Engineering Recruitment, Engineers Recruitment, Engineering Employment, Engineering Professionals, Engineering Jobs, WA, Australia

Where to for the Engineering Professional?
Compiled by Paula Beezhold, 30 September 2011

Director of JSM Appointments, John Masters, was recently invited by the Engineering Institute of Technology and IDC Technologies to deliver a talk on trends in engineering and technical careers during a career development breakfast seminar in Perth. JSM Appointments is a Perth-based employment services company that specialises in the recruitment of members of the engineering team and Masters has been involved in the recruitment business for 7 years, following his 22-year career in electrical engineering.

With the issue of skills shortages facing Australia, and Western Australia in particular, the seminar set out to look at the possible impact on particular industries and evaluate which jobs are in high demand and where. During the seminar, Where to for Engineering Professionals in 2012? Masters shed some light on the current career climate and emerging trends in the engineering employment market, with a focus on WA.

According to Engineers Australia (in their publication The Engineering Profession: A Statistical Overview, Eighth Edition, 2011), the total population of the engineering team in WA in 2006 was over 32,000. This includes those not participating in the labour force. The actual engineering labour force was about 27,000 (which is 11% of the national total of 250,000). The unemployment rate in WA was 2% compared to 3% nationally. Labour force participation rate in WA was 84%, compared to 82% nationally.

In addition more than 66% of the engineering labour force was actually employed in an engineering occupation, compared to 57% nationally. About 49% of the engineering labour force in WA was born overseas, and of this almost 28% of those arrived in WA between 2000 and 2006.

The Story is in the Numbers

“When it comes to generalising about what employers want, we need to identify who is employing the majority of the engineering labour force,” says Masters. According to 2009 statistics from ‘Employment Outlook for Engineers’ published by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (Dewar), the overwhelming majority of engineers across Australia are employed in the Professional, Scientific and Technical Services sector. Engineers Australia in their 2011 Statistical Overview of the engineering profession in WA confirms Dewar’s results.

“The employers that make up ‘Professional, Scientific and Technical Services’ are your Engineering Procurement Construction & Maintenance (EPCM) and Engineering Consulting firms like Worley Parsons, SKM, Aurecon, and Lycopodium to name a few. In fact the Book of Lists published by the WA Business News provides a concise list of WA’s major employers of engineers conveniently ranked by number of engineers employed in WA,” says Masters. “By my calculations there are over 8,000 engineers employed by the firms on this list confirming the proportions - allowing for growth in the engineering labour force since 2006.”

So where are these employers most active? According to statistics from the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences’ (ABARES) report on Major development projects – April 2011 listing, most of the WA engineering labour force is deployed in the consulting industry, followed by manufacturing and only then mining and construction. Employment in the consulting, construction and mining industries was proportionally higher in WA than in Australia as a whole (the manufacturing industry employs engineering staff on a long-term basis – not cyclic as in mining and resources projects).

“Our experience supports these trends as does the extent to which employment services firms are being engaged by engineering services companies such as EPCM and consulting. The emphasis is on construction and implementation activity in the resources and infrastructure sector. We are also seeing signs that operator/owner companies in the resources sector are stepping up their recruitment of engineering skills as they anticipate projects coming on line.”

The data from Engineers Australia confirms that the WA engineering labour force in terms of distribution across most fields of specialisation and disciplines was generally similar to that of the nation as a whole. In WA there were fewer electrical and electronic engineers and proportionally more process and resource engineers employed. “Our experience supports the trends and since the middle of last year we have seen a growing demand for electrical and civil engineers in the infrastructure sectors, as well as mechanical and structural engineers in the resources sector (EPCM and consulting),” Masters continues.

Follow the Money

The Professional, Technical and Scientific services industry employs most of the engineering labour force (EPCM and Consulting firms), so it makes sense to find out where the money in that sector is being spent now and to look at the forecasts for the next five years or so. Engineering activity in Australia is about delivering projects, design, planning and construction directed towards the ongoing effort to exploit Australia’s vast mineral wealth. Also, the demand for new civil infrastructure that supports the growing Australian population is driven by this activity in the country’s resources industry.

Consult Australia’s Economic Forecast for Consulting Firms reports that the most money by far is being directed at Mining and Heavy Industry projects. For WA specifically the data clearly reflects the impact of work directly associated with mining and resources – which is proportionately higher than the nation as a whole. We see confirmation of the much publicised growth outlook in all sectors, with construction in mining and heavy industry likely to continue a steady growth at least until 2014.

From Engineers Australia’s Salary and Benefits Survey (2010), 62% of respondents to the survey experienced a skills shortage over the past 12 months – an increase on the previous year’s figure of 53%. Confirmed by Engineers Australia’s statistical overview, we see that nationally recruitment difficulties are trending up again toward pre-Global Financial Crisis (GFC) levels as the unemployment rate falls, says Masters. The highest number of respondents reported shortages of Civil Engineers, closely followed by Mechanical, Electrical and Structural engineers. Ironically on a national basis mining engineers resulted in comparatively low levels of recruiting difficulties. Level 3 engineers (typically 14 to 17 years experience) resulted in the highest levels of recruiting difficulties.

“Engineers Australia’s statistical overview and those from similar publications such as Dewar lead us to the conclusion that professional engineers, engineering technologists and engineering associates graduating from Australian universities and TAFE colleges cannot meet growth in the demand for engineers. Even when supplemented with permanent immigration at recent record levels there remains an underlying shortage of engineers” explains Masters.

“In our Experience the recruitment difficulties in question have persisted throughout the past year. The difficulty in recruiting so-called Level 3 engineers has been a particular frustration and this has been a key driver in continued demand for migrant engineers. We have also noted a tendency for companies to send Front End Engineering Design (FEED) work offshore where this level of engineering remains more accessible and affordable.” Australia’s new migration policy reflects a shift towards demand side visa programme allowing employers to respond to short-term skills shortages through temporary migration. Permanent skilled migration now reflects a policy of targeting longer-term labour market requirements and the capacity of the education system to meet long-term needs.

Those Hard-to-Fill Vacancies

Mechanical and structural engineers with mining and mineral processing experience consistently feature on employer’s ‘hard to find’ list. Civil and Structural engineers are still the most sought after for mining and infrastructure. In the case of Civil/Structural engineers we find that employers are less flexible in terms of professional endorsement of candidates in this discipline, says Masters. “Engineers Australia accreditation and even chartered status is almost always a requirement. There is also a growing demand for mechanical, electrical and structural engineers – we are seeing that especially at senior and principal level.”

Design consultants and EPCM organisations want professionally (degree) qualified engineers in their design and project engineering roles, up to Lead/Management level. Their competitiveness in winning tenders relies heavily on the professional profile of their engineering team. Asset owners/operators such as Government utilities and mining companies generally insist on professionally qualified engineers in their design and project engineering roles. “Nevertheless, we have seen an emerging tendency for these employers to recruit associate professionals at lower levels to help bring in experience and expertise otherwise unavailable. This is normally done with the expectation that applicants will pursue articulation to professional level. Chartered status is important to both engineering consultants and government utilities,” Masters explains.

“We have observed a growing demand for engineering skills at associate level in the electricity supply sector. They want network officers capable of interpreting design specifications and monitoring technical integrity during project implementation and construction. In design offices the demand for associate level engineering skills remains volatile over the longer term. However, we have observed a tendency to retain engineering officers (drafters) beyond project requirements provided they have base qualifications, formal training and experience that provide a clear pathway to articulation to professional engineer level, or possess team leadership and engineering management potential.”

A sustained shortage of experienced project managers with EPCM experience (mining and infrastructure) is notable. EPCM project engineers with 10 to 15 years resource-based or civil infrastructure experience are scarce and in-demand. Government utilities are more inclined to insist on formal project management accreditation (such as PMP) when recruiting for project roles. EPCM and Engineering organisations do not appear to be attaching much (if any) importance to formal project management accreditation such as PMP. Their focus is on the applicant’s track record in terms of size, value and relevance of previous project responsibilities. Mostly they look for exposure to as many disciplines and areas of projects as possible and show they have been across FEED as well as construction and handover – experience of the end-to-end process.

We are seeing more focus on interpersonal skills, leadership and stakeholder management – reflecting the critical nature of project delivery and competitiveness in winning new work. Other skills in demand include Asset Management and Asset Strategy Engineers. Preference is given to professional engineers with relevant plant design/project experience who have evolved into subject matter experts. They often look for affiliation with a relevant professional body such as The Asset Management Council.

In Conclusion

“The general picture painted confirms what is already well known: there is a shortage in the supply of engineers across most sectors. But for engineers thinking of jumping on the band wagon, things are not as straight forward as it may seem,” says Masters. “Pre-GFC skills shortages and the associated problems with quality of skills, salary levels and staff retention, still haunt employers. There remains a perception among engineers that jobs and salaries are there for the taking, but employers are adopting strategies to curtail productivity issues, high staff turnover and a lowering of standards. In short - we have seen a significant hardening in attitudes towards recruitment.”

There is a growing propensity to seek offshore solutions when availability and affordability become an issue. This is not only a cost issue but is also driven by the perception that applicants bidding for excessive salaries tend to keep looking for greener pastures once they’re on board. Advice from some of JSM’s clients, including EPCM, Engineering Consulting, Mining Companies and State Organisations, contains a consistent message:

• Get Qualified – Upgrade when Necessary and Set Career Objectives Early

If you aspire to a professional engineering level get the right qualifications and accreditation as soon as possible. Get the right qualifications at graduate level and achieve chartered status.

• Follow a Progressive and Planned Career Path

Employers are short-listing applicants who have defined and stable career paths. Shortlisted resumes now tend to reflect a track record and training profile supporting the applicant’s smooth progress along a planned career path (e.g. training and registration with recognised professional bodies). These applicants are more likely to be seeking a genuine career move as opposed to opportunistic job hopping. Make sure your CV shows a reasonable time period with each employer, reflecting a stable progressive career. Stay in a role for more than a year and endeavour to get exposure to as many disciplines and areas of projects as possible – especially early in your career. Employers look for evidence of experience-based, planned career episodes supported by a recognised Professional Development Programme – to some it is more important than post graduate degrees such as Masters and PhD’s.

• Training and Continued Professional Development

There is an increase in the focus on professional development. For instance, when employing associate level engineering skills, employers want to see there is scope for articulation to professional levels (Vocational Educational Training to Higher Education). This is to address longer-term staff retention and succession planning. Further education, vocational training and professional development must remain relevant to your career objectives.

• Maintain Affiliation with Relevant Professional Bodies

Get yourself accredited at a professional body relevant to your field of expertise. Join a professional engineering organisation, meet often with their peers and undertake both an internal company-based training & development programme as well as Continuing Education courses to maintain professional qualifications.

• Build Career Episodes Responsibly - Don’t Job Hop!

Do not be tempted to shift your career focus just to exploit current high paying jobs – you will pay the price later. Build on industry experience and remain in your specialist industry. Build robust career episodes that balance work experience with professional development.

Masters concludes: “By all means take advantage of the skills shortage. It is an ideal opportunity to secure roles that help you to realise your career objectives. The current surge in engineering activity across all sectors allows you to acquire knowledge and experience, but don’t allow the hype to disrupt your career path.”