IT always was, and probably always will be an image-thing. How do we attract young people influenced by popular culture and personality into hands-on professions such as engineering? We have a strong case to make. So much has changed. Technology, product development, science, robotics, communication make the opportunities open to young people unrecognisable from the days when bigger and stronger was the watchword. Today, it’s smarter and faster.

So, have we as an industry grasped the nettle? Fronted up and made OUR case?.

Well, yes – and no (fence sitting was always my forte!).

Arguably, our sunshine moment came in 2004 when Princess Anne launched the Industry Careers Project on the BAGMA stand at Royal Smithfield. She spoke of an industry (ours) willing to get off its backside, address the challenges of recruitment with practical action. It was a Royal endorsement of huge significance.

Dealers and suppliers bought into the concept with hard cash. It was a positive initiative which, despite some industry politics, then underpinned the creation of the LTA (Landbased Technicians Accreditation) scheme, launched to a full-house at the Heritage Motor Museum at Gaydon in 2007.

The concept was simple. To provide an industry grading scheme for technicians under a single banner which would, at the same time provide, a career path for individuals and a trusted ‘seal of approval and competence’ for customers. It was (is) intended to be a cross industry symbol of trust that crosses all franchises, a passport that could be transferred across franchises. 

We were to see dealers' service vehicles up and down the land adorned with the technicians name and the LTA symbol.  A ‘CORGI approved’ type of symbol that all customers would come to understand and trust. (Question. Why did the gas industry ditch the CORGI symbol in 2010 in favour of the new title Gas Safe Engineer? Madness!)

Seven years on. What does LTA mean to the industry?  Answer. Very little.  It has no national recognition amongst dealers, even less amongst customers.

LTA, let’s think?  Lawn Tennis Association?  Licensed Taxi Authority? Local Tourist Agency?

The concept remains as strong and relevant as ever, but you would have thought that seven years on from its launch, that LTA would have matured and grown into an integral element of our industry, both in terms of recruiting new talent and retaining those we have nurtured and trained.  Instead it is largely invisible and under-promoted.

Even those close the scheme describe it as the Industry's Best Kept Secret

I am in no doubt that there is much going on in the background, but in the meantime the LTA initiative is slipping further and further from the industry’s consciousness – and that is a great shame for what ought be a key element of our industry’s recruitment strategy over the years ahead.