For more than a century, the aerospace and defense (A&D) industry has impacted the world and driven technology forward at a rapid pace. As technology continues to accelerate, though, it has outpaced the expertise of even the most diligent and motivated technical workers.
A&D organizations increasingly rely on a tech-savvy workforce to implement and utilize technologies like blockchain, artificial intelligence, and augmented reality, as well as the digital customer experience and remote workforce.
Further complicating matters, each year more and more veteran technical workers are retiring, with fewer and fewer applicants to replace them. This can be especially difficult because of the “tribal knowledge” held by the older generation of workers—knowledge that can only be gained through years of on-the-job experience.
The next generation of talent has one distinct advantage—they have grown up with modern technology as an integrated part of their daily lives and have learned to adapt to new technologies seamlessly. However, one disadvantage is that despite emerging technologies like virtual reality, they lack real-world, on-the-job, problem-solving experience.
Gartner reported in its 2018 Shifting Skills Survey that 70% of employees haven’t mastered the skills they need for their jobs today, and 80% said they lack the skills they need for both their current and future roles.
So how can A&D organizations address these challenges? They can focus on building skills through just-in-time training, which helps users expand the skills directly related to their on-the-job tasks. Additionally, by putting the right recruiting programs in place to find and integrate new talent, as well as by upskilling and reskilling your current workforce, your organization can effectively deal with technology skills gap challenges.
For more information on how GP Strategies helps A&D clients address the technology skills gap, please contact us today to schedule a consultation.
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