SOLVING THE RECRUITMENT CHALLENGE | SUPPLY CHAIN We specialise within the technical roles and because it’s such a


competitive landscape now, it is about attracting young professionals to want to be within clean energy and part of sustaining the


environment. We’re seeing that our clients are looking at how they’re making themselves attractive to young professionals and showing them how the nuclear market is going to feed into that landscape


Now companies are having to be more conscientious on how they’re marketing to the young engineering talent to attract them and integrate them into the industry,” Samuelson says. She also picks up on other changing perspectives when looking to source people from other sectors such as in oil and gas, that is seen by many as an industry in terminal decline given the climate change imperative. As Samuelson observes: “If I look across my portfolio, nuclear is one of the more challenging sub-markets to move people back and forth from, but we have observed our clients being more open to various backgrounds. If candidates have expertise within other power generation sectors – because there are other types of power generation plants that are closing if you’re looking at coal or other markets – they’re more open to going ahead. Previously it was a requirement for prior nuclear experience in order to be considered for the role.” She adds: “Now we’re seeing that within certain areas like engineering, project controls, planning, and scheduling, that those types of backgrounds do seem to be transferable from within oil and gas and other power generation markets.”


Boosting mobility While in many ways the bigger part of a nuclear power station is the same as a coal-fired power station, an important function has been educating the nuclear business to exploit this kind of opportunity as a source of skilled and experienced workers. Increased mobility can see people move within the industry itself, between sectors, and internationally. Global mobility is therefore another important source of recruitment but is one that the nuclear business has traditionally struggled with. “We do see the least amount of global mobility within this market, and I would surmise that’s because government regulations make it easier to move from station to station domestically. We have seen a small amount, but it’s mostly people from the US moving to other stations. We’re not seeing many people move into the US market from other countries,” says Samuelson. However, according to GETI, in response to growing momentum behind new nuclear, particularly in Asia, 69% of employers promote cross- regional job transfers – the highest of any sector. Samuelson continues: “Operators from other energy


business areas globally are being brought into the US, are highly desired and it is a lot easier to do that because it is happening more often than we’re seeing within the nuclear industry.” She cites the LNG market where global mobility is significant. “Oil and gas capital projects around the globe benefit from having the capability to mobilise globally to support projects. They are looking for key backgrounds to


be able to move from project to project; therefore, we see that within other markets this approach is more highly utilised,” she says. Nonetheless, the idea that other sectors have benefited


from easier recruitment of people from a more diverse geographical area has helped and is being increasingly reappraised by the nuclear industry. “Our client base has been receptive to our suggestions when there are similarities across backgrounds and skill sets. There is an openness to review and talk through candidate backgrounds. If the market is tighter, they’re looking at power generation or oil and gas and being able to transfer over a planner / scheduler from another industry,” says Samuelson. According to the GETI report, the nuclear sector has


consistently ranked the lowest when it comes to global mobility within the energy sector, despite the fact that three quarters of respondents said that they would consider relocating. The mobility barrier will likely remain a challenge in coming years though. “There’s a huge appetite from our clients for people that have worked at other stations across the US. That’s a challenge within the nuclear environment because there is a lot of time and resource invested in their workforce to be able to work at a nuclear station that you’re not seeing across some of the other emerging markets, because it’s so highly regulated,” says Samuelson.


Stump up the cash Inevitably, industry attractiveness and staff retention drivers extend to salaries too. The GETI survey suggests that low pay could drive a skills exodus with only 59% of hiring managers expecting salaries to rise next year, the lowest of any area in the energy sector. As a result, nuclear job satisfaction is currently the lowest in the industry at 62%, with nuclear workers also the most likely to say remuneration is the biggest driver of high job satisfaction. Remuneration has also overtaken culture as the third biggest driver of workforce relocation to other regions. Overall, though, Samuelson argues that solving the


recruitment challenge will need a whole toolbox of approaches that can make the nuclear industry not only attractive to newcomers but that will allow the industry to retain skills and experience within the business too. “Across the entire market it was candidate-driven in 2022


and we found people were more receptive to taking new positions. We saw that people were open to hearing about new locations, new roles, and clients must be aware of that,” she says. As Samuelson concludes: “It needs to be at the forefront


for our clients on how to attract, but also retain their workforce, and that’s feeding in from training to culture to overall work-life balance.” ■


www.neimagazine.com | March 2023 | 21


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45