The Engineering and Manufacturing sector is one of the countries most varied industries, employing over 5.7 million people. With a vast array of job roles available within this industry, find out more about exciting career opportunities waiting for you.
Careers in Engineering and Manufacturing
Heavily influenced by innovation and invention, the Engineering and Manufacturing industry is an exciting and fast-paced sector, always on the lookout for new talent. Accounting for just over 19% of all UK employment, there is a wide selection of stimulating job roles available for graduates with a variety of associated degrees.
Reports suggest, there’s a need to increase the number of skilled engineers by up to 60,000 in the UK. Therefore there are calls to double the number of students currently studying engineering at university. Engineering graduates are second only to medics in securing full-time employment. Furthermore, they are more likely to go on to earn high wages in later life, with the average starting salary for graduates being as high as £27,000.
Your engineering degree will have provided you with specialist skills, including:
- research skills and planning
- presentation and other communication skills
- problem solving
- analytical thinking
- numeracy, statistics and computing
- organisational abilities
- data analysis
Women in Engineering
Females now account for over 12.3% of all in employees in the sector thanks to evolved thinking and awareness campaigns. However, there is still more work to be done as the UK lies in last place when comparing the number of professional females in engineering against other European nations. Despite this, more and more highly skilled and ambitious women are considering a career within Engineering, and these are just some of the careers available:
- Mechanical engineer
- Materials engineer
- Electrical engineer
- Electronics engineer
- Petroleum engineer
- Chemical (process) engineer
- Biomedical engineer
- Civil engineer
Graduate Schemes
Graduate Schemes in Engineering and Manufacturing allow you to develop your knowledge whilst building professional relationships through a strong support network of mentors and coaches. Some great examples of highly successful graduate schemes include:
BAE Systems – Employing over 85,000 people worldwide, BAE Systems is the largest defence and aerospace engineering employer in the UK and offers a wide selection of exciting graduate schemes from Manufacturing to Systems Engineering.
Network Rail – Network Rail offers one of the Times Top 100 graduate schemes, with job openings in a wide variety of roles from Electrical to Mechanical Engineering.
Airbus – Constantly on the lookout for new talent, internationally recognised employer Airbus provides graduates with the chance to learn invaluable skills and build a comprehensive understanding of the industry.
Employment Prospects
As a result of a sector-wide skills shortage, the prospect of securing employment in the industry with the appropriate qualifications are high. A 2019 survey stated that 62% of engineering and manufacturing graduates were in full-time employment within six months of graduating, compared to 57% of all graduates.
The four most significant engineering areas experiencing growth are:
Nuclear energy – With the government wanting nuclear power to provide low carbon and cost-effective alternative to fossil fuels eventually, the workforce is required to expand by 7,000 to 8,000 per year until 2021.
Food and drink manufacturing – Experts estimate the food and drink industry will need over 150,000 new workers by 2024 if it is to meet growing market demands.
Mechanical, electrical, chemical and software engineers – These roles will be highly required, with production and maintenance opportunities created across a wide variety of industries.
Big data – By creating 157,000 new jobs, this sector is predicted to generate £241 billion to the UK economy by 2020.
