Autonomy, electric mobility, connectivity, and other technology-driven disruption are redefining the automotive industry. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the pace of transformation.
Building internal resilience and ensuring business continuity requires a deeper, meaningful, and holistic assessment of companies’ talent strategies from talent management.
The advent of EVs and digitalization has led to the usage of advanced automotive technologies. These include integrating advanced analytics, sensor technologies, artificial intelligence (AI), the internet of things (IoT), blockchain, cloud computing, machine learning (ML), robotics, 3D printing, and more.
In the automotive industry, there was a focus on hardware and physical level innovations like:
- In-built infotainment systems
- Vehicle performance Optimization
- Advanced physical safety features
However, the industry has shifted gears towards:
- Autonomous and eco-friendly solutions
- Connected ecosystem, namely V2I, V2V, V2X, and IoT
- Customer experience-focused design and features
Impact of Transformation on the Automotive Industry Talent
The push for autonomy and connecting everything to the cloud has spurred a talent shortage. Besides, companies that are chasing growth must know that there will be a change in the workforce, and companies must shift their talent strategy to match the pace of the change.
Sometimes the speed of change is not easy to tackle, even for agile companies. They must also be socially responsible while being competitive in offering value to clients and reaching their expectations. Anticipating talent management needs is essential amidst the fast pace of changes.
Having a transformation strategy and plan are crucial
Transformation in the industry will impact every facet. However, many companies do not have a plan. The swift shift to digitalization will involve acquiring skilled individuals. Talent management must also handle reskilling their workforce in a short amount of time.
This is because there are young upstarts that are competing with large companies. They usually start with a white page and innovate and create quickly.
Automotive workers must have a variety of skillsets
As the swift transformation is already in order, in the next decade, talent management in automotive companies will need more people in AI, automation, and robotics. The massive reskilling drive will create a bridge between existing and new roles. Talent management teams realize that the requirements to work in the industry are shifting too.
A few decades ago, a mechanical engineer, an electrical engineer, and an IT programmer were three different people, but future engineers must have all three skill sets.
With the expectations for autonomous vehicles to step on roads in 2030, the industry will need entirely new skill sets. Machine learning, sensor processing, and computer vision, along with skills for driver assistance systems, autonomous driving, vehicle-infrastructure connections, cloud systems, UX systems, etc., will be in demand.
Diversity brings innovation and creativity
Diversity is a necessity in automotive too. Talent management must look for a diverse workforce now. The era for automotive with departments full of male mechanical engineers is over.
Today, even customers expect to see diverse talents who understand the merger of IT and engineering skills. Talent management must realize the importance of a diverse set of skills, ideas, and experience a diverse team brings to the table.
Reskilling and upskilling are crucial in acquiring the required talent
Talent management must plan to reskill and upskill their workforce to meet the demand for different types of engineers, specialists, service teams, etc., to impact talent strategies. The reality of today’s market is that there is a lack of skilled talent, especially with the skill sets for tomorrow.
Talent management must analyze the current skill sets; they must reskill and train their people because the capacity of engineers who can develop new cars with a focus on user experience is few and far between, according to experts. Candidates must upskill and reskill themselves to remain relevant.
The new generation of automotive and tech workers may not want to work in one company their entire life. Instead, they want to make an impact with involvement in meaningful projects; an attitude talent management must consider when hiring.
Deep Dive into Automotive Job Roles
Draup has conducted extensive research into the future of the automotive industry talent. The demand for Robotics Engineer has increased by 17%. It is 16% for Full Stack Engineers, 14% for Data Analyst, and 13% for Data Scientist. Other key roles include Product Manager, Pricing Analyst, Program Manager, Application Developer, Design Engineer, and Financial Analyst.
It is not only the automotive, but technology across industries has also created an intense hiring battle for roles with similar skills, making talent acquisition highly challenging. Some of the high-demand job roles, like Robotics Engineer, stands at 36,000, with a 17% growth in the last three months.
Demand for Full Stack Engineer has increased by 16%, 14% for Data Analyst, and 13% for Data Scientist and Product Manager. Some top automotive companies hiring these job roles include BMW, GM, Tesla, Tata Motors, and Volvo. However, they are losing skilled individuals to technology companies, so they must upskill/reskill their workforce.
Draup’s analysis focused on the Robotics Engineer role. Robotics Engineers operate machines safely, dependably, and precisely, identifying and implementing modifications. They need key competencies that include core programming skills, AI/ML skills like computer vision and deep learning, functional skills, and management skills.
Draup’s Location Intelligence gave insights into talent hotspots. Shanghai, Beijing, Pune, San Francisco, and Bengaluru are the top five locations available for the Robotics Engineer role.
Talent management must implement upskilling and reskilling programs to keep up with the demand for Robotics Engineer and provide a viable career path to individuals in job roles, namely Maintenance Engineer, Systems Engineer, and Robotics Technician, among others.
Robotics Engineers can later be promoted to various senior roles, namely NLP Engineer, Machine Vision Engineer, Mechatronics Engineer, and others. Below is the sample career pathing picture for Robotics Engineers.
Draup is a talent intelligence platform that enables reskilling and upskilling initiatives across business verticals. It lets talent management teams get insights into the talent market to identify reskilling opportunities and track skill-based certification programs.
Draup’s comprehensive analysis of the automotive industry brought to light the talent size of the sector. The report includes the growth of various job roles, gender diversity, location intelligence, and reskilling strategies for various roles.
