A representative of the Council for Industry and Higher Education stated fewer than one in 10 engineering professionals were female – the lowest percentage in the European Union.

A study related to the campaign found that advice for careers given to schoolgirls in the manufacturing and engineering sectors were “lacking”.
The Director of the Talent 2030 Campaign, Mr.Aaron Porter, stated: “The subject choices made by 13-year-olds have an enormous consequence for their future careers, which in turn has an affect on the UK economy”.

It is hoped that the campaign will encourage young people to consider compelling evidence which demonstrates that not only do jobs in the engineering and manufacturing sector make a considerable contribution to our economy and society, but they additionally deliver a larger earning potential than many other careers.

The results were released by Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks, and the study also found that many of the new positions would be in skilled or managerial posts.

Scott McKerracher, Clydesdale Bank’s regional director for Scotland, said the results were “encouraging”. He added: “These results suggest that a growing number of businesses are starting to look to the future with more confidence.

“It continues to be a challenging time for businesses and many will have had to make tough decisions to protect their business, however, few will have lost sight of the fact that their staff are their most important asset. By investing in their workforce when the time is right, businesses are helping to pave the way for growth and future success.

“The research appears to indicate that recruitment and training are beginning to re-emerge as key priorities for UK businesses as they look to the future and plan if, and how, they will take advantage of any emerging opportunities.”

The sales, media and marketing sectors look set to lead the recruitment drive, with 66% of such businesses looking to take on more staff (66%).

The research was carried out in June, when 1033 adults in Scotland and England were questioned.

Report supplied by www.stv.tv”

The SME sector invest �300 million a year on sourcing 250,000 new employees, however, 55,000 of those businesses have to re-recruit within a six month period.

Clearly, there is a direct financial cost in having to start the selection process again, however, a far greater indirect cost reflects upon business productivity, re-training, staff morale etc.

There is no selection process that can offer a 100% guaranteed success, however, businesses can improve on their attrition levels by following some simple and cost effective procedures and guidelines.

1. Make sure you have a clear and up to date job specification, there should be no surprises in the day-to-day duties a new employee will undertake when they join your business.

2. Consider inexpensive pre assessment tools like a Thomas International ‘job analysis’ which assists the employer to obtain a greater understanding of what personal traits a specific job requires. It is scientifically proven that if you fail to select the correct personal traits for a role, the candidate is more likely not to succeed in the post.

3. Prepare your interview questions; think about the key competencies that are required for a person to succeed in the role. If they need strong conflict handling skills then create questions that explore their past experience in handling difficult customers, how they resolved an issue, how that made them feel etc.

4. Use testing tools to assess an individuals skills, these can be extremely diverse, however, relatively inexpensive. I would advise anyone considering using any form of test to use a professional to assist or proven test material from a reputable source, creating your own tests without validating the material can be more of a hindrance than a benefit.

5. Try to reflect a fair and clear picture of your business, the environment and culture of your company at interview. Make sure the balance of the interview is even, give your interviewee the chance to answer and ask questions.

In a study conducted at The University of Michigan on the ‘Validity and Utility of Alternative Predictors of Job Performance’, the usefulness of the interview in accurately predicting later success on the job was analysed. The surprising finding: The typical interview increases the likelihood of choosing the best candidate by less than 2%. In other words, if you just ‘flipped’ a coin you would be correct 50% of the time. If you added an interview you would only be right 52% of the time.