Waiting Game - Employment outlook for engineers Print this article

Engineering employees face changed job market

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Craig Barrett

From late 2008, throughout the whole of 2009, we have seen many engineering companies being forced to let go of highly skilled and talented technical and engineering people. The unexpected and rapid onset of the global recession saw an influx of engineering professionals onto the market creating fierce competition for jobs, the like of which has not been seen for many years. This came as a shock to employers, employees and recruiters alike.

The only beneficiaries have been those few fortunate employers who were still in a position to recruit and pick from the best. Suddenly, these companies found themselves able to dictate salaries, which was a far cry from the recruitment challenges they had been used to dealing with in the previous two years.

In line with the expectations of falling salary levels, I have also noted a number of other pronounced trends. For instance, across most of the engineering sectors examined, employers were dropping both permanent salaries and contract rates by 10 to 15 per cent for new hires, while many existing employees have had to accept salary cuts for a set period. Such enforced salary changes have not been well received by what many perceive to be a well-paid Irish workforce – especially when compared to their UK, Northern Irish and Western European counterparts. It came as a shock to some employees to suddenly realise that they were facing redundancy. Several had never before prepared a CV or had to look for a job.

Insecurity

Many employees are living with constant job insecurity and, if released onto the job market, are finding huge competition for their desired roles, or a need to relocate to find them.

We have seen many candidates remain out of work for up to a year and this has often been those who were not in a position to relocate to secure their ideal job. Candidates who took redundancy are finding that they have to be more flexible than ever before and have to re-evaluate their salary and location expectations. Employed but unhappy candidates were reluctant to move for career progression reasons, as has been the norm in recent years, due to the fear of being last in and potentially first out in their new company.

Employees are not complaining about conditions or taking sick days as much as they were prior to the recession. The safety net of moving to the UK or the US to find work has not been as likely an option as in the previous recession, due to the fact that the current recession has been global.

Many non-Irish nationals have moved back home because of Irish job losses. I have found that a large number of companies who have been hiring in 2009 have not been as keen to hire from abroad when they have a much greater choice of local candidates.

Many companies are hiring directly but are being fussier than ever before and taking longer to make decisions until they are sure of their funding and that they have the ‘perfect candidate’.

The positive trends

Despite a difficult couple of years, it is comforting to note that since Quarter Four of 2009 we have seen signs of improvement in the technical and engineering job market. Ireland may have been particularly hard hit, but the Government and IDA (Irish Development Authority) are actively engaging with a number of specialised engineering companies in growing sectors identified as having great potential to contribute to the Irish economy and job market over the decades to come. This is, at least, an encouraging sign that we may see improvements over the next 12 to 18 months.The growth sectors currently in Ireland are the medical device, pharmaceutical, utilities/energy (traditional or renewable) and environmental sectors. These sectors have experienced some significant activity, even during the downturn, and we expect the following trends to continue into 2010:

• engineers moving from the more traditional construction companies into utilities, renewable energy and environmental companies who want their transferable skills, namely civil, mechanical, electrical engineering and project management skills;
• utilities (gas, wind, electricity, renewable energy) companies have benefited from our increasing need for energy and, more specifically, green energy;
• many engineers are doing Masters in Environmental Engineering or in Renewable Energy to help them be more attractive to the utility and environmental companies;
• similarly, engineers from the semiconductor and electronics industries are making the move into the medical device  industry;
• Ireland’s continuing investment into pharmaceutical courses within universities means that pharmaceutical companies are benefiting from new generations of pharmaceutical experts; and,
• while the environmental and recycling companies have stalled much of their recruitment in 2009, we believe these are set to expand as the economy recovers. 

To conclude, it is encouraging to note that many of those who became unemployed last year are beginning to find jobs now. However, candidates still have to be realistic about their salary expectations and be prepared to move around to get the job that they want. They need to understand that it is still a ‘buyer’s market’ and this is likely to be the case for at least a year. In addition, those employees who continue to invest in their skills and do an undergraduate degree, a Masters (MSc) or engage in Continuous Professional Development (CPD) will find that this will be a significant advantage in helping them to secure and keep jobs in a highly competitive market.

Looking ahead, I would say that salaries are not expected to increase much in 2010 but may do so slowly from 2011 onwards as the economy begins to recover and stabilise once more. It is the big hope that from that time onwards, we can return to a stable and fruitful economy likely to benefit the technical and engineering job market for many years to come.

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