What does the future hold for electronics engineering graduates?

As we know, the industry is crying out for electrical engineers, analysts and testers but is being held back by the much talked about skills gap, where the supply for these roles doesn't meet demand. Despite this, graduates today still report fierce competition in looking for jobs. It has been suggested that the graduate problem lies in an uneven job market, where large corporates can attract huge numbers of applications leading to high competition for these jobs. Meanwhile smaller, lesser known companies struggle to fill their roles or convince applicants to move to their often remote locations. It is these issues which have resulted in only 59.3% of 2011/2012 UK graduates entering full time work six months after graduating, and of this percentage, only half of those entered engineering or information technology professions. It is estimated that there will be 87,000 jobs requiring engineering skills each year in Britain up to 2020, yet only 46,000 engineering students graduate each year. With statistics like this, the problems are inevitable and will only continue until the industry does more to get these graduates and younger students interested in electrical engineering. The future is bright To overcome the industry problems, widen experience and increase the intake into the engineering and IT profession, graduates have been widely encouraged to take up industrial placements at SME's. SEMTA, the sector skills council for science, engineering and manufacturing technologies, has helped to boost apprentice numbers from 1,035 in 2011-12 to 1,393 in April 2013. "Large companies are recognising the value of engineering apprenticeships," says Bill Twigg, SEMTA's apprenticeship director. What's interesting is a recent study by e-skills UK found that 92% of businesses are satisfied with the skills presented by apprentices reporting "increased productivity, staff morale, retention and fresh ideas". It is these apprentices who are the next generation of graduates and it seems it isn't their skills or willingness to enter the profession that is holding them back. We have found that SME's are resistant to taking on graduates and want tried and tested talent for their businesses. Many are reluctant to invest in developing new talent and this directly affects their decisions to take on graduates. It is of course too soon to tell where these graduates will go. However, the rise of tech start ups in the country is completely changing the game. Tech start ups have grown at unprecedented rate and have helped pull the UK out of recession, with tech hubs popping up in every city of the UK. Tech start ups are putting the UK on the map with British entrepreneurs creating a record number of new businesses in 2013 with many of these companies CEO's being engineers themselves. Forbes writes that there is wave of young people who "are digital natives and therefore significantly technically more skilled than the previous generation." They are rejecting the traditional 9-5 in favour of working at start ups or starting one themselves. Interestingly in these start up firms, which are five years or younger, young people earn 3.1% more than at well established firms, making it even more attractive for innovative and energetic graduates to take this route. I suspect that a greater percentage of today's graduates will enter into the tech start up market than ever before. However, be it tech start ups, SME's or a large corporation, graduates need to be invested in to a greater degree in order to overcome the gap in the industry and to facilitate the overall growth of the entire sector in a global market. The only way the skills gap is going to lessen is by creating opportunities, developing, and nurturing talent and taking a chance on today's graduates. Are tech start ups the future for our electrical engineering graduates? Are you an electrical engineering graduate, what are your thoughts for your career path? We would love to hear your thoughts! Anndeep Sandhu is a marketing executive with Enigma People Solutions.