Despite major ongoing shortages of technically skilled personnel, the industry is still negative about hiring personnel from other sectors. No fewer than a third (32 percent) of technical companies are annoyed by unskilled people who respond to vacancies. Three in ten (29 percent) even immediately write off applicants without the right diplomas. The reason? More than a quarter (27 percent) believe that training lateral entrants costs more than it yields. This is evident from the seventh edition of the TechBarometer by technical trainer ROVC, which conducted research among more than 1,000 HR decision-makers, 2,700 technicians and 1,000 potential lateral entrants into the state of affairs in the technical industry. ROVC reports this.
The reluctance to hire lateral entrants is logically also reflected in the number of organizations that invest in attracting this group. Only 44 percent of companies are actively committed to recruiting more lateral entrants. That is remarkable, given that the industry has been eager for personnel for years. The number of vacancies at technical companies has even increased by as much as 45 percent by 2023. And no improvement is expected in the coming years: eight in ten HR decision-makers (79 percent) think they will still have a shortage of technical personnel in the next five years. The fact that lateral entrants are an important solution for reducing the persistent technician shortage in our country is something that 57 percent of technical companies do underline. Yet the willingness to invest in this remains lagging behind.
Temporary investment
“A missed opportunity,” said John Huizing, director of ROVC. He explains: “Tech companies continue to maintain strict workforce requirements, even though most of them are struggling due to massive, ongoing shortages of skilled technicians. Although some see the need to hire staff from other sectors, in many cases concrete action is not taken. Many tech companies do not know how to use this group efficiently and that is a shame. Training inexperienced staff does not have to be a lengthy or complicated process. With supervised learning in the workplace, an experienced professional guides the starting technician in all aspects of learning in the workplace: from instruction to reflection. Although this requires a temporary investment, it yields much more: initially a functionally deployable employee, i.e. someone who can take over routine tasks. And after the training period, even a sustainably employable employee, which is very much needed. I therefore call on companies to look at smart and flexible solutions such as these.”
By: National Education Guide