1. While many industries and companies are unfortunately making redundancies, Photonic and Semiconductor companies are not. Competition for the best talent available is fierce. There is not going to be a sudden rush of talent in the marketplace in fact the opposite is likely to happen as a result of COVID and Brexit. That means when recruiting you have to look harder for the right candidate and work harder to win them on to your team.
2. Having a real understanding of the fascinating work the photonics and semiconductor companies do is critical to being able to recruit the right talent for their teams. Understanding both the required technical skills but also the soft skills required to work in that environment and team is a critical part of our job.
3. One unique aspect of the photonic and semiconductor marketplace is that unlike any other industry only a hand full of people graduate in electronics and physics which means they are a scarce talent pool from which to recruit from.
4. As competition for talent is fierce in the photonics and semiconductor marketplace understanding what motivates the people who work there is critical to recruiting them. Often in my experience it's not necessarily about the money but how fulfilling the work is, being the right fit for the team as well as the work life balance on offer. Knowing what motivates our candidates is key to our success.
5. This is a growing industry with Photonics expected to triple in size in Scotland in the next 10 years. The pipeline of local talent cannot keep up so we need to develop more home grown talent in our universities, attract more international talent arranging work visas for employees and competing on an international stage to be an attractive place to live and work.