Future Engineering Education: What Competences are Energy Companies Looking for when Recruiting Graduates with a Master of Science (Technology) Degree?

Figures & data

Figure 1 Cross-sectoral platform (Johnson 2013, modified).

Figure 2 Ostrobothnia and the Vaasa region (Ostrobothnia 2013).

Table 1 The five stages of recruitment (Knocke et al. 2003).

Job advertisements	The goal is to spread the information about the organisation who is looking for employees. This is accomplished by selecting the appropriate channels for advertising.
Sorting	The number of the applicants has to be reduced to a manageable number.
Evaluation	Interviews, tests, references, and so on will be the foundation to estimate if a person is fit for a job.
Ranking	Based on the tests, group discussions or any other means that has been used to rank the applicants according to their qualities.
Decision	The election of the applicant can be implemented in different ways, by the employer or with varying degrees of influence from the co-workers.

Table 2 Figures describing the interviewed companies and the interviews performed during May and August 2013.

Company N = respondents	Employed in Finland, persons	Employed in Vaasa region, persons	Profile of respondent	Date of interview (2013)
HR personnel	Leading personnel
Wärtsilä Finland Oy (2)	3000	3000
Master of Science in Business and Economics				Managing director	28 August
M.Sc.(Tech.) degree in Mechanical Engineering				Vice president of division	10 May
ABB Oy (1)	6600	2100
Bachelor of Business Administration			HR		16 May
Vacon Oy (1)	800	700
Master of Business Administration			HR		28 August
Uponor Infra Oy (KWH-Pipe Ltd) (1)	1000	n.n.
Master of Business Administration			HR		8 August
VEO Oy (1)	400	<400	HR		14 August
Citec Oy Ab (1)	500	300
Master of Science in Business and Economics and Master of Arts			HR		22-May
Vaasan sähkö Oy (1)	170	<170
Master of Science in Energy Engineering				CEO	12 June
Wapice Oy (1)	250	140
Doctor, Automation Technology				CEO	27 May
Crimppi Oy (1)	250	130
Master of Science, Engineering				CEO	27 August Telephone interview
The Switch (2)	140	70
n.n.			HR		31 May
MSc				Manager	29 August Telephone interview

Figure 3 Engineering competences mentioned by the respondents. The value given in parenthesis is how many respondents listed the same competence.

Figure 4 Other competences mentioned by the respondents. The value given in parenthes is is how many respondents listed the same competence.

Johnson, J. (2013). Initial findings of the Smart Specialisation project in Ostrobothnia. The regional council of Ostrobothnia. Available at http://www.obotnia.fi/en/binaryviewer.aspx?MediaID=7918 ( accessed 9 September 2013).

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Knocke, W., Drejhammar, I-E., Gonäs, L. and Isaksson, K. (2003) Retorik och praktik i rekryteringsprocessen. In Arbetsliv i omvandling. Stockholm: Arbetslivsinstitutet.

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