Engaging with young people early is the key to winning the war for engineering talent, according to Richard Hamer, education director and head of early career programmes at BAE Systems.

This week’s GCSE results reveal that there has been a 32% increase in the number of students studying the sciences.

Hamer welcomed the news, but adds that employers need to constantly engage with young people about the career options available in engineering.

“We need to continually educate young people. Companies need to ensure young people can find out about their company through their websites.

Hamer adds that school leavers also need to know about available apprenticeships. “Apprenticeships are not fully understood by teachers or career advisers. We have more than1,000 apprenticeships in training, working across military aircraft, naval ships and submarines. They may go from basic welding and metal work to designing head sets that pilots wear. They may go and get a degree. There is a wide spectrum of opportunities.

“For those young people that take apprenticeships, there are opportunities in higher education. About 10% of our apprenticeships go on to higher education. It can be a pathway to a career without debt, and when you go to university the apprenticeships have a real context to engineering. The universities, we have links with, have told us our apprentices have a real understanding of the sector and are really engaged as they are taking time out of work to go to university.”