‘Graduates struggling to find work despite skills shortage’, says CIHT

The challenges faced by graduates trying to find work was discussed at this year’s Chartered Institution of Highways and Transport (CIHT) conference. 

The struggles graduates experienced in getting a job were at odds with complaints in the sector about a wider skills shortage, panellists said.

The panel discussed the drivers and pressures facing the sector and some of the solutions that could help. Members of the panel were: Sue Percy CBE, CIHT Chief Executive; Blayne Cahil, Director, Carrington West; Sam Foster, Business Development Director, Matchtech; and Kate Carpenter, Vice President, CIHT and Director of Road Safety at Jacobs.

There is a skills gap of 40,000 posts per year in transport, civil engineering and environmental sustainability, Cahil pointed out. 

Despite this, “the CIHT employment survey showed that 36% of the workforce is about 55 years old and we are seeing less graduate entry-level roles because of the advent of AI”, he said.

This raised some concerns for him, that “at a time when we need to be widening the funnel bottom, we're going the other way”.

Panellists agreed that the ageing demographic within the sector is not just a failure to recruit new entrants, but also the loss of experienced workers with a wealth of knowledge.

Sue Percy said: “It’s well reported that you’ve got a lot of people in the 50 to 55 plus age range who are going to be leaving the sector, with all that knowledge going out. So, it’s not just about how you recruit in, it’s also how you retain at all levels.”

Kate Carpenter told delegates: “If humans fail, the projects fail, and the infrastructure fails as well. We’re very good, as a profession, at measuring metrics around money, around project delivery, around billability, around margin. 

“How much do we measure metrics on humans? How much do we measure how happy people are?”