The field service sector has been facing a looming ageing workforce crisis for a long time now. However, that issue has been further compounded by the pandemic which has seen a broader workforce shortage in most sectors.

It is an omnipresent issue across all regions and all vertical sectors – and frankly if we only ever carry on doing what we have always done then the situation will continue to get worse.

Two companies that saw this issue and acted ahead of the curve were White Goods manufacturer Whirlpool and field service recruitment specialists Concept Resourcing. Having identified the problems all of our sector faces they worked together to establish the Concept Academy – which has delivered some impressive results.

In this exclusive interview with David Hall, National Field Operations Manager, Whirlpool and Dan Sholl, Strategic Director, Concept Resourcing we hear how they approached overcoming perhaps the most pressing issue our industry faces in an honest and open interview the two discuss:

• How much harder is it to attract new technicians today than it was in the past?
• If the resource doesn’t exist, you are not going to be able to recruit it.
• Does field service needs to be ‘sold’ as to a new generation
• Convincing a new generation that they don’t need to follow the university path?
• Concept Academy – a new approach to field service recruitment
• Does outcome-based recruitment solve the workforce crisis?
• The benefit to service revenue of reducing the time from hired to the field
• How important is brand recognition when it comes to recruiting field technicians?
• Is a lack of diversity adding o the shortage or do quotas make things worse?