Contributed by Devin Purcell, Technical Trainer
Editor’s note: In this new multi-part series, Devin Purcell will tackle the skills shortage that the fluid power industry is facing and offer creative solutions to address this challenge.
We cannot find good technicians.
No matter what industry seminar, convention, or get together you attend these days the same subject comes up over and over. Shops have a tremendous amount of work but cannot find skilled technicians to staff their facilities. While there are many different strategies at play across the world to help fill this skills shortage, many are picking up the phone and contacting senior technicians who have already retired. Senior technicians have a lifetime of skills and experience that can only be gained with time. Senior technicians have skills to share and improve the younger generation’s skillset.
Bringing senior technicians out of retirement to train new apprentices is one way to pass skills from one generation to the next.
Sounds like a great idea on the surface. After all, having a senior technician who can hit the ground running after some orientation and safety training is worth their weight in gold. The most important question you need to ask yourself, though, is what are you going to do when they retire for real next time?
You are going to have the same exact problems that you have today.
What can we do to ensure that we are maximizing the value of bringing senior technicians out of retirement? Make sure that we transfer their knowledge to the next generation. This may make you rethink which senior technicians that you would like to bring back into the field. There are a few things that can be done to ensure you get the greatest value from this relationship.
Establish a clear goal. When you begin discussing with one of your retired technicians to come back to the shop, be clear and up-front about the process and what you are trying to accomplish. Passing down skills to the next generation is not a task that every person is up to, because fixing things is a different skill set than teaching skills. Make sure you identify a senior technician who you may have already noticed training younger technicians or who really enjoys taking a new apprentice under their wings.
When the senior technician comes back to the shop make sure they are not overworked. It is important that they have their own work to do to make sure they are still fulfilled by the job. But if you give them so much work that they do not have the time to help junior technicians when they need assistance, you’ll fail. Perhaps you can give senior technicians repair orders that are not on a time crunch, or work with customers to rebuild cylinders for extra inventory.
Document, document, document. Have regular meetings with both the senior and junior technician at regular intervals. Discuss any ideas that they have that may improve the process or what they have done that did not work well. This will help you create some standard processes that will assist you the next time you do this type of training.
Have a set end date. This puts urgency in the hands of the trainer and the trainee. It also gives an end goal for the technician that you are bringing out of retirement. This may greatly assist you in recruiting someone to come back to work for a short period. With a set job and time to complete it, they can see the end and know they need to impart that knowledge efficiently.
While many areas of the world have a set apprenticeship program that assists in this transfer of knowledge, many do not. Make sure that you ensure the transfer of knowledge from generation to generation — this is the greatest aspect of training technicians. It is our job to take the knowledge we have learned over the years in our fields and pass it onto the next generation. Combine this with a drive to continuously learn, and the next generation will be more knowledgeable than the last. That should be our main goal — preparing them for success in their working career and helping all our shops succeed and thrive.
Devin Purcell is a repair professional with more than 20 years of industry experience. As a freelance writer and technical trainer with an OEM forestry manufacturer, these skills are used to enhance the performance of learners. Contact him at devinj.purcell@gmail.com.
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