MANY employers claim they are having a hard time finding suitable recruits,
and scientists and engineers are at the top of their 鈥渨anted鈥� list. A recent
survey of 264 companies by the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) reveals
that employers are finding it difficult to fill many of their vacancies.
Industrial employers are experiencing severe problems recruiting, 58 per cent of
them being unable to fill all their vacancies. And 47 per cent of service sector
recruiters say they have the same problems.
The situation is dire for 8 per cent of organisations unsuccessful in filling
more than half their graduate vacancies, and nearly two thirds say that their
shortfall is up to 20 per cent. Firms believe that high-quality graduates are
simply not entering the labour market, preferring other options such as
postgraduate study. Recruiters complain that they are experiencing greater
difficulty finding the 鈥渂est鈥� graduates among the large numbers of applications
they receive: competition for high-calibre people is intense.
快猫短视频s and engineers were singled out for special criticism. 鈥淲hile these
graduates might have a high level of technical competence and a good subject
knowledge, most still lack the interpersonal skills and commercial awareness now
regarded as essential even in technical areas,鈥� says the report.
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Not surprising, as employers have been very choosy about their recruits, they
now face difficulty in finding scientists and engineers who meet their exacting
specification. Seventeen per cent of recruiters included in the survey had not
reached their recruitment targets for scientists and engineers and particularly
for graduates to work on research and development projects. Oil firms and
pharmaceuticals companies are now touring the universities in search of talent.
Esso, for example, has around 50 vacancies in refining, manufacturing, research,
sales, logistics and IT. Telecommunications companies and electronics
manufacturers are currently among the biggest recruiters. BT, for example, is
trying to fill more than 500 vacancies. British Aerospace is also competing hard
for a similar number of recruits with a range of technological skills. The
National Physical Laboratory, recently released from the Civil Service, is back
on the recruitment trail, seeking scientists for research and development
positions.
Other industrial companies, including British Steel鈥攁 major recruiter
of materials scientists鈥擭estl茅, Unilever and Proctor and Gamble,
are also recruiting strongly. Proctor and Gamble has recently increased its
recruitment targets for its manufacturing, purchasing and customer services
activities from 20 to 80 across Britain and the Republic of Ireland.
Information technology and computing are other areas providing headaches for
recruiters. As already reported (Appointments, 27 September 1997, p 55),
employers are having major problems in filling their IT vacancies. They include
Andersen Consulting and Logica, the software specialists, as well as many
organisations, particularly the banks, which are trying to fill vacancies in
their IT departments. Firms such as Demon Internet, having increased their
staffing by around a third last year, are still expanding and seeking recruits.
It comes as no surprise, then, that 11 per cent of employers say they could not
find staff in sufficient numbers for work in computing and IT. Incidentally,
given the millions of pounds that many employers are spending on finding
solutions to the so-called millennium bug鈥攅ach of the retail banks is
spending between 拢25 million and 拢70 million and expecting to
complete the work before the end of this year鈥攖here could well be sticky
times ahead for many when these contracts come to an end. However, the IT
industry has the habit of creating new challenges on a continual basis.
Employers are having particular problems enticing high-quality graduates into
joining the small number of management training schemes designed for potential
high flyers. By 鈥渉igh quality鈥� they mean people with good A levels (three Bs or
better) followed by at least an upper second-class degree, who are excellent
communicators and have a commercial outlook. Unilever and Mars are among the
companies offering this type of management training. The civil service, the
police and the National Health Service are among the public sector organisations
with a similar approach to the training of their senior management of the
future. Twelve per cent of the employers running such schemes were unable to
find enough recruits of sufficient quality to join.
Recruiting good people is only half the problem. Once recruited, staff must
be kept sufficiently happy to stay if the costs of recruiting, employing and
training them are to be recouped. On average organisations retained 95 per cent
of those they took on a year ago and 70 per cent of 1994 recruits. Ten per cent
of employers still had all of their 1994 recruits, while at the other extreme
some companies had lost them all. Employers are reacting to these shortfalls in
a number of ways. Some, especially in the financial sector, are offering 鈥済olden
hellos鈥�. These are advances of up to 拢2000, sometimes given on acceptance
of a job offer or with the first month鈥檚 salary. A number of firms give these as
loans and recoup them from employees鈥� salary during their first year.
Another growth area is the offer of vacation work and one-year placements for
students during their degree course. These schemes, which are not confined to
those on sandwich courses, give both employer and prospective employee the
chance to get to know each other well before any commitment is made to long-term
employment. Malcolm Brewer of the Association for Sandwich Education and
Training (Sheffield) estimates that 150 000 students now take sandwich
placements as part of their degree course, and 100 000 more take a year out of a
conventional degree course. The 264 AGR members provided 4700 work placements
last year and many see this as a good way of attracting quality recruits.
Certainly, when recruiting, employers prefer applicants who already have
relevant work experience.
The labour market, just as the stock market, goes in cycles. Historically,
these are 10 years long with lows at the start of most decades. The last peak in
the labour market was in 1989 and the most recent low point was in 1992. All the
evidence suggests that the labour market is approaching a peak and will be
followed by a steady decline. The signs include: increasing labour costs, larger
wage increases and the imminent introduction of a 鈥渕inimum wage鈥� at a time when
interest rates have also been increasing relentlessly. If you are thinking of
changing your job, now could well be the best time. If you are taking a year out
after completing your education, don鈥檛 expect that when you return jobs will be
as easy to find as they are now.