​Automotive, Logistics & Distribution – The Road Ahead 

There are huge challenges ahead for the Automotive, Logistics & Distribution industry as what Boris Johnson terms the “green industrial revolution” is underway to drive us to a low carbon economy. 

 This race to innovate set against the backdrop of the global pandemic has created a unique set of demands for vehicle operators.   

Here’s some of what we’re seeing: 

• Diesel and petrol cars and vans will be banned from 2030 and HGVs will soon follow.  As a result, we need the engineering and technical skills to manage high levels of electric or hybrid vehicles on the road – and at present (according to the Institute of the Motor Industry) only 5% of vehicle technicians are trained to work on these vehicles.  Furthermore, training in the vehicle retail world plummeted by 85% in 2020 when many dealerships furloughed staff and reduced investment in training following a slump in retail sales.  

• Product and strategic specialists with electric vehicle knowledge, data scientists, data analysts and business information specialists are all in demand as large Automotive fleet operators seek to understand how to decarbonise their fleets whilst meeting changing customer demands. 

• Supermarket home delivery and parcel delivery from online shopping demand has exploded, so fleet managers, account managers, technical operations and workshop operations staff in these sectors are in demand, however on the flip side of this, businesses who deliver supplies to and remove waste from the hospitality sector have experienced a huge loss in demand through the sustained lockdowns and tier system closures the industry has seen. 

• One might expect an influx of candidates wanting to move from badly impacted to booming sectors however we’re seeing many candidates choose to stay with their current employer to maintain furlough eligibility and redundancy rights so competition for talent is sharpening.

For more information on the future of the Automotive, Logistics and Distribution recruitment landscape, please get in touch with Francesca Loughrey, we'd love to hear from you.