Addressing the skills crisis

With around 20% of the current UK engineering workforce due to retire over the next three years, coupled with the termination of the EU free movement zone, the sector is facing a generational skills crisis. Years in the making, there is no quick fix. Competition for the best talent is understandably fierce, which is why organisations need a specialist talent ally, like Seymour John.

A flexible search approach

Whether the search is for a graduate or senior leader, we take the same headhunt approach to ensuring you have the right people in the right place at the right time. As a sector specialist, we have access to extensive networks of highly skilled passive talent not just those who are currently ‘available’. We are also able to identify candidates with an aptitude for STEM disciplines and the ability to upskill and make the crossover. In reverse, our search capabilities enable us to tap into a lost generation of engineers who have moved into other sectors, too.

Learning and development

The tide is slowly turning. Progressive companies are partnering with higher education providers, local authorities, and government to take training and development into their own hands. Regional training hubs, R&D partnerships, and an earn-while-you-learn approach to higher education are all beginning to bear fruit, as are initiatives to attract a more diverse workforce.

How we work

When getting it wrong can cost as much as three times a role’s annual salary, we ensure you get it right first time, every time. Built up over many years, we have access to the national talent networks of the Seymour John group. Our specialist expertise means you benefit from a breadth and depth of market experience and insight that brings an objective clarity to the most complex of people-resource challenges.

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