Cool career: The industry that's begging for more workers

THERE just aren't enough people to fill the gaps, one industry organisation has revealed.

Engineers Australia will be hosting a Discover Engineering evening at the Ballina Surf Club next month to encourage more students to seriously think about a career in engineering.

WITH a nationwide shortage of professional engineers, one non-for-profit organisation is attempting to educate students on how cool a career in the field can be.

Engineers Australia is running a number of seminars up and down the North Coast of NSW to chat with students who may considering a career in the field.

Spokeswoman Helen Link said there was currently not enough students coming out of university to fill the gap in engineering.

"Which then means we are having engineers migrating into Australia from overseas countries," Ms Link said.

"We just not getting enough females going into engineering either."

The alarming statistics indicate there are only 6 per cent of girls nationally studying physics in Year 12, with advanced maths number almost as bad at 6.2 per cent.

"And it's only 11.5 per cent for boys," Ms Link said.

"If we are going to have a nation with a skilled workforce going into the future then we need to get more students studying maths, science and engineering subjects."

There are a number of ways students can get into a degree or course in engineering and plenty of opportunities after graduation to enter into.

"I think there is plenty of work coming up on the horizon, there are a lot of new and emerging fields of engineering happening," Ms Link said.

"Like medical engineering, aerospace, robotics, electronics, just with the innovation that is happening there is just a huge career choice for students that are interested."

That's why Engineers Australia is doing a East Coast road show, making stops in Port Macquarie, Coffs Harbour, Grafton and finishing up in Ballina.

"We will have about four professional engineers who will give a presentation to the students, talking about their passion for engineering, what got them into engineering, what sort of subjects they might need to do," Ms Link said.

"Each location will have different speakers because we source the speakers from members of Engineers Australia that are within that area."

"We will also have the universities come along to provide information to the students and their parents about course, scholarships and any information on marks or grades they need to get into engineering."

The seminar will be open to students in year seven to twelve and will be held at the Ballina Surf Club on Thursday June 21 from 6:30pm.

This is a free event and light refreshments will be served.

Those wishing to attended must register at https://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/portal/event/discover-engineering-ballina-0. WIT

Originally published as Cool career: The industry that's begging for more workers