Professional Profiles In The Automotive Sector: Every Time More Qualified And Technologically Competent

Some years ago, in the automotive manufacturing sector, human resources centered its attention in keeping in necessary qualified profiles for production.

But technological transformation has affected both professional profiles in all sectors and the search for talent and qualification in the automotive sector. The advance in technology has increased the needs for specialized skills further than just those in the first-line operations.

At Oliver Wyman, a management-specialized Consulting company, they highlight: “Instead of just replacing employees in the production chain to place robots instead, companies should update their current workforce training so they can do new digital tasks”. They go on: “There are forthcoming innovations which will fuel the industry in the future: big data, advanced analysis, artificial intelligence (AI), automated back-office processes and the service robots”.

Lately, automotive companies are showing efforts to attract and secure such talent in their teams. In this way, in their manufacturing departments, companies currently, on one hand, intensify their search in their recruitment policies for high-qualified professionals for innovation and technological development, and, on the other hand, support training for teams already part of their workforces.

Reinforce this trend today is a must: baby boomers´ retirement cycle has begun. Those jobs must find replacements. + 25% automotive manufacturing workforce is aged over 55. A group of professionals with a wide experience and knowledge that young and new recruited generations have not acquired yet. It is crucial to take this knowledge to the new generations of professionals. Automotive manufacturers are already investing in such task.

Besides, those companies are also adapting their policies to the younger staff’s expectations -millennials most of them-. The young workforce has demands on how their social working environment should be, according to the identity signals of this generation: flexible benefits, family life and work conciliation, contributions to the climate change fight and so on. Automotive sector companies are already considering those contents in their business decision-making.

The environmental awareness proves to be relevant in an industry which produces a considerable portion of greenhouse-effect gases. In this sense, manufacturers try to minimize their carbon footprint as much as possible not only to meet with the law but also to listen to what the new society claims.

Because of this, many companies in the sector are following guidelines, which according to Forbes, are essential to attract and hold in talent: adapt their company culture with a progressive approach, based on the technology and philosophy of new generations.

Forbes underlines specifically which areas should be reinforced in the technologic aspect: e-learning, social networking, blogging or instant messaging, artificial intelligence regarding routine and repetitive tasks automation and project management with interconnected tools.

All the above-mentioned are the guidelines the industry should follow. Some steps have already been made when getting to the point of professional teams building in the automotive sector.

Automotive components and equipment industry

Inside the automotive sector, the components and equipment industry is also working on the same track. Currently, it employs directly 224,700 people, one of the highest employment growth rates in the Spanish industry. 3.2% annual growth rate from 2009 to 2017.

This sector represents 10% of the industrial employment total in several autonomous communities. Besides, if they are considered both direct and indirect posts, these numbers may reach 372,800 people according to 2018 data. 230,100 of which are indirect.