ENGINEERING TALENT = CONTINUED GROWTH

2014 was a good year for the automotive industry. The conventional wisdom is that 2015 will be as well. The economy continues to improve and people are once again feeling more confident. The purchase of a “big ticket” item like a car is no longer being postponed. If John and Jane Q. Public need a car and they believe they have the money to pay for it, why wait? In addition, the banks and lending institutions are once again making money available. This is a prescription for strong car and truck sales.

Companies and people who make their living in the automotive industry, like to hear these projections. It means they can expect continued and probably increased demand for their products which translates into sales and is reflected in a strong bottom line. Plants will be running at full capacity and engineering centers will be going full bore. Business will continue to grow.

Companies are busily preparing budgets and making plans for the upcoming year. Integral to this process is identifying potential problem areas and figuring out in advance how to avoid them. Taking a page from Dr. Deming and his Toyota Production System, you need to manage the constraints: Identify and correct.

One such constraint is talent or the lack of it. The business is there, but will you be able to find the right people to manage and support it? When a company is awarded a program to produce x number of widgets in a timely and cost effective manner, they will need skilled people to achieve their objectives and meet their obligations. The OEMs and the suppliers are in the same boat, drawing from a talent pool that has been depleted of experienced people as a result of the recession and not adequately replenished by less experienced talent.

I generally work with the suppliers and I know from experience, “the big dog feeds first”. By this I mean the OEMs. They need skilled people just like the suppliers but they usually are first in line when it comes to attracting engineers and other key personal. There are various reasons for this but the reality is the suppliers stand in line after them. The question then is how do you resolve this constraint?

There is no one answer but I think the use of experienced automotive recruiters is necessary. A recruiter will spend the time locating the hard to find, niche engineer whereas staff human resource personal are pulled in a number of directions and can’t singularly focus on recruitment. A company may hire staff recruiters which help, but there is a cost to this as well. Additionally there is the hidden cost of key positions going unfilled for an extended period of time.

I am not advocating the unilateral use of recruiters for all open positions, though that would certainly help my bottom line. What I am saying is the use of a recruiter is strategic. Identify those who are experienced, professional and who you can build a strong working relationship with. An attorney and accountant advise on legal and financial matters. A recruiter is your staffing consultant. You wouldn’t consider doing business without the former, nor should you without a recruiter.