Graduate engineers say they’re ready to plug industry skills shortage
Posted by: electime 7th October 2024
New graduate engineers at UK Power Networks say they are ready to help plug the skills shortage in the electrical engineering industry.
11 engineering graduates won places on UK Power Networks’ first post-university scheme in more than five years and will be working in roles such as innovation, design and for the electricity firm’s Distribution System Operator.
The opportunity proved popular with more than 4,400 university leavers applying for the roles at the country’s biggest electricity distributor, and a rigorous application process with interviews and assessments led to the highest performers being selected.
The elite graduate scheme is a two-year programme where essential skills will be learnt while on the job, with mentoring from some of the industry’s best engineers. The skills learnt will contribute to creating a more reliable electricity network as the UK looks to increasingly use electricity to run low carbon technologies such as Electric Vehicles and heat pumps.
UK Power Networks distributes electricity to 8.5 million homes and businesses across London, the South East, and the East, and the new starters will work across these three regions mainly in Crawley, Maidstone, Stevenage and at multiple sites in the capital.
The scheme is the first of its kind in five years at the electricity firm, designed to tackle the fact that engineering roles are among the hardest to fill as university leavers are more inclined to join other industries such as finance, data and IT.
However, according to Engineering UK, engineering and technology jobs are predicted to grow faster than other occupations, in all UK regions between now and 2030. In addition, the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET) estimates there is a 173,000 shortfall in workers in the STEM sector – costing the economy £1.5bn per year.
Alex Rama, 21, graduated from Royal Holloway University with a degree in Electronic Engineering and will now spend two years at UK Power Networks training as a field engineer. Originally from Hanworth in Norfolk, Alex said: “This is a dream job for me, I’m extremely grateful and lucky to be selected.”
His role will see him working out of the Bidder Street depot in east London and he added: “The positive impact this job has on people’s lives and being able to make London a better city appealed to me.”
Barry Hatton, who is director of Asset Mangement at UK Power Networks following a 43-year career, said: “It’s great to see talent coming into the business to help us address the challenges of facilitating the delivery of the low carbon transition for our customers.
“I am very impressed with the quality of our new recruits and can understand why, given the level of interest in our graduate scheme. They join our company at a fantastic time given the scale and speed of the decarbonisation challenge.”
Stephanie Baxter, head of policy at the IET added: “Graduate schemes like this are a great step towards plugging the nation’s STEM skills gap and ensuring the next generation are equipped with the right skills and knowledge to engineer a better world for us all.”
“Many people still don’t understand the work of engineers or appreciate how much society depends on their skills and innovation. This is why the UK is not going to have enough engineers in the next decade, so it is vital that we attract lots of new people from different backgrounds. In order to ensure we have the right mix of engineering skills; we need to provide more opportunities for young people to develop their skill sets starting in schools and continuing throughout their education and into the workplace.”
