International Skills Links
Workshop
“Utilising skills across a
boundaryless company” – examples
from Jacobs Ltd
Dr Tim Manners
15 May, 2007 Manchester
Overview
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Presentation Objectives
Jacobs - The Company
Jacobs – The Skills Challenge
Jacobs - Core Values
Resource Deployment – the process
Examples of exploiting overseas skills
Jacobs Graduate Scheme
Jacobs Employment Philosophy
Nuclear skills - the future
Nuclear Training
Conclusions
Objectives
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Outline Jacobs the company
Arrangements for resource management
Why you need to manage deployment
The Company
 Jacobs
 Global “Boundaryless” Company
 45000 staff worldwide
 4500 UK staff
 Revenue ~ $8B
 Diverse Markets inc. Oil & Gas, Pharmaceuticals,
Defence
Our Personnel Worldwide
as of July 2005
4077
8030
23560
1445
139
161
Jacobs – The Skills Challenge
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Co-ordinating work
Finding the right resource
Are they available?
Risks
 Client programmes force the use of sub-contractors
 Unaware of resource capability/availability
 Work retention leading to delays
Jacobs Core Values
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Growth
Relationship Based
People
Resource Deployment
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Boundaryless company
 Project manager alerts his line manager
 Senior manager (GVP) puts a call out to identify skill,
availability and location
 Individual identified by management recommendation
How do you organise work in such a large company?
Forums and Networks, IT system, CV database
Flexible approach to deployment and will cross pollinate staff to
meet client needs
Recent Success
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Examples
Ken Powers (US) and Dick Davis (US)
Dick was identified as a suitable candidate to head up the
integrated project Team for managing agency work at AWE (2
year deployment)
Ken Powers brought in from the US to change the culture at
Hinkley A
Both very successful deployments
International Exchange Programme (embryonic)
European Exchange Initiative (embryonic)
Nuclear Skills – The Future
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Huge nuclear clean up in the UK
Prospect of new nuclear build
 Commercial Power Reactors
 Waste Storage Facilities
Where are the new home grown nuclear engineers going to
come from?
British Energy and BNFL run Apprenticeship Schemes
UKAEA run Apprenticeship schemes at Culham and Dounreay
Graduate programmes across the nuclear industry in the UK
Still have to rely on skills from overseas in the future
Jacobs Graduate Scheme
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3 year scheme aligned to Professional registration
12 key skills:
 Communication
 Working with others
 Computer literacy
 Problem solving
 Contractual practice
 Project management
 Risk management
 Financial management
 Health and safety
 Quality management
 Time management
 Environmental awareness
Jacobs Employment Philosophy
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90% of work comes from repeat business from loyal clients
Combination of loyal client base and steady growth allows us to
attract the industry’s top talent
Encourage our employees to improve their expertise:
 Jacobs college
 Continuous education
 Boundaryless networking
Substantial effort focussed on employee retention
Flexible approach to staff deployment
Nuclear Training
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Some of the British Universities offering degrees in nuclear
engineering:
 University of Bath
 University of Birmingham
 University of Cambridge
 City University
 Imperial College
 University of Liverpool
 Manchester University
 University of Surrey
 Lancaster University
 Scottish Universities Research and Reactor Centre
Conclusions
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Jacobs is a worldwide company with a vast skills range
It is a boundaryless company which actively manages the
deployment of its workforce
Process starts with attracting, recruiting and retaining the best
staff
The process of deploying staff from overseas is initiated by
Project Managers and co-ordinated by Senior Management – in
practice the process is very effective