The owners of Land Rover have announced that they will be creating 4,500 manufacturing and engineering jobs across the next five years. Tata Motors, who also own car company Jaguar, believe this employment boost will make them the largest recruiter in the automobile sector.
The executive director of Jaguar Land Rover, Mike Wright, said that the company will aim to produce 2,500 manufacturing jobs and 2,000 engineering roles between now and 2017 to develop a talent pool with global expertise. Indian-based company Tata Motors had been criticised for apparently giving preferential treatment towards UK immigrants from India ahead of British born applicants.
However, hitting back against the claims, India’s UK high commissioner Jaimini Bhagwati said: “The amount of employment generated by Indian companies are far more than the jobs taken by Indian immigrants.” Bhagwati added that the biggest stumbling block for potential candidates is their lack of a skill-base and that manufacturing needs to be made “sexy” in order for the very best talent to become involved in the industry.
On the face of it, a rather bizarre claim. Do we really want a sexy manufacturing industry? Well, Bhagwati is not the only person to think so. Karin Lindner, the founder of Karico Performance Solutions, has wrote a book all about it – adeptly titled How can we make Manufacturing sexy?
Lindner argues that there is too much negativity in the manufacturing trade and that a lack of initiative and communication skill means that changes need to be made to lure in candidates with a greater quality skill set. The news should come as a welcome boost for the unemployed who – according to a recent government report- are growing in numbers.
Results showed that over 1m young people between the ages of 16 and 24 were unemployed in the yearly quarter of February to April 2012. This is a 13 per cent increase from the same time in 2011. There was also a rise in young people claiming jobseekers with a 7.5 per cent difference from 2011 to 2012. However, whether those currently unemployed will have the right skill set to successfully apply for such roles is unclear.
The manufacturing industry – like many others – would prefer to hire those with an extensive amount of experience in the sector and the right qualifications behind them.For the unemployed, it may be essential to gain experience on an unpaid basis in order to acquire the skills that employers like Tata Motors are looking for.
Matthew Wood is an article writer and online marketing expert. Matthew researches a number of differant subjects in order to write informative and opinionated articles for blogs of a range of niches. His latest subject is writing on behalf of LR Parts who supply Landrover and Range Rover Parts to clients across the UK.