Renewables

25-November-2009

In the relatively new recruitment sector of renewables, both in-house and external recruiters are having to be flexible over the talent on the market. With engineers in particular in short supply and with energy companies actively seeking alternative forms of generating the UK’s power, hostilities in this particular war for talent are only set to increase.

“The candidates we require are rare because there are no other renewables organisations that are set up as we are,” says Pam Punia, HR manager, Centrica Renewables. “The lack of engineering capability is starting to be addressed, however, because of the need for experienced individuals,” Punia adds.

And finding candidates with both the necessary experience and the required skillset is easier said than done, according to James Hobbs, senior consultant at Acre Resource.

“You want to get people that have prior experience within the climate change/renewable energy space. Firms are either looking for people with experience or transferable skills that can be carried across.”

Recruiters are looking to countries such as India and China to bring in the necessary engineering talent, according to Sam Newell, director at RenewableEnergyJobs.com.

“There is a global skills shortage but there are more engineering graduates overseas,” he explains. “There are something like 28,000 engineering graduates that come out of UK universities, compared to around 800,000 in China and 650,000 in India.”

But even recruiting within the UK brings its own set of problems, as wind farms are often located in rural areas, says Martin McCrum, director at Aspirare.

“We have placed teams of people around the country - quite a lot of the wind farms are rural, on top of hills, so the pool of labour is not really next to a large town. If you are getting a team to work on a wind farm project, what you have to look at is putting them up in some form of accommodation - even caravans. It is an added expense in terms of labour.”

I look for a good degree of understanding and knowledge of Centrica and our operations. Building relationships with recruitment agencies is important

And clients are fully aware of the need to look beyond experience to the skills a candidate has. A BP spokesperson told Recruiter: “There are very few ‘renewables-only’ skills. We need project managers, commercial managers, planning engineers, policy and strategy people, and so on - the very same range that we need elsewhere.”

Addressing this skills shortage has caused a growing number of agencies to enter this sector, says Punia. “The number of recruitment agencies that now specialise within the renewables sector has grown and so agencies are being flexible on margins in order to secure the business.

“Although competition for the good candidates is high, we are attracting quality candidates because of our position within the sector.”

And whether there are skills shortages or not, recruiters would do well to stick to the basics of recruitment, according to Punia. “I look for a good degree of understanding and knowledge of Centrica and our operations. Building relationships with recruitment agencies is important, so that they understand our requirements and can source the right type of candidate. The reputation of a new agency you work with is made or lost by the candidate they put forward.”