Where Have All the Engineers Gone? And What Can We Do About It?
You’ve probably felt it—whether you’re hiring, planning projects, or just trying to get things over the line with your current team. There simply aren’t enough engineers to go round.
According to the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, we need over 200,000 new people a year across STEM. That’s a big number. And right now, we’re nowhere near it.
Why Are We in This Mess?
There’s no single reason, but here are a few big ones:
- Aging Workforce: Lots of retirements, not enough newbies.
- Changing World: The ripples of things like Brexit and Covid have made people decide to retire earlier.
- Old-School Image: Engineering still isn’t sold well in schools.
- Education Gaps: Not enough funding or modern training routes.
- Regional Gaps: There are pockets in the UK where industry closures are leading to skills gaps.
- Competing Careers: Young talent is getting snapped up by more fashionable sectors such as tech, finance, and gaming
What Needs to Happen?
We need a culture shift. Here’s what we’re championing:
- Start Early – Get kids interested before they pick GCSEs.
- Modern Apprenticeships – Hands-on learning with up-to-date skills.
- Adult Apprenticeships – People don’t have to start their engineering career at 16/18.
- Ability To Recruit Outside UK – An option may be to bring skilled labour in from outside the UK.
- Flexible Careers – Hybrid work, decent benefits, and supportive workplaces.
- Reskill, Upskill, Cross-skill – Not just hiring, but growing what you’ve got.
How are Ursa helping clients?
Can you definitely say you know the competence of all your engineering staff?
We have been helping clients to develop skills matrix’s and roadmap engineering skills and competency that matches there specific requirements with a framework to keep people up to date and develop their careers to match company requirements.
We have also been completing technical assessments of clients existing engineers to work out where any gaps may be so training needs can be assessed and prioritised. We have similarly been performing technical assessments of potential new starters to ensure they bring the skills required for particular roles. All of this has been completed using bespoke question sets for different roles developed by ourselves for the clients.
We’re also big believers in mentorship; pairing experienced engineers with those just starting out. It builds confidence on both sides and adds more colour to job roles that keeps engineers engaged and happy in their work.
Finally we have been delivering bespoke training courses around key engineering topics. We realise you cannot stop your business because after completing skills assessments it is found that you don’t have certain competencies within your engineering team, so we work with you to develop task specific training so people can be signed off against certain tasks after the correct training, allowing you to keep maintaining whilst deeper knowledge and training is planned in.
What Are You Seeing?
Is your business struggling to recruit?
Are you trying new tactics to keep the talent you’ve got?
Tell us what’s working. And if you’ve got a success story—we’d love to hear it.
