The drive to create new infrastructure for treating the UK’s waste has had an interesting impact on the demand for management talent. All of a sudden, people with expertise in bidding for, designing and operating waste treatment plant are in demand, as the market prospects have attracted far more companies into this field. This means that there has never been a better time to be a waste specialist - as long as you have real knowledge of a technology other than landfill!
Waste industry has weathered the recession well
At a time when the British economy has been under severe pressure, the waste industry has been one of the few bright spots. In this latest recession, insolvencies of waste companies have been lower than almost all other sectors: in the twelve months from September 2008 less than 1% of businesses being put into administration were from the waste industry (Catalyst Corporate Finance – CIWM Journal Oct 2009). Compared to many other industries, waste management specialists have been insulated from the worst effects of the recession.
Widen the pool of talent through transferable skills
As an executive search company, we are always trying to ensure our clients get the best talent available for their key management jobs. That does not always mean poaching people from direct competitors; indeed we often find ourselves preaching the merits of transferable skills. As the new, capital-intensive waste industry matures, there will be a need for more specialists than the industry itself can supply. The smart companies have already recognised this – and are also alert to the benefits that new blood can bring.
Many of the skills that the new waste infrastructure will need are extremely well developed in other process industries, in many cases better so than in waste. The construction and commissioning of waste plants can be tackled very well by project managers from utilities, chemicals manufacturing, food processing and a range of other industrial backgrounds. The operation of these plants and the management of the core contract can similarly draw on skills from other industries, particularly power generation where there is an EfW component. Functional specialists for the maintenance, health & safety and environmental challenges can best be found in multinational petrochemicals and other heavy process industries, where these disciplines have been honed over decades.
Exciting career prospects for new recruits
So, the waste management industry is a fantastic sector in which to progress for those managers already in the business who have the right process industry skills. It is also a highly attractive sector for people to move into, offering medium and long term challenges in an industry which cannot be outsourced to the other side of the world.
The same engineering and technology graduates who, twenty years ago, would happily have signed up to join ICI for a lifetime career cannot do so now! ICI does not exist and the UK chemicals industry as a whole has been ravaged by international competition and the drive for offshoring to Eastern Europe, India and China.
They would be well advised to join the waste industry, so that they can benefit from the huge investment in new treatment technology. Any that do are soon likely to find that they are in fact part of the resource recovery industry, as waste is increasing recognised as a valuable resource and a part of the renewables spectrum.
