Battery Insiders Reflection - Battery Talent and Salary Report 2022

0:00Transcript

0:00Welcome to Battery Insiders, your podcast providing you insights and the fascinating world of batteries. Hosted by Bhavya Jha and Simon Engelke. And hello, everyone, and welcome to our today's session. And today we're talking about this really exciting topic of talent and also recruiting and hiring and as well as salaries. And we have been very fortunate to have a great guest speaker with us in today's session, which was Judah Weishel from Events Research, sharing all of the insights, especially also from this recent Battery Talent report from this last year, 2022, just came out recently and also Battery Associates organization I'm leading was a partner there. So very excited for that as well. So let's start. Pavia, any thoughts from your end? Yes, I think the topic is particularly salient in my personal life as I approach graduation in May 2023. And so not only have I been looking in the job market and have signed a job in renewable energy finance, but I have many colleagues, men, women, people of color who are entering the energy space, perhaps for the first time, early stage in their careers and looking for the right opportunity.

1:26And, you know, what is the right opportunity is defined by so many factors, whether that's salary or location or nature of the job, remote versus not remote and the technical expertise required, all of which Julia had hit on in her conversation today. And so, you know, high level, just really interesting to hear the economic dynamics at play of the supply chain of labor and the demand for these jobs. And, you know, kind of understanding employer perspectives versus employee perspectives. Very interesting topic, super important, very also salient because we're in this energy transition, you know, and so a number of these jobs are popping up. And so it's kind of like who's going to drive the movement of these jobs and how much where what the salary for them looks like. And, you know, I've got some interesting statistics there on like where we are with men and women versus who has higher education and what level of salary they're looking for. And where does the market fall?

2:33Are we underpaying? Are we overpaying? And who really has the power in negotiating that salary? Because if it's such a technical job that there's only one person, like a hydrometallurgist, who's willing to move to Indonesia, then, you know, the employer is put in a position where he where that company has to really think about how much are they are they willing? How much more are they willing to pay for that type of interest and expertise? So, yeah, clearly lots to talk about. Those are some of the things that stuck out to me, Simon, but would love to hear. What did you think? Yeah, absolutely. And I think you gave great, great, you know, insight there on some of the anecdotes also shared by Julia on this, you know, competitiveness of roles and, you know, how you want to make sure you get a great talent pool together. I think, yeah, there were a lot of great insights, and especially also being able now to look at this the second time around, right?

3:26So it's the second year this report also comes out. And I think a lot of work goes into this and also I think a lot of growth. I think she mentioned about six times or so, you know, also from submissions. And I think there's definitely interest from people, from companies, but also individuals to understand this all better. I think, yeah, I mean, of course, if you want to hear the really in-depth summary, you know, listen to the full recording as well from the discussion with Julia. But I think just some things which stood out to me as one, I think, yeah, one of the main reason to, you know, which lets you consider, which, you know, talent lets you consider to leave a current employer and trade-in-two was higher salary. I think also connected, of course, financial situation. Also, a lot of us are entering in different markets, et cetera. And of course, there's a lot of other also areas which are still very important, like, you know, diversity, of course, being one, still staying there.

4:12Benefits, right, there's a bunch of different discussion on benefits which are relevant. I think that also was really interesting, of course, the topic of, you know, training and development, of course, something we're really passionate also about with BatteryMBA and others. And I think also here was really interesting to see the number of, one, of course, the importance and what we have seen here in the data, just, I think, you know, great that there's still great, you know, important scene in ongoing training. So we have seen that, right? I think that's almost known, none at all. It's been almost non-existing. But I found really interesting here is actually, if you look at the directors, VPs, and CEOs, how still, you know, 29% also thought, you know, saw the value there as well. So I think it's not just, you know, for lower end, but really going to the highest levels, right, and still seeing the relevance. And definitely something we also have seen with the BatteryMBA, right, being fortunate to have a lot of senior management from a lot of the big companies to join us there and, you know, developing themselves further and, you know, have this continuous learning element.

5:10Yeah. I, all of those sound like very interesting statistics. And as Simon mentioned, if you're interested in hearing more, do tune in to the fuller version of the recording. And totally echo your point on diversity. And if you're going to make the job offer competitive, it has to keep that in mind. I think while this report does cover a lot of, you know, the entire searching, hiring, recruiting process, one thing we often talk about, I know, even at Battery Associates is cultivating that diversity at like the interest level to even bring people into this space. And I know that that's something you've been working on, Simon, personally and professionally through Battery Associates. And it's something that I think has actually dramatically changed since I talked to you first in 2019, 2020. So I'm happy to say that that is the case. I also think it's interesting that she pointed out, I bet that you, me, other people in the battery space have probably been contacted by a recruiter in the past like four to six weeks to join a company or give some type of consulting service and knowledge, given that the client of theirs may be related to the, or working in the battery industry or that they may be recruiting for the battery industry.

6:46And so it is a very funny thing to have that battery word pop up on your profile and then have that be the word that everybody is searching for right now. And so, again, kind of going back to those like dynamics, it's, it's, there's again, so much going on, right? Like there's supply chain costs are, are fluctuating in a time post pandemic, post economic downturn. We know energy is booming. I feel like in the midst of tech and financial services and whatnot, energy is one of the few areas where energy plus ESG is one of the few areas that continue to have jobs opening up. And so there is that kind of push and pull of where the push and pull right now. And I'm curious to see where the battery jobs land, if they even land at all, because I think the space is growing. And so I'm sure that future reports of our, of our, of our events search will only continue to collect more granularity around where the job market for batteries is headed and people's satisfaction with those jobs.

7:53Because right now it's still, I think a little bit early, but I mean, what we're seeing is super helpful. And I, for one will definitely be tuning into this type of reporting going forward. Absolutely. And I think also, as you just touched on and mentioned, right, is I think there's, you know, the need, right, for, for talent and really leads for a lot of outreach. I just look at the numbers, which also mentioned, I think 79% are being targeted by headhunters and 6% or so engage in selection process, right, as a result. And of course, this can be good news, right, for, for someone who's recruiting, but also, you know, tough news for anybody who's trying to retain their talent, right? And I think that's definitely something also I've been seeing. There's a lot of, you know, dynamics. And I think maybe one thing also I found really fascinating on this was, Julia was mentioning at the end, right, some of inflation as well was roles and things like that, titles, all these things.

8:38And how sometimes even tough, right? Because, you know, people trying to find the right talent, put them into the right positions, but, you know, it's just that the shortage has been, has been a real challenge, right, for a lot of players. And we've definitely also seen it and, you know, been working with different partners on that. And I think that's why also I truly believe we really have to, you know, grow the talent pool altogether, right? We know it's a growing market. So we also have to make sure enough people are joining it, are excited about it. One of the reasons why we are also awarding, you know, we want to award a thousand scholarships this year for the Better in One course for Less represented backgrounds to really get, you know, people excited about it and get them into the sector if they want to grow into it. Yeah. And we talk a lot about putting capital towards R&D, putting capital towards building these gigafactories.

9:20But the method, the method to that madness only happens only we see that process come to life only when you have that stellar talent to support it. And we can't forget that. I think especially right now, and I don't know if this is me, you know, being a millennial, I feel like Gen Z may even resonate with this. It may even resonate more with Gen Z that your salary kind of defines your market value. And right now, if that, if the market doesn't keep up with that or give you a fair enough value, you're not going to take the job. And you're going to go look somewhere else that will help you not only meet what you think your market value should be, but also keep up with inflation and cost of living. Living in New York, I'm in like the most expensive city in the world. So this is definitely top of mind here. But all things that are continued to be considered, I'm sure people will continue to talk about it.

10:20So I guess we'll have to see how that conversation changes in the next couple of months and years as Inflation Reduction Act and a few other major projects and policies are put in place and kick off. Absolutely. And all of these different, you know, granality and looking also at, you know, purpose and flexibility and job security and a lot of different leadership styles and lots of these aspects. So I guess we can just refer everyone to also look more into this report to be able to have a in-depth look in the details if you're interested or get in touch with us to hear more about this as well or with events of search with Julia Reichel. And yeah, maybe we will also put in the show notes where you can download it in case you can request to download it if you want to have a look yourself on these numbers. Yes. Well, plenty of jobs out there. So keep an eye out. Another way to join the battery field and become a Battery Insiders.

11:11Absolutely. And with that, we will talk to you all next time. Talk to you next time. Bye-bye.