In the engineering job market, disruption is the new norm. Economic uncertainty, the remote/hybrid work revolution, and rapid technological transformation influence how businesses operate and build their teams. The rise of AI and automation alone is beginning to cause issues for employers and engineering candidates.
The World Economic Forum predicts that AI and automation will displace up to 85 million jobs and create 97 million new ones by 2025. The only way to ensure you access the best opportunities in the future is to increase your value as an employee proactively.
As you invest in your long-term health with proactive habits, you can future-proof your career by cultivating and nurturing a versatile skillset. Here’s how to take the “preventative care” approach to ensuring you can adapt and thrive in the new work age.
Why Future-Proofing Matters Now
Leading engineering employees have long embraced a “growth mindset”, committing to constantly developing and expanding their abilities to adapt to market changes. This proactive approach to future-proofing your career is becoming increasingly crucial.
Employer priorities are shifting, the skills required to deliver in engineering roles are evolving, and job competition is increasing as companies expand their talent acquisition strategies with remote employees. Future-proofing your skillset now means you can adapt to:
The Global Skill Shortage Crisis
Four in five employers struggle to find the talent they need in the engineering industry. Developing new in-demand skills boosts your chances of getting multiple job offers from various companies and earning the salary you deserve.
Candidates with valuable skills have more scope to negotiate salaries and request additional benefits. Your skillset will ensure you can compete with a broader range of candidates as employers embrace remote staff members to broaden their talent pool.
AI and Automation in the Workplace
Artificial intelligence and automation are reshaping every industry. Sectors from manufacturing to finance and retail are becoming increasingly automated. Even customer-facing and creative employees risk losing their roles to generative AI tools.
While the technology revolution puts some jobs at risk, it also creates new opportunities for those who can collaborate effectively with AI systems. Employees who can effectively leverage AI and automation to become more efficient can sidestep the risk of job displacement.
Economic Uncertainty
Market volatility, ongoing industry disruptions, and the ripple effects of global events make economic stability unpredictable. Employers have less to invest in talent and are becoming more cautious about how they build and develop their teams.
Developing a broad skillset now is how you ensure you can convince employers of the return on investment they’ll get from hiring you. It can also help you adapt to new work modes, like remote working, which have emerged as a critical tool for reducing business operating costs.
Evolving Workplace Dynamics
The workplace is rapidly changing due to the rise of new technologies and new remote and hybrid working styles, cross-functional teams, and diverse office spaces. Future-proofing your skill set means developing new technical skills and building capabilities to help you communicate and collaborate more effectively in this changing space.
The soft skills you build now, from emotional intelligence to adaptability and communication skills, will help you thrive as workplaces evolve.
Creating Your Essential Skills Framework
Diversity is the key to building a future-proof skillset in the engineering industry. According to McKinsey, employers will increasingly prioritise candidates with specific technical skills (such as digital literacy) plus robust soft and hybrid skills.
Identifying High-Value Technical Skills
In a technology-driven world, digital literacy and robust technical skills are becoming essential to every engineering role. The ability to work seamlessly with automated tools, artificial intelligence, cloud platforms, and data will make you more valuable to your employer.
Start by focusing on digital literacy and learning more about data visualisation, interpretation, and analysis. Then, develop cybersecurity awareness with courses and workshops that cover steps to protect information in a digitally connected landscape.
Ensure you’re confident using the standard software your team in your space relies on daily, such as video conferencing, file sharing, and collaboration apps.
From there, focus on the industry-specific software you must be familiar within the engineering landscape. Every industry invests in more must-have software, from AI-driven electronic health record systems in healthcare to extended reality applications in manufacturing.
Developing Transferable Human Skills
- Adaptability: Develop a mindset focused on innovation, problem-solving, and critical thinking. Hone your ability to respond quickly and effectively to changes and commit to constant learning, self-analysis, and improvement.
- Emotional intelligence: Emotional intelligence is essential in a collaborative workplace defined by diversity. Practice developing empathy, work on conflict resolution skills, and nurture mindfulness.
- Communication: Written and verbal communication skills are essential for engineering employees. Practice active listening to enhance understanding and collaboration. Show cross-cultural awareness by adapting your language when interacting with diverse team members and experimenting with different communication formats.
Building Hybrid Skills
Hybrid skills combine technical and human skills, making them incredibly valuable to various roles. Digital leadership, for instance, is an excellent example of a hybrid skill in the engineering industry. It involves developing standard leadership skills related to motivation, problem-solving, and time management, focusing on digital transformation.
For instance, with strong digital leadership skills, you could guide and support remote team members and in-office staff, manage projects with digital tools, and empower virtual collaboration. Business acumen is another significant hybrid skill.
Developing business acumen is about building a deeper understanding of your role’s strategic and commercial aspects. The more you understand your company’s goals, the challenges and risks you might face as you pursue targets, and the customers you’re trying to serve, the more effective you’ll be as an employee.
Strategic Skill Building Tips: Shaping your Skillset
Developing a future-proof skillset in the engineering industry requires thorough investigation and research, self-awareness, motivation, and creativity. Here are a few practical steps to build your development plan.
Step 1: Conduct a Thorough Self-Assessment
First, ensure you understand your current strengths and weaknesses. Conduct a skills audit, listing your current abilities (including soft and hard skills), then compare your findings with the emerging needs and trends in the engineering industry.
Reading job descriptions can help you here, offering an insight into the abilities employers are prioritising in your sector. From there, ask yourself which skills you should focus on now, whether improving your performance in your current role, making yourself indispensable, or improving your ability to reach your career goals.
Step 2: Structure a Clear Learning Pathway
Once you have a clear picture of the skills and abilities you need to develop and which you should prioritise, design a “learning pathway” that maps out your future journey. Start with the short-term goals you want to achieve in the next three months, such as completing an online course that teaches you how to use a new piece of specific software.
Then, move on to your mid-term goals, focusing on targets that will take longer to reach, such as earning more complex certifications. Finally, outline your long-term vision, extending two to five years in the future. Imagine where you want to be at that stage in your career, and make sure your short – and mid-term strategies are leading you in the right direction.
Step 3: Identify Valuable Development Resources
With your path ahead laid out, explore the learning resources available. There are many options to explore, depending on your learning styles and needs. For some engineering employees, free online courses and workshops offer a fantastic way to quickly build new abilities with minimal upfront investment.
Consider paid certifications and classes to help build your CV with approved credentials. Remember to look beyond traditional learning opportunities. Joining community forums in the engineering industry or working with mentors can pave the way to excellent peer-to-peer learning.
Step 4: Track Your Progress and Adapt
Finally, ensure you have a system to track your progress. Define measurement metrics you can use to assess your skill development process objectively. For instance, monitor how much time you dedicate to your education daily or weekly.
Look for success indicators that help you mark stages in your journey, such as completing course segments or earning a certificate. Establishing feedback loops with mentors and peers can also be an excellent way to access outside perspectives you can use to measure your progress. As you continue to grow and improve, adapt your strategy, setting new, relevant goals that push you to greater heights.
Future Proofing Your Engineering Career
The job market for engineering candidates is complex, competitive, and increasingly uncertain. Technological advancements, changing priorities among employers, and expanding talent pools will all lead to new challenges for you to overcome in the years ahead.
Invest in the best insurance for your career’s future by taking a proactive approach to developing your skillset now. Start spending time on regular skill assessments, researching industry trends, and connecting with mentors and peers who can help you grow.
Speak to engineering recruitment professionals for advice on how you can become more valuable to employers and invest in varied training and development strategies. The steps you take now will ensure you can survive the changes in the job market and thrive in the new world of work.
All the best
Steve
At Coalesce we have been partnering with engineering candidates for over 28 years; if you would like our input into how you can future proof your engineering career, then give us a call on 07512 821708 or email us here.