STEM jobs go begging as talent pool dries up

Australia will needed 100,000 more “digitally skilled” workers by 2023 and 40,000 more engineers 2025. A radical rethink of talent management will be required.

Australian businesses need to rethink the nature of formal and on-the-job training to alleviate the talent drought.

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Australian businesses have been urged to shift their cultural attitudes to address the global skills shortage, including addressing ways to foster a more diverse workforce and rethinking the nature of formal and on-the-job training.

Fostering a more flexible workplace approach went hand-in-hand with overhauling science technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education, according to panellists on The Australian’s Future Australia Round Table.

An academy of independent technology experts, the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE), cites the need for 100,000 more “digitally skilled” workers by 2023.

Digital technologies are estimated to contribute $65bn to Australia’s economy.

By 2025, 40,000 more engineers will be required.

“An immediate need that is not being met by support for teachers, students and the higher education sector,” the academy said.

However, existing sources of talent also remain untapped.

ATSE chief executive Kylie Walker said “hundreds, if not thousands” of international STEM graduates from Australian universities had been unable to find work, despite having an Australian qualification and a working visa.

Kylie Walker, Chief Executive Officer of ATSE

“I think the industry would be absolutely bonkers if they didn‘t access that highly skilled, highly motivated workforce as soon as possible,” she said.

KPMG Australia associate director of People and Change Nick Ghamgosar said studies show the total cost of a new hire can be up to $79,800 (including direct costs, training costs, time to proficiency and productivity).

Put another way, the process equated to an average nine months of salary.

In contrast, the World Economic Forum has estimated the cost to re-skill an employee to adapt to a new digital role at $35,000 – an average 57 per cent less than finding a new one.

“So, there’s the human side (of staff attrition), but definitely the economic cost side of things as well,” Mr Ghamgosar said.

Nick Ghamgosar, associate director of People and Change at KPMG

The panel heard that the skills problem was linked to the overall red-hot jobs market, which has resulted in job vacancies more than doubling over the past decade.

The skills shortage is evident especially in the resources sector, where a slate of new projects will stretch the talent pool even further.

The Federal Department of Industry lists 352 prospective new resource projects worth $420bn.

If all of these projects were to go ahead, this would create 165,000 new jobs across both construction and production phases by 2027.

Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association acting chief executive Damian Dwyer said the oil and gas sector’s quest for talent was unlikely to abate, given major projects in the development stage including Woodside’s Scarborough and Chevron’s Gorgon stage two LNG projects (both in Western Australia). “Oil and gas at its heart is a STEM-based industry,” he said.

Damian Dwyer, Acting Chief Executive APPEA

“So how do we position ourselves as that natural home for those professionals who are either working in the industry right now or working in other industries, or coming out of the various education pathways that we‘ve got available to us?”

Ms Walker said Australia fought above its weight in terms of contributing to advanced research in STEM disciplines, but “what we’re not doing so well is filling the skills gap”.

As well as tapping skilled migrants, other solutions lay in tapping “ready to activate” cohorts of dormant talent.

These included workers who had left STEM professions mid career. Ms Walker said women in particular had done so because they didn’t feel welcome, or because working conditions were “completely at odds with their other life challenges and requirements and responsibilities”.

She said smart employers would address these obstacles at a cultural and systemic level, with genuine mechanisms in place to support that inclusive workforce.

Measures could be as simple as ensuring designated, lockable female toilets in male-dominated workplaces. Other steps included ensuring childcare and encouraging men to take parental leave.

Ms Walker said paid internships were an excellent way of “try before you buy” talent retention.

“They’re a genuine opportunity for graduates, they’re pretty low risk for the employer,” she said.

“You get to have a look at whether there’s a good cultural fit, as well as good skills fit.”

Mr Ghamgosar said a fundamental power shift meant that workers were in a stronger position to enunciate how their work could be made more meaningful.

He said it wasn’t just a case of fostering technical skills, but “softer” attributes such as leadership skills or those pertinent to emerging green economy applications.

“The most important skills of the 21st century will be learning new skills,” he said.

“There’s …. an opportunity for employers and employees to change their attitude around how we think about radical brand new skills.”

Employers fostering “new collar” talent include IT multinational IBM with its P-Tech initiative, a public education partnership that offers high school diplomas and an associate degree, along with real-world experience and mentoring.

In Britain, vacuum cleaner maker Dyson has invested £31.5m ($55m) in the Dyson Institute of Engineering and Technology, enabling undergraduate engineers to earn a full salary with no tuition fees.

“It will be interesting to see what learning pathways are used, given 80 per cent of learning is on the job rather than in a training course,” Mr Ghamgosar said.

The shift to micro-credentialling and online learning was an opportunity for companies to think differently about talent – offering the potential to identify and re-skill existing staff.

An important tool to help that process was for firms to conduct thorough strategic human capital management, Mr Ghamgosar said.

“The ability to have an understanding of your existing workforce, the skills that they have, and then being able to plan for the future in terms of roles and skills required and being able to map the pathways that are required,” he said.

“A really structured approach to that is one of the answers on the operational side.”

Mr Dwyer said that while it was important to ensure the education system produced the right graduates, STEM-based industries needed to take responsibility in ensuring an adequate supply of talent.

“It‘s not all about what you can do for me, often it’s about what I’m going to do to help myself,” he said.

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Produced in association with APPEA.

The oil and gas industry is a key driver of Australia’s economy and community. Through the Future Australia series, APPEA is bringing together other industry leaders to discuss ways of contributing to a better economic, environmental and social future. Visit www.appea.com.au for more information.