Emerging professionals in the transport and highways sectors have a wealth of opportunities in front of them, but many can fall short by not having some of the basic skills that employers value the most. For Simon Gardiner, director - highways, infrastructure and town planning and founder of recruitment specialist Carrington West – and Adam Butler, the firm’s team leader for highways, traffic and transportation – this scenario is a common problem.

“The highways and transportation workforce often have skills gaps around STEM and another big soft skill that we've seen people struggle with is communication,” says Butler. “Post-covid, there is an entire cohort of graduates who, through no fault of their own, have missed the experience of presenting, communicating with others and going to lecture halls with hundreds of people. Some have been able to build their self-determination and have realised communication skills are important, but others have missed this piece of natural education. A lot of hiring managers tell us that even if a candidate's education is fantastic, when you get them in a room for an interview, you often get just one word answers.”

Gardiner believes, however, that this situation provides an opportunity for many transport professionals to progress – even if they might have to go outside of their comfort zone. “In engineering, there have to be people who meet clients face-to-face. People will always buy from people, that is human nature. I think if emerging professionals have got – or can learn – that understanding, the more client-facing and more personable among them will trampoline through organisations.”

Training is a big factor in learning such skills – and others – especially in the workplace. “The lion's share of the skills that young professionals are picking up come from their employer,” reports Butler, but adds that more communication is required. “We’ve found frequently an assumption from junior professionals that employers are willing and able to provide training. But at the moment there is a fundamental disconnect. New recruits aren’t asking for training and employers aren’t explaining they are willing to offer it.”

The type of training is also an important factor. “From a recent survey, we found that 64% of training actually takes place at the desk, as ad hoc, informal, questioning,” explains Gardiner. “Yet candidates still ask us about working from home. If such a high proportion of training is in the workplace, they are cutting down on their opportunity to learn massively!”

On the other side of the fence, the Carrington West experience suggests that as well as more training, employers looking to recruit emerging talent should be open to their new ideas and fresh approaches. “There is still sometimes an expectation that everyone junior should see the things from the more senior person's point of view. But actually, as an employer, you have to understand what is important to them, such as concerns around carbon reductions and the environment,” says Butler. “Young professionals know that their generation is going to be dealing with such issues for a longer time than, say, someone who is nearing the end of their career.”

Finally, Gardiner says it is essential that organisations carefully define their visions and make new recruits feel valued and understood. “If you're working for a large matrix organisation, you need to concentrate on what role 200 people could bring to your division, rather than thousands of people within the company globally,” he reasons. “It’s also vital to nail down what the three top personal attributes are, for each role, because they can vary hugely between sales, operations and engineering.”

Later this month, join Simon Gardiner and colleague Natasha Jones speaking on ‘How to be indispensable at work?’ at CIHT’s Emerging Professionals Conference on April 26.

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Words by John Challen

Join Simon Gardiner and colleague Natasha Jones speaking on ‘How to be indispensable at work?’ at CIHT’s Emerging Professionals Conference on April 26