We solved our skills crisis by investing £100,000 in young talent

Martin Smith is chief executive of metal fabrication company The HEX Group

For decades, the construction industry has had a people problem. And now the workforce is ageing, it’s only getting worse. More people are leaving the industry than joining it and businesses are feeling the brunt of this trend. Thirty-one per cent of construction employers say their number one headache is finding suitably skilled workers. It’s a familiar story in engineering too – one we’ve been dealing with for years.

“We’ve brought in 200 young people, many of whom are now in senior roles”

At my business, we hit this problem a while ago. And the truth is, our quick fixes didn’t work. We knew we had to go long term: grow our talent, start earlier and change the way we talk about jobs in engineering.

But it’s not just about protecting your own business. If we don’t get serious about this as a country, we’re going to stall major projects, drag down productivity and continue to hurt the wider economy.

In engineering, we didn’t wait for the industry to sort itself out. We went straight to our local schools and colleges to find our future talent.

Now, that’s not new news for construction. But here’s the difference: we didn’t just show up with a goodie bag and a PowerPoint – we built an entire team to support our school and college partnerships, nurturing future talent right from the get-go. We hold real conversations about real careers and counter the outdated views of ‘dirty’ engineering jobs.

But we get it – school leavers today have tons of choice, so we leave nothing to chance. The gap between open days, work experience and actual real-life career choices is the danger zone. We ensure that we’re part of that conversation, engaging parents as much as their children. If we don’t guide potential talent, the PR machine for higher and further education will typically take over.

Fifteen years ago we took on our first apprentice and haven’t looked back since. We’ve brought in 200 young people, many of whom are now in senior roles, and today our apprenticeship programme is a vital part of our business.

In it for the long haul

Getting young people through the door is only half the battle. The hard part is keeping them. That’s why we invested £100,000 into our Centre of Excellence at Bri-Stor Systems. It’s a proper training facility with a structured approach, mentorship, and a clear path from apprentice to manager.

If construction wants to hold onto recruits, internal training programmes like this or strong links with external providers aren’t optional – they’re essential.

This isn’t just a big-business issue. As an SME, we feel it even more. That’s precisely why we launched a managed apprenticeship scheme last year: to take the admin burden off smaller firms and help them make the most of apprenticeships.

If we want a strong pipeline of skills across the whole industry, we’ve got to support everyone, not just the companies with big HR teams and deep recruitment pockets.

This industry doesn’t need another report to tell us it’s got a problem. It just needs a shake-up and the commitment of people at the right level to make a difference. It won’t happen by accident. We’ve seen it work. We’ve invested. And as a result, we’ve built an engineering business that young people flock to.