I spend a fairly ridiculous amount of my life talking to engineering businesses about the same problem.
I spend a fairly ridiculous amount of my life talking to engineering businesses about the same problem.
“We can’t find enough good people.”
Controls engineers. Design engineers. Maintenance. Manufacturing. Automation. You name it.
So when this year’s A-Level results landed, there was actually some pretty good news.
Engineering and technology saw the biggest increase in university acceptances of any subject area, with 34,100 places confirmed — up 14% on last year.
Great. More engineers coming through. Everyone can relax.
Except, obviously, it’s not quite that simple.
The good bit first
A 14% increase is genuinely significant.
Engineering has spent years talking about its skills shortage, and depending on whose report you read, we need somewhere in the region of 240,000 new entrants every year just to keep up with demand.
So seeing more young people choosing engineering and technology is exactly what we need.
There was some encouraging movement among girls too. Participation in Digital Technology increased by nearly 19% year on year.
Again, good news.
But then you get to the statistic that rather ruins the party.
Of those 34,100 engineering and technology university places, only around one in five went to a female applicant.
And that is where I think we need to have a slightly more uncomfortable conversation.
We are still ignoring half the population
Women currently make up around 17% of the UK’s engineering and technology workforce.
That’s improved from roughly 10% in 2010, so we’re heading in the right direction.
But come on.
Seventeen percent.
In an industry permanently telling recruiters like me that there aren’t enough engineers, we’re still spectacularly bad at attracting roughly half the population into it.
You don’t need to be an economist to spot the flaw in that particular recruitment strategy.
And it matters beyond diversity statistics.
Engineering and technology jobs pay, on average, around 29% more than the UK average — roughly £9,000 a year more. EngineeringUK estimates that if women entered the profession at the same rate as men, it could add around £1 billion a year to women’s earnings.
So we’ve got employers desperate for skills, a well-paid career, and millions of women who still aren’t seeing engineering as something for them.
Something clearly isn’t joining up.
I see the consequences of this every day
This isn’t me jumping on a diversity soapbox because I’ve read an interesting report.
I recruit in engineering.
I know how bloody difficult some of these roles are to fill.
Around 76% of UK engineering employers report difficulty recruiting key technical skills. Meanwhile, experienced engineers are retiring and taking decades of knowledge with them.
And employers are all fishing in the same pond.
Usually for exactly the same candidate.
With exactly the same experience.
Within a 20-mile radius.
Who apparently also needs to be available on four weeks’ notice.
Good luck with that.
The answer can’t just be recruiters searching harder on LinkedIn.
At some point, we have to make the pond bigger.
And that starts much earlier than recruitment
This is probably the bit I find most interesting.
By the time someone like me gets involved, much of the damage has already been done.
Research consistently shows that perceptions about careers form young. If a girl reaches her early teens without seeing engineering as interesting, accessible or remotely relevant to her, there’s a decent chance she won’t choose the subjects that keep that door open.
Then at 18 we all suddenly start shouting:
“Women in engineering!”
Bit late.
We need more engineers going into schools. More businesses showing young people what these jobs actually involve. More apprentices talking honestly about their routes. More female engineers being visible.
And probably fewer pictures of blokes in hard hats staring thoughtfully at machinery.
Engineering is incredibly broad. It’s creative, technical, commercial, innovative and, increasingly, very well paid.
But I’m not convinced we’re particularly good at selling it.
Apprenticeships deserve a mention too
I also think we’re still far too obsessed with university being the default definition of a “good” next step.
Engineering apprenticeships can start at around £18,000–£26,000, depending on the role and employer.
You’re earning from day one, gaining experience and, in many cases, avoiding a fairly hefty amount of student debt.
If one of my daughters came to me at 17 with a good engineering apprenticeship offering proper training, progression and £20k+ a year, I’d be taking that option very seriously indeed.
Yet I wonder how many 16 and 17-year-olds — or their parents — really understand what’s available.
We can’t complain about a skills shortage while keeping some of the best routes into the industry a secret.
So what can employers actually do?
Nobody is fixing this overnight.
But engineering businesses can get involved much earlier.
Build relationships with local schools and colleges. Offer work experience that involves more than making tea and photocopying. Get your younger engineers and apprentices out talking about what they actually do. Show people the technology. Talk about salaries. Make apprenticeship routes properly visible.
And when you are recruiting, think about whether your “must-have” list really is a must-have list.
Because if we’re facing the skills shortage everyone says we’re facing, endlessly chasing the same tiny group of experienced candidates isn’t much of a long-term plan.
The bit I’d take from this year’s results
More young people choosing engineering is brilliant.
A 14% increase deserves celebrating.
But if only one in five engineering and technology university places is still going to women, we’ve got an enormous untapped talent pool sitting right in front of us.
And that’s the bit I think employers should be excited about.
Not because it makes a nice paragraph in the ESG report.
Because we need engineers.
Lots of them.
And perhaps instead of endlessly asking “Where are all the candidates?”, we should spend a bit more time asking:
“Who have we never convinced to become one in the first place?”
That feels like a much more useful question.
Sources: EngineeringUK workforce and gender pathways data (2025–26), UCAS 2026 admissions figures, Electronic Specifier results day coverage, Prospects apprenticeship salary data, IET Skills Survey 2025, Enginuity “Mind the Gap” report, SThree UK STEM Skills Outlook and Skills England Annual Skills Report 2026.