Demand is strong, but the skills to meet it are scarce. Skills shortages sit at the top of the list of barriers to growth for manufacturers, cited by 75%, ahead of recruitment at 36% and talent retention at 32% Barclays Corporate's 2024 analysis of the skills shortage in UK manufacturing. That gap is expensive. In 2025 there were 55,000 unfilled long-term vacancies in UK manufacturing, costing the economy £6bn in lost output every year Make UK's 2025 Industrial Strategy Skills Commission report.
Engineering feels this sharply. 76% of engineering employers struggle to recruit for key roles, with technical and specialist sustainability skills topping the list the Institution of Engineering and Technology's 2025 skills statistics. And the pipeline is thinning at the entry point: entry-level hiring in engineering has fallen to -19% while senior hiring sits at -10%, a 9-percentage-point gap a 2026 GOV.UK snapshot of entry-level hiring in the UK. If fewer people start, fewer people rise.
Automation is rewriting the work, and the advert follows the work. Six in ten manufacturers (59%) cited automation and half (50%) cited wider digitalisation as the trends changing jobs and skills needs, and 74% expect demand for cognitive and meta-cognitive skills to increase by 2030 Make UK's 2024 report, 2030 Skills: Closing the Gap. In the panel shop, that means an advert for a wirer or control-panel builder now also asks for comfort with digital tools and problem-solving, not just the trade.
There is plenty of headroom to automate. The UK ranks just 24th in global robotics density, and targeted innovation and digital investment could add £150 billion to the UK's GDP by 2035 Make UK's 2025 report on accelerating automation. The UK used only 101 robots per 10,000 workers in 2020, which substantially lags internationally the Smart Machines Strategy 2035 from GOV.UK. As that changes, the people brief changes with it.
Here is the catch. Over 50% of manufacturers cite skills shortages as the main barrier to AI adoption, and only 2% say AI is widely embedded across their operations The Manufacturer and Make UK's 2026 report on AI, skills and the future of UK manufacturing. The technology moves faster than the hiring. So the advert is the first place to fix it.
Start with the advert. Write for the job as it will be, not only as it was: name the digital and problem-solving skills you now need, and separate what is essential from what you can teach. With 74% of manufacturers expecting demand for cognitive and meta-cognitive skills to rise by 2030 Make UK's 2030 Skills report, an advert that screens only for yesterday's trade will shrink your own shortlist.
Then rebuild the pipeline you are losing. Apprenticeships are a proven route into new technology: in AI roles, apprenticeships have risen from 3% of AI hires in 2020 to 19% in 2025 the DSIT AI Labour Market Survey 2025 report. Growing people internally costs patience, but it answers both the entry-level drop and the senior shortage over time.
When good people are scarce and the brief keeps shifting, speed and reach matter most. Reed.ai searches a database of 15 million candidates, ranks a shortlist in under 30 seconds, contacts matched people in under a minute and can book an interview in under three minutes, so you spend your time with the right people rather than finding them. Our recruitment agent manages recruitment end to end for 8% on a successful hire, with no monthly fee and no upfront cost. Tell us about the role in the panel shop today, and we will start matching.
