Career off the road!

Even Gordon Brown, our esteemed chancellor, has at last begun to realise the problems we are creating by diverting so many of our young people into university, at the expense of the skilled trades.

Possibly it was difficulties in trying to get a plumber out to Downing Street that led to his recent forays into the press on the issue. But, whatever the reason, the increasing shortage of trained plumbers, electricians, builders etc. is a topic that is suddenly making the headlines ... and the TV ... and the radio.

What most security installation companies know all too well, is that if there are problems in these high profile trades, these trends are certainly reflected in our own industry.

In fact the problem could become substantially worse. With wide-scale press coverage of the staff shortages in the plumbing and electrical trade – and of the details of just how much a skilled plumber can earn – those school leavers considering going into a trade will doubtless be looking in these areas first.

In November 2002 SITO (Security Industry Training Organisation attended the Skills Show at Salford Quays in Manchester. Cooper Security provided free equipment for the stand, so an installation race could be held and two trainee installers did demo installations as part of their NVQ awards.

This industry will face an extremely severe shortage of skilled installers as our current ‘experts’ begin to retire

The show was huge and extremely busy. Five halls were filled with coach loads of young people from as far away as Glasgow and Lands End – and extremely large and noisy stands for organisations such as the Electrical Contractors Association, the Army, and the building trades, as well as catering, hairdressing and even fish frying. Clearly most of the trades with whom we compete for young trainees are taking their recruitment extremely seriously. Talking to some of the attendees at the show we got the reaction that many of us would expect. Many young people felt that they were being actively diverted, by their schools and careers advisors, towards university or further education of some kind. If they themselves were thinking of not taking that route then the options they were considering were the very obvious ones of the electrical or building industries.

Some were looking at the telecommunications and computer networking industries. To be frank – not many were thinking of security.

Perhaps some installers may not think that this is an issue. But couple it with SITO's figures that show that our whole industry is currently putting only 300 apprentices through training (about 150 of those through the SITO Co-operative Training Network), and who cannot fail to see the problem we have coming?

Severe shortage ahead
This industry will face an extremely severe shortage of skilled installers as our current 'experts' begin to retire. Clearly the outcome of this will be a very limited number of trained installers available for hire – and by the obvious law of supply and demand this will make them more expensive. So trained staff will be hard to come by, and if our experience at the Skills Show is anything to go by we will also have a very limited number of young people coming into the industry. If you can't hire the staff, you can't do the work. Less work completed, less profit. It is a very simple equation.

There are clearly two key issues here which need to be addressed. Firstly, we need to attract young people into the industry and, secondly, we need to make sure they, and the young installers already in the business, are properly trained.

The options young people were considering were the very obvious ones of the electrical or building industries – not many were thinking of security

The two are clearly not unrelated. Discussions that the Cooper Security and SITO representatives at the Skills Show had with various attendees made that clear. Talking to both the attendees and quite often their parents it was clear that what they were looking for in a career was the ability to 'get on', to properly learn a skill, that was then transferable and in demand.

Proper training, leading to respected qualifications is clearly a huge part of what attracts good quality school leavers into an industry – and certainly gets their parents, and no doubt their careers advisors, on side.

Positive image needed
We found that parents, in particular, didn't have a very positive image of the security industry, so one of our challenges is to change that – and training is one of these powerful tools we can use it in that battle. Simply put, we need our installation companies to commit to properly training their new recruits and, as an industry, we have to get out and convince people that security is a vibrant industry, one in which new staff become well trained, receive recognised qualifications, and form the foundations of a rewarding career.

This is clearly not currently true for many new recruits into our industry, and until it is, it is very difficult to get out there and convince schools, parents, careers advisors and young people themselves to, at least, put security on their list of potentially appealing career options.

Still many security companies just see the downside of training: the costs, losing staff for what could be billable working days, and the threat that, once trained, an installer could easily move on to another job. However, on the plus side, an installer who can talk knowledgably about the industry and the services and equipment available, is a natural sales rep; bad habits don't get passed on by existing staff and the company reputation for quality increases. A well-recognised qualification also gives customers confidence, and surely customer satisfaction is the best sales tool there is. Better-trained staff deliver much more of it.

Parents, in particular, didn’t have a very positive image of the security industry

   Successful Co-op network
SITO, and the companies and colleges participating in the Co-operative Training Network, have done much to address these issues. The Network is now the single biggest training programme for engineers available. However, we are not complacent; much more needs to be achieved and many more companies and young people need to be encouraged to take part. We also need to encourage the trade associations and industry inspectorates to make training and qualifications a high priority.

The future isn't very far away – and a future without being able to recruit new staff is going to severely restrict your ability to grow your business.
So what should installation companies do?

Start with the basics and put together a training plan for your young staff and any new recruits. Then lobby our industry bodies to start re-educating the world out there about the benefits of this business... and actually support them in this.

The next Skills Show is in 2004 and we need your help to compete with the big guns in plumbing and building.