For years, aerospace has been talking about the workforce challenge. We need machinists. We need engineers. We need quality professionals, supply chain experts, technicians and the next generation of leaders.

I think we need to change the way we talk about the problem. At this point, it is all hands on deck. We cannot simply wait for experienced aerospace professionals to apply for our open positions. There are not enough of them. And when every company is competing for the same experienced talent, we aren’t growing the workforce; we’re moving it around. If we want a larger talent pool, we must help create one.

That means more internships. More true entry-level positions. More opportunities for someone with potential who doesn’t yet have five years of aerospace experience. And much more intentional outreach to students and people who may never have considered aerospace as a career.

We Have to Make Aerospace Easier to Find
One of the challenges we face is that our industry can be difficult to see from the outside. Most people understand pilots and engineers. Far fewer understand the enormous ecosystem of careers required to get an airplane into the sky. Machining, composites, testing, quality, procurement, logistics, finance, HR, sales, software, automation and hundreds of other roles all contribute to aerospace.

If you’re not already connected to this industry, how would you know those opportunities exist?
We have to get better at showing people where they fit.

That means getting into classrooms. Hosting facility tours. Talking to students before they’re making career decisions. Reaching people in other industries who have transferable skills. And telling a much broader story about what a career in aerospace can look like. But awareness alone isn’t enough. We also have to be willing to open the door.

Someone Has to Be the First “Yes”
I frequently hear companies talk about how difficult it is to find qualified people while simultaneously posting positions that require several years of industry experience. For some positions, that experience is absolutely necessary. But it cannot be the expectation for every position. Someone gave each of us our first opportunity.

If we want the next generation of aerospace workers, more companies have to be willing to be that first opportunity for someone else. Internships are an obvious place to start. They give students exposure to the industry while giving employers an opportunity to develop talent before graduation. But we also need true entry-level positions. We need pathways for recent graduates, people coming out of training programs and career changers bringing skills from other industries. And as technology changes our industry, that becomes even more important.

Automation, AI and digital manufacturing are changing the skills aerospace companies need. At the same time, talented people from technology and other sectors are looking for new opportunities. Aerospace should be competing for those people, not waiting for them to find us.

This Is an Industry-Wide Responsibility
Solving the workforce challenge cannot fall on HR departments alone. Industry associations, employers, schools, workforce organizations and individual aerospace professionals all have a role to play. And not every company needs a massive workforce development program. Start with one thing.

• Create one internship.
• Reevaluate one position and ask whether it could truly be entry level.
• Host one group of students at your facility.
• Send one employee into a classroom to talk about what they do.
• Give one person with transferable skills an opportunity to learn aerospace.

Imagine what happens if hundreds of companies across our aerospace ecosystem each create just one more way into the industry. That’s how we begin growing the workforce instead of simply competing for the people already in it.

Need a Place to Start?
PNAA created Aerospace Connect to make it easier for students, job seekers, educators and employers to connect with the aerospace industry. Aerospace Connect helps people discover the wide range of careers available in aerospace, understand where their interests and skills might fit, and connect with opportunities across the industry. Through resources such as the Aerospace Career Pathfinder, career information and the Career Hub, we’re working to make the industry easier to understand and easier to enter. For employers, it is also a place to help make your opportunities visible to the people we’re trying to bring into aerospace. Because the workforce challenge isn’t going to be solved by waiting for more people to show up.

If we want the workforce, we have to build the on-ramps.