That there is a shortage of engineers is about as much news as the Pope being Catholic. But the last year has been something special. The Danish Engineering Association (IDA) has asked more than 17,000 privately employed members whether they have been contacted by a headhunter within the past twelve months. Of those employed by contractors and in the construction industry, a whopping 73 per cent answered yes to the question, and this is an increase compared to previous years.
More stabilized
However, Nima Astenehdost, director of the recruitment agency Randstad, has a feeling that things will calm down a bit in the coming time:
– It will be more stabilized, and I expect that there will be a calmer market because there will probably be more vacancies. But there is a lack of engineers, and as long as there are too few, it is a bit of a war where there is a battle for talent, says Nima Astanehdost from Randstad, one of the largest recruitment agencies when it comes to engineers.
70 per cent have received a job offer
According to IDA’s study, it is especially within IT and construction where the offers are flying around the ears of the country’s engineers but in total 70 per cent report that they have been contacted by a headhunter or another company with a job offer in the past year.
With the prospect of a massive district heating rollout, infrastructure plan, energy islands and already ongoing mega-projects such as the Fehmarn connection and Lynetteholmen, there is no prospect that there will be less demand for engineers in the near future.
Great with new projects
However, that does not make Nima Astanehdost fear a total wage race:
– It is not my feeling that it is 700 euros more per month that makes an engineer change jobs. It is professional challenges on the job and development opportunities that interest them. And I think it’s cool with new projects too. This makes it easier for, for example, new graduates to enter the labour market, he says.
Lack of skills is a problem
On the other hand, IDA believes that it is problematic that the competition is so fierce: – The companies are in fierce competition with each other to attract highly educated people with skills in the STEM subjects and have to hunt each other for the employees they lack. This provides good career opportunities for the individual engineer or IT specialist, but the lack of highly educated people in IT, natural sciences and technology is a major challenge for the development of companies, their order books and also the many large construction projects that must get us to the goal of the green transition . If we don’t have the skills, the tasks won’t be solved, and that’s a problem, says Malene Matthison-Hansen, chairman of the Employees’ Council at ida.dk.
