The Big Question: What Is Your Greatest Concern for Your Industry in 2016?
My view of the clean energy industry is probably more diverse than anyone’s. EnergeiaWorks’ customers are inverter/racking/module/turbine/BOS OEMs, EPCs, electrical utilities, project developers, chemical companies, integrators, and distributors, all supporting sustainable energy. Our renewables-based recruiting services support research & development through construction services on four continents. Knowing who’s hiring and when is the perfect indication of the market as a whole. When recruiting is busy, the industry typically is healthy!
However, as of December 2015, the industry is faced with a supply and demand issue. There aren’t enough candidates in the market for the amount of open positions, and this is driving up salaries, competing offers, and time to hire. It’s not too different from the tech boom in the early 2000s, and we know how that shook out.
The recruiting pipeline for the next few quarters is quite robust, so I’m optimistic for 2016, but the years following bring me concern, because it seems that much of the development, construction, manufacturing, and hiring is front-loaded because of the former deadline created with the planned ITC expiration. Once the industry levels out (and it will), I am concerned that we will see workforce reductions. I hope that the investment in clean energy on a federal level isn’t just a trend or an extension, but, rather, a commitment to the future.