MRO’s Generational Workforce Clash

As the MRO industry’s workforce demographics trend younger amid the retirement wave and major efforts to recruit new technicians, companies are expressing concern about whether the next generation has the right skills and attitude for the job.

A recent survey by the Aviation Technician Education Council (ATEC) found that nearly 80% of respondents saw soft skills lacking in entry-level candidates. During recent workforce panels at MRO Americas and the ATEC Annual Conference, companies spoke candidly about their concerns regarding professionalism in the next-generation workforce.

However, some educators at aviation maintenance schools think the problem may be one of perception. Furthermore, they find that new graduates from Part 147 schools are facing unprecedented challenges due to adverse economic factors.

Jared Britt, director of global aviation maintenance training at Southern Utah University (SUU), says older generations are prone to judging young people without considering that they likely exhibited similar behaviors at the same age. “I think one of the issues we have in aviation is an older generation looking down at the newer generation and saying, ‘You don’t have the skills and the same work ethic that we did,’” he says. “I have fired people in their 50s for not being able to show up on time, so it’s not just a younger-generation issue.”

Britt says the industry needs to consider that younger generations have different values and expectations about their careers compared to the expectations of new technicians 15-30 years ago. “I think it’s more of an issue of the older generation trying to understand where the younger generation of mechanics are coming from, what they’re looking for and what they want,” he says. “And in companies, understanding that there’s a major difference between a guy that’s coming up on retirement who has been with the company for 40 years and a new [technician] who’s coming in that would like things like a flexible work schedule, maternity leave,” he says. “I think it’s important that, as we get older, we keep that in perspective so we don’t make those snap judgments against the younger generation and turn them off aviation.”

However, Britt does stress that there is a “huge problem” with soft skills, which educators need to address by teaching students about industry expectations and how these skills transfer over. At SUU, new students are given a presentation about soft skills, which Britt says will be adjusted to address recent concerns from the industry.

“I’m going to use those slides from the ATEC Conference that show the realities of what happens when you can’t work in a team, when you don’t show up on time or when you don’t have good hygiene—simple things that you would think people would know, but not everybody does,” he says.

At Texas State Technical College’s Harlingen campus, Lead Instructor of Aviation Maintenance Leo Guajardo sees significant promise in the young students he encounters. “I disagree with the notion that this generation is any less than any other. My experience with these students is that they’re able to read, interpret, digest and apply data like no other [generation],” he says. “They’ve been exposed to technology from a very early age, and it surprises me daily how they’re able to use cutting-edge technology to make the job more practical and feasible. They have an ability to immediately utilize technology so effortlessly.”

Meanwhile, Guajardo argues that the next generation of technicians is, in some ways, at a greater disadvantage than their predecessors. “It’s been my experience in working with these students for 10+ years that the barriers haven’t changed, but they have become more and more difficult for these students to overcome,” he says. “We’re facing record inflation, rising cost of tuition across the board and student debt, and the cost to move right now from one location to another has increased so much.”

Guajardo’s students come from diverse backgrounds, including first-generation immigrants, veterans and nontraditional students who are entering college after years in the workforce. The school’s Harlingen campus is located near the U.S.-Mexico border, approximately 4-5 hr. from the state’s nearest major aviation hubs, San Antonio and Houston. These geographic and financial factors are proving insurmountable for some students wanting to enter the MRO industry.

Guajardo says there is no shortage of job offers for these students, but making a cross-country move is not feasible for many under current circumstances. “The students aren’t shying away from these opportunities, but what students are reporting to me is they simply can’t afford to take these offers due to the cost to relocate from one place to the other,” he says. Despite the industry’s increase in onboarding bonuses, Guajardo says students are finding out that this financial assistance is often tied to a 90-day work period or spread out across the first part of their contract.

“It simply just doesn’t help them when they’re trying to get to the locations of these premiere job opportunities, which are often in metropolitan areas with high cost of living. If it’s a high cost to live there, it’s an even higher cost to move there,” Guajardo says. “I’ve heard of students sleeping in their cars and renting motels on the bad side of town.”

Added to moving costs are airframe and powerplant testing fees, potential student debt and employer expectations that new hires show up to work with their own set of tools. “I know my students are committed to these opportunities—they simply can’t afford to get there,” Guajardo says. “These students aren’t looking for a handout; they’re looking for a hand up. And an investment in these students is an investment not only in them as individuals, but an investment in our industry, which seems in desperate need of technicians.”

At SUU, based in Cedar City, Utah, students face a similar geographic challenge. The school is located in the southwest region of Utah, a distance of three or more hours away from the state’s aviation hubs in Provo and Salt Lake City. Many students end up going on to work at SkyWest Airlines, which operates from Cedar City Regional Airport, but Britt says the school prioritizes educating students about the likelihood that they will have to move to pursue the most lucrative opportunities.

“We tell them in orientation on the first day of class that there aren’t a lot of jobs for aerospace in southern Utah,” says Britt, adding that the school invests in job fairs and classroom presentations only from companies that are willing to provide scholarships to help students pay for their education. He says these efforts highlight industry realities about company locations, pay and potential pitfalls.

“We tell students: ‘If you decide to go to an airline, that’s a great career, but there are a couple of pitfalls that you need to understand. You’ll be working in a union environment, and you will most likely be working nights for a very long time,’” Britt says. SUU also posts informational videos on YouTube about career paths, job prospects, pay expectations and stipulations for hiring in various sectors of aviation.

“We’re working hard with industry and students to make sure everyone’s on the same page, and the students aren’t surprised by the offer that they get, but I do think the industry needs to step up,” Britt says. “For instance, the airlines that are in California—specifically, San Francisco—are having an extremely hard time getting anybody willing to move to that area. California has been having a mass exodus as is, but they’ve increased pay and benefits year-over-year to try to entice people to go to those areas. Industrywide, I don’t know what else you can do besides operate somewhere different.”

AAR has reported similar issues attracting new hires to certain locations. The MRO provider had trouble enticing new recruits to locations such as Rockford, Illinois, and Indianapolis, but the rising cost of living in cities like Miami has reversed the trend. The company also has concentrated recruiting efforts on support and benefits that ease relocation for new technicians.