I am continually fascinated by how inconsistently people and organisations treat technical skills that should be “portable” across industries. By “portable” I mean skills that can be used immediately in a variety of industries. Let us consider two extreme examples … facility layout and photocopy machines. A person that has spent a career doing layout of small package water treatment units that will fit in containers or on the back of a small flatbed truck is inherently not qualified to provide layout design skills for an entire mineral processing facility (no experience in mineral processing). But a person that has serviced photocopy machines in high rise offices is qualified to service a photocopy machine at a remote mineral processing facility. By the way … you can replace mineral processing with oil and gas, power generation, hydrometallurgy, food processing, pulp and paper, or any number of specific industries.
And I must ask … why? Both people have spent years learning their skill, and have been faced with unique situations before. Why is one suitable for work immediately and the other not?
One of the biggest issues facing industry and the developed world is the “brain drain” (a large scale emigration of technical skills or knowledge). The brain drain can be local (from city to city or village to city), regional (from state to state or province to province) or international. Another less common issue facing our industries is “brain waste”. Brain waste usually applies to migrants that come from developing nations to developed nations, and the skills acquired in their country of origin are not recognised. Some of the reasons are valid, some are less valid, and some are silly. I have a good friend that was an eye doctor in the Philippines, but could only find work in aged care here in Australia.
Clearly, this is a missed opportunity for all. For employers, there are untapped skills that are not being utilised – in a skill shortage situation. Yes, it is silly.
How to proceed? That is the million dollar question, but there are some possibilities.
+ Actively look for people different from what you currently have. If you really need a clone of yourself, hire your blood relative. Otherwise, the person that will provide the service will be different from you in some (and possibly many) ways. A new perspective is never a bad thing, as long as it is understood.
+ Actively look for similarities. One of my favourite stories involves a lady that worked for a company that made chocolate. She got a new job working for a plastics company. Her experience with viscous fluid flows allowed her to solve a viscous flow problem in the plastic facility. Plastics and chocolate have little in common, but both (when warm or hot) are viscous, sticky liquids. She went from being “the chocolate lady” to a legend.
+ What is the difference? If the difference is certification, that can be solved (potentially quite easily depending upon the certification requirements). Some organisations have international reciprocity agreements, so certification can almost be instant. In other cases, the issue preventing certification may be language. When I first arrived in Australia, I learned that my “American English” was just different enough from the local “Australian English” that I occasionally needed an interpreter. After living in Australia for almost 18 years, I still come across the occasional term that I do not understand (for example, I recently learned that a portable building in parts of Australia is called a “mustard hut”). When I asked my host “what is a mustard hut?” his response was one of surprise as he pointed to the building immediately in front of me.
I have learned from delivering training that many skills are portable across industries. I recently delivered a training course on pumps – to an industry where I have never worked before. Based on my feedback, my training was quite successful.