AEROSPACE ENGINEERING IIG PRESENTATIONBy Danielle Caldwell, Matt Hayes, and Ashley Redenius

AEROSPACE ENGINEERING IN THE NEWS

ARRA is now funding the introduction of engineering curriculum into middle schools in the US

Boeing and Northrop Grumman go head to head for USAF Tanker Contract

Commercial Space Travel

WORKFORCE CHALLENGES FOR AEROSPACE ENGINEERS

Succession Planning Issues Specialized and specific knowledge

Less interest in Aerospace Engineering Students seeking a more entrepreneurial

environment Perceived lack of opportunities

Many projects depend on scope of military projects and requirements of the US Government

NOW LET’S HEAR FROM AN EXPERIENCED PROFESSIONAL ABOUT

THE WORKFORCE CHALLENGES OF THE AERO INDUSTRY……

Ray Price on Aerospace Challenges

CHALLENGES TO HR PROFESSIONALS

Identifying and hiring serial innovators Motivating and engaging engineers Creating HR policies that reward engineers

appropriately Facilitating seamless on-boarding for new

and experienced hires

What We Wanted to Learn about Engineers

How are they motivated? Do they have special training or educational

needs? How do they feel about HR?

OUR INTERVIEWEES

Ray Price William H. Severns Professor of Human Behavior,

Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering Previous HR experience at Boeing Commercial

Airplane Group Ray Foltz

BS - Civil Engineering, Citadel, 2005 MS - Structural Engineering, UIUC, 2006 PhD - Structural Engineering, UIUC, Expected

2010

Ray Price on Ways to Motivate/Engage Engineers

Engineering Student on Career Motivation

HR IMPLICATIONS Need to understand that engineers are

empowered by challenging and meaningful projects

Should find ways to help engineers develop pride and ownership of their projects

When possible, break large projects into smaller pieces and allow engineers to work on autonomous, intimate teams

Engineers are always interested in learning, so HR should provide them with top-notch development programs

Even though they love their work, they also enjoy work-life balance, so we should develop programs to help them accomplish this

Ray Price on Special Training Needs for Engineers

Ray Price on the Engineering Curriculum

Student Perspective on Engineering Curriculum

HR IMPLICATIONS

Communicate through crucial, candid conversations

Realize that engineers may not have training in the basics of business and provide training opportunities or workshops to address this

Find ways to give engineers unique experiences to develop their leadership skills

Provide learning opportunities where engineers can practice explaining their technical work to non-technical people

Work with target universities to add soft skill training and more writing-intensive courses to the undergraduate engineering curriculum

Ray Price on HR/Engineering Relationship

Student Perspective of HR

HR Implications

Realize that engineers do view HR as an important asset to the company and to their own careers and develop relationships to enhance that feeling

Consider ways to interview engineering candidates that allows them to showcase their technical skills and include people who can understand and rate their skills in the interview process

Make sure to be honest and open in order to earn the trust and respect of engineers—especially if in a role that may present a conflict of interest

FINAL TAKEAWAY….COLLABORATION IS KEY

Break communication barriers by ensuring that both HR and Engineering staff are trained to understand the technical and business aspects or the organization

This will create a partnership between the two and help the organization achieve an environment of collaboration and trust