How Would You Describe the Capabilities of Recent Graduates?
Home > Aerospace > Roundtable

How Would You Describe the Capabilities of Recent Graduates?

Share it!
Fri, 12/01/2017 - 11:59

As the aviation and aerospace sectors keep growing, they will need more qualified employees, from technicians to pilots and flight assistants. While these professionals are in high demand, they are in short supply. Local aerospace companies complain of employee poaching by their competitors, while the Mexican Association of Aviation Pilots (ASPA) estimates that every year 300 pilots leave Mexico looking for better wages. To ensure the continuous growth of both sectors, solutions to train and retain these personnel must become a priority.

Ángel de Lope

General Manager
Kaeser Compresores de México

Our engineering team evaluates each client’s needs to determine the appropriate compressor and system for them. Kaeser Compresores prides itself on its customer service. Our 24-hour support, 365 days a year as an important factor in our success. If a machine breaks down, we can temporarily substitute it so production is not affected. The main benefits we provide customers is access to our large inventory and excellent personnel. As the state continues growing, it will have to address a lack of sufficient personnel. Personnel retention as well as adjusting to new generational needs is of extreme importance as the more facilities you have the less qualified workers are available. There is a fight for good personnel. New facilities are hiring engineers at 15 percent higher salaries or more than their current employees.

Melvin Cintron

Melvin Cintron

Regional Director
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)

We do not see enough personnel coming into the industry. Becoming a pilot or entering many technical professions is an expensive undertaking. These are mainly male-driven despite the UN’s interest in boosting the number of women in professional endeavors, but we are working to raise awareness and address these issues better in the years ahead. As part of our 60th anniversary we plan to create 60 positions by the end of 2017 for under-privileged women who demonstrate the talent to shine in aerospace. Our main aim is to promote engineering programs and technical universities to create opportunities through scholarships and grants.

We expect globalization and worldwide purchasing power to lead to higher demand for skilled aviation personnel, and to exacerbate infrastructure deficiencies.

Victor Hidalgo

Victor Hidalgo

President
Aerospace Alliance of Baja California

Previously, we did not have aerospace engineering majors at universities, but now we do. Companies have been proactive in transmitting their needs to local schools and there are even corporations that have designed complete courses so universities can train their future employees. Companies pay to integrate these programs so they do not have to worry about new hires not having the proper knowledge to participate in their operations. What we are now doing as a cluster is helping companies identify the common needs of all industry players. In this way, one company does not have to pay to have skilled talent available and instead of training 10 people we can train 100. At the same time, having a common talent development strategy could help minimize talent wars in the state.

Benito Gritzewksy

Benito Gritzewksy

Director General
HEMAQ

Human capital is another challenge: although we have tremendous talent in Mexico where young people of working age are abundant, we must understand the type of people we need to train to perform well in the industry. The development of local research needs to implement the correct strategies to promote aerospace skills and guide people into those degrees.

Mexico has been successful, not because cheap labor, but because its human capital is very competitive and anxious to learn. Companies install manufacturing facilities in Mexico that cannot be replicated to the same standards anywhere in the world due to Mexican labor. Many multinationals know this, Mexican workforce is interested and willing to learn, perform and continuously question how to improve processes.

Ricardo Iñurria

Ricardo Iñurria

Regional Director Queretaro
Out Helping

In terms of volume, there is high demand for maintenance technicians and operators. We recruit engineers, accounting and HR staff, though at lower volumes. Out Helping also facilitates internships. In Queretaro, the aerospace sector is our second largest segment in terms of the number of people we recruit or outsource to clients, running in the thousands over the past 10 years.

Alongside the Cluster and UNAQ, we are creating awareness of the sector among younger people who are still three or more years away from choosing their career path. We constantly research which companies are expanding in the state and which new companies are coming. Companies are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of training, promoting and properly compensating their people to retain them

Luis Lizcano

Luis Lizcano

Director General
FEMIA

The second challenge we face is ensuring we have the appropriate human capital on hand. For the Mexican aerospace sector to grow it is imperative that companies leading its growth can hire qualified employees as soon as they open facilities. We are working on developing more “soft” infrastructure for mid and long-term opportunities, namely the impending need for more human capital. It takes four and a half years to train an engineer so we need to plan in advance for human resources. We collect information regarding the needs of our members and work together with universities and government agencies at the state and federal level so they can train quality human capital in a timely manner. One of the goals of ProAéreo 2012-2020 was to provide jobs to 120,000 individuals and reach US$12 billion in exports.

Rene Espinosa

Rene Espinosa

President
Chihuahua Aerospace Cluster

The challenge of acquiring human capital and suppliers is the first hurdle faced by aerospace companies in Mexico. One of the state’s greatest strengths is our triple helix model, targeted at providing qualified individuals for emerging aerospace companies. Through this model, we have managed to close the gap between the classroom and the facility, which was a first for education in Mexico. We had found in some cases that academic curricula did not match the needs of the industry. Local universities were generating a significant number of engineers but overlooking qualified and specialized technicians, which aerospace manufacturing companies need in high numbers. Newly arriving international entities would often need to make large investments to train the necessary personnel.

You May Like

Most popular

Newsletter