5/26/2010 4:11:01 PM
Industry buzz - Automotive
By Joel Hard
We all remember the doom and gloom surrounding this volatile
industry a year ago. The Automotive recruitment team at ARM felt the pinch
as its sector became one of the first to feel the impact of the
recession.
Being one of the first markets to crash, could it be one of the
first to recover? Perhaps wishful thinking, but we now have reason
to believe that there is reason for cautious optimism.
For the past 6 months we have witnessed a surge in recruitment
across the industry within both contract and permanent recruitment
markets.
Significant, substantial and serious investment in time, energy
and effort is being invested back into the recruitment and
retention of niche automotive development engineering
expertise.
Why? For starters, the race is on to produce green or
hybrid-energy driven vehicles.
Government-backed initiatives are in full flow and contributing
to a buoyant and flamboyant attitude towards new product
development in this area.
Furthermore, businesses that lost talent during the early-to-mid
recession period now need it back, and fast. Competition is hotting
up as key programmes are being awarded and are up for grabs for the
next generation of vehicles. Old programmes, once on hold, are
being revisited. Confidence from buyers is slowing being restored.
The industry needs more engineers again.
We are not close to the market’s potential, not close at all;
but there has been a marked improvement over the last six months.
At ARM we are busy recruiting heavily across a spectrum of skills
over the whole of the UK.
OEMs are taking back contractors, meaning increased workloads
for first tier suppliers.
Consultancies are picking up more robust packages of development
work. We are hearing people “talking up” the market, as if trying
to talk it out of its recent desperate state.
This is not to say that everyone will be back, happily at work,
tomorrow or next week. But the market is busy, we are busy, our
clients and candidates are busy: supplying candidates, tendering
for work, searching for it.
Whisper it, but the automotive industry just might be beginning
to revive after its long, hard winter.
Discover more about ARM's Automotive Recruitment
division.