Visit the Parker Hannifin Electromechanical Automation web site

Vocational education offers career alternatives

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Jan 9, 2004

The engineering sector looks set to face a tough start to 2004, with more than one in four engineers currently looking to leave their jobs.

The engineering sector looks set to face a tough start to 2004, with more than one in four engineers (26%) currently looking to leave their jobs.

Such a high level of staff turnover is likely to be problematic, not to mention costly, for the companies involved.

These findings emerge as part of a report commissioned on behalf of Foundation Degrees looking at levels of career satisfaction across the country and how vocational education qualifications can help boost this.

The report highlights that more than one in three engineers (37%) did not actively choose their profession but rather drifted into their current job or settled for the position after their attempt to aim higher proved unsuccessful.

Indifference is a common side effect, with more than one in four (27%) stating that they view their current job as nothing more than a way to pay the bills.

These negative feelings could lead to companies experiencing significant reductions in productivity, employee morale and customer satisfaction.

The survey shows that, worryingly for businesses, long-term apathy underlies the short-term flurry anticipated in the job market.

Aside from the number of jobs they have held, the average engineer has worked in three totally different sectors/careers over the course of their working life.

72% actually class themselves as permanent career "drifters" - never destined to fulfil their career dreams, but rather drift from job to job without drive or ambition.

When asked what they considered the greatest barrier to achieving their career goals, engineers cited lack of skills as the principal hurdle.

The report showed this problem to be deep-rooted: one in four engineers (28%) considered themselves disadvantaged at the offset, with the decisions they made as youngsters making their career dreams unattainable.

Current vocational education training opportunities, such as Foundation Degrees, enable individuals to overcome these hurdles, whatever their current position on the career ladder.

A spokesperson from Foundation Degrees comments: "These statistics make it abundantly clear that a large number of engineers are far from happy in their current working environment".

"This has significant knock-on effects for companies - on the one hand, an unhappy workforce leads to low productivity and low customer satisfaction, while on the other hand, high turnover can be extremely costly and disruptive".

"The trend is for people to drift from one job to another, constantly dissatisfied yet lacking the skills to do what they really want".

"However, it may be that they don't need to move jobs to progress their careers, but rather should consider relevant training".

"Businesses need to recognise that encouraging employees to obtain work-related qualifications, and supporting them along the way, can be enormously beneficial to all parties.

Employees attain their career goals and can stop drifting, while businesses benefit from more stable and motivated professionals".

"Foundation Degrees are excellent examples of such courses - these are vocational education qualifications that can help employees gain the knowledge and skills required to make their career dreams a reality".