lost count of the number of times that System Integrators say they are capacity constrained and find it difficult to attract new recruits of the right calibre. They found that automation graduates (Elec, Software, Process etc) expect above market wages to help them justify, and pay off, student loans they took out to put themselves through university.
Plus, they aspire to work for multinational corporations like Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Apple that offer eye-watering starting salaries, vegan snack bars, and other innovative perks. This is despite fierce competition for limited openings.
An alternative solution is to either recruit from an existing resource pool, import talent from overseas or to “pay for experience” in a market where it's not easy to come by.
As an SME in the automation market, or even a big Enterprise integrator, it’s often difficult to compete.
We see the future solution to be apprentices. If you want to expand and want neither a journeyman engineer or to cough up for a steep wage demand from a postgraduate with no real-world experience, then apprenticeships are the answer.
Many of you are already well down this road and reaping the rewards of this decision.
We at SolutionsPT certainly are! Our young apprentices are very adept at quickly adopting new technology and offer long-term investments for the future of many System Integrators.
If you have already embraced the apprentice route and have any apprentices who need “levelling up”, then give the Partner team a shout. We have just revamped our Cheadle training facility with state-of-the-art technology to enhance the learning environment.
We offer both classroom-based and virtual training courses for the full range of AVEVA products, and we also now offer Network and Cyber Security courses designed specifically for Automation engineers, check out our website for the full list.
Catch you in the next one.
Ian Kilner
Partner Manager for SolutionsPT
For more information about our next generation technologies please get in touch.
