Misunderstood sector spans hard hats to sandwiches

Wanted: Engineers

Too many people think engineering is an unglamorous job that involves driving trains or fixing lawn mowers, says one senior civil engineer.

Peter Ensor, a contracts operations manager with Hurlstone Earthmoving, has been an engineer for 10 years and frequently visits schools to promote engineering as a career. He is concerned because there are not enough young engineers coming through to meet the needs of the industry.

"A group of us tour secondary schools and meet older primary school students throughout New Zealand to tell them what we do in our working day, how varied and interesting our work is, and what is exciting about our jobs," says Ensor.

"For example, I tell students that an engineer designed the America's Cup yacht, they build bridges, design cars ... any piece of infrastructure that New Zealand has, has come about because of the work of engineers."

Ensor's concerns about the shortage on new engineers to replace those heading for retirement are well-founded.

A skills shortage survey carried out by Manpower this year shows that 39 per cent of employers in New Zealand and 32 per cent of employers in the Asia Pacific region are struggling to fill jobs despite current economic conditions. And number two on the skills shortage list (after sales reps) is engineering.

In a 2007 report by the Department of Labour, the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand reported that New Zealand needed to double the number of civil engineering graduates to ease the shortage. The skills shortage, says the report, means that many engineering graduates receive job offers before they complete their studies.

And according to FutureInTech, a government-funded body charged with promoting engineering as a career choice, the number of students graduating from technology and engineering has stagnated over the last eight years.

According to the organisation, New Zealand now has the lowest rate of professional engineering graduates in the OECD - just 5 per cent of all graduates - compared to the average of 15 per cent in the OECD and more than 30 per cent in South Korea.

Ensor says that unless engineering is already in the family, young people often have little idea about what the job involves. That's one of the reasons he visits schools, sometimes up to three a week, to talk about the career as part of the FutureInTech programme.

"The main question students ask is how much they can earn as an engineer," he says. "Or they say how cool the job looks and ask if it is hard to do.

"A lot of students are surprised at the scope of the work engineers do, as they can work on projects from major infrastructure to food. Students are just blown away that a bioengineer can play a part in the food they eat."

The job of an engineer is varied and ranges from a consultant, who might design a water treatment plant or a food blender, to those - such as Ensor - who work on the physical construction side.

"Civil engineering is not viewed as a glamorous career because it is not always a comfortable 9 to 5 office job," says Ensor. "Right now my firm has people working seven days a week, 24 hours a day. A lot of staff are working 12-hour shifts.

"So some people are scared away by the long hours and the misconception of what engineering is all about. And they see jobs in accounting and other careers as more appealing."

Right now Ensor is working on a project that involves digging up part of Auckland's Great South Rd.

"It's all rock, so we are using rock breakers and other machinery," he says. "We are wearing hard hats, steel-capped boots, gloves ... that's why people are scared away. The hard work and the misconception of what the job is all about."

But the career does have its upsides as, because of the global shortage of skilled engineers, there are plenty of opportunities to travel.

"Most Kiwis do go overseas, mainly to Australia," says Ensor. "Or English-speaking countries - it is one of those jobs where you can take your skills anywhere."

One of Ensor's colleagues is off to Sweden to work with oil giant Shell and Ensor has done his fair share of travelling too, having worked in Britain and Australia. In Britain he worked on Terminal Five at Heathrow Airport as well as various bridges and motorways. In Australia he worked on water treatment plants and here at home, the many projects he has worked on include Auckland Airport.

Despite the long hours and constant challenges, Ensor says engineering is a brilliant career.

"I love the job," he says. "You turn up for work and every day there is always something new to do. We had a water main blow on a project just recently, so we had to repair that quickly - that was something we never expected to happen."

He says a big part of the job is how you react to challenges and the unexpected events of the day - such as when his team severed a power cable to Auckland's Britomart complex.

"There are rules on where cables should be and we were digging in the correct place," says Ensor. "But the cable was 3m off from where it should have been. Britomart had to be closed and the power turned off so the cable could be repaired and all the safety checks done."

The drama was just another day on the job. Ultimately, says Ensor, none of what we take for granted in our daily lives - from computers to roads - would be possible without engineers. And with no sign of the skills shortage ending anytime soon, training to become an engineer could be an exciting prospect for many young people.

www.ipenz.org.nz
www.futureintech.org.nz

BE AN ENGINEER

* University entrance qualifications: NCEA level 3
* Engineers must enjoy maths (with calculus), physics and chemistry.
* University engineering degree takes four years. Students specialise from year two.

Sample engineering disciplines:

Biotechnology
Chemical/Process
Civil Engineering
Design
Electronics
Environmental
Food
Forensic Science
Machinery
Power Systems
Science
Software, IT and Maths
Structures
Surveying
Transport

What you can earn:

* Newly qualified: $40,000+
* After five years: $72k to $130k+