IT‘S ALL ABOUT PEOPLE

Human Resources Needs

from the Perspective
of a Space HR Company

Presentation to the ISU Symposium

The Public Face of Space
Strasbourg, 18 February 2010

Keith Muirhead & Leanna Roscoe

HE Space Operations
 Content

1. My right to talk about this!

2. Jobs in space
3. The applicant pool
4. The future
 HE Space Operations

• Only space manpower

• Major supplier to ESA
and space industry
• Typically 20 open
vacancies
• Currently 51 vacancies

“Dear HE Space………”
 Jobs in Space
 55% of European space organisations have
recruitment difficulties (ISU study)

 Space is exciting but not attractive to

would-be graduates
– Engineering, physics, etc are difficult subjects
– MBAs earn higher salaries
– Career paths not clear
– High mobility is required
– Low status of engineers (ROSE study)

 Few graduate jobs

 Out of 50 space Masters graduates, only 3

went into the space industry (ESA study)
 Jobs in Space

Who are the employers?

Employer Numbers Pros / cons

(approx)
ESA staff 2,000 Good conditions /
administrative

ESA contractor 2,500 Good contacts / career

Industry prime staff 20,000 Career / bureaucracy

Industry prime contractor 2,000 Technical challenge / career

Industry SME 1,000 Technical challenge / stability

Academic/Researcher 2,500 Technical challenge / salary

Contracting business
 Jobs in Space
Where are they?
Site Good Points Bad Points

ESTEC (NL) 30% tax rule, centre of Weather

European space, facilities
ESOC (D) Access to Europe Fluctuating
programmes, site
location
ESRIN (I) Location, weather Relatively isolated

ESAC (E) Weather Isolated site, Spanish-

speaking
Toulouse (F) Nice city, good location Must speak French

Stevenage (UK) Close to London Close to London

Bremen (D) Pleasant city Mainly German-

speaking
Portsmouth (UK) Coastal, nice area ??

Turin (I) It’s Italy!, the lakes, the Salary

Alps
Friedrichshafen (D) Outstanding location near Mainly German-
Alps, Italians happy to speaking
move there
 Jobs in Space

Difficult to fill

Type of job Comment

Software Product Assurance Lucrative living in commercial

industries

Human Spaceflight Payloads Expertise in the USA

Modelling & Simulation Rare skill

Astrophysics with IT skills Plenty graduates but most have home-

made IT skills
 The applicant pool
Typical good candidate
 EU national
 Good English
 Specialised Masters degree
 International experience
 Willing to move
 > 3 years industrial experience
 Flexible
 Happy to be technical
 The applicant pool
Dutch
Italian
10%
Other
36%
11% 2009
British
9%

Nationalities
USA Spanish
3% 8%
German
Polish
3% Romanian French Indian 6%
3% 5% 6%

Singapore Others 10%

1%

Belgium 1%
Netherlands Canada 3%
Italy 20%
4%
India 5%
2008 USA
Spain 7%
16%
Germany 9%
UK 12% France 12%
 The applicant pool
Education (highest level)
Other, 4%
Social Studies, 5%

Aerospace Engineering
Other Engineering
Electrical Engineering and Electronics
studies, 8%
Aerospace Mechanical Engineering
Engineering, 21%
Physics
Aeronautical Engineering
No studies, 10% Electrical Business Administration
Engineering and Computer science
Telecommunication Electronics, 12%
Engineering, 4% Telecommunication Engineering
No studies
Computer
Mechanical Other Engineering studies
science, 4%
Engineering, Social Studies
12%
Business Other
Administration, 5%
Physics, 9%
Aeronautical
Engineering, 6%
 The applicant pool
Most graduates leave
their first job within 18
months
Age distribution

140

120 25-30

100

80
31-35
60
36-45

40 <25

20 46-55
>55
0
 The applicant pool
Quantity v Quality

Candidates 2007

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000

Applications 934

put/kept in FF 468

Rejections 391

Telephone Interviews 227

Forwarded to customer 134

Interviewed by customer 39

Proposals 36

Hired 27
The future
 The future

 Majority of space
workforce in Europe
will retire in the
next 10-15 years
 Need for engineers
will increase further
 Gender imbalance
 The future
Gender imbalance

 ROSE study

 Women in
Aerospace
 The future
Universities

 ESA study – more collaboration industry /

academia
 …..tricky because…….
 Space is a small market for graduates
 “The top 10 jobs in demand in 2010 didn’t exist
in 2004” (shift happens)
Keith Muirhead
Operations Manager

HE Space Operations BV
Huygensstraat 44
Space Business Park
2201 DK Noordwijk
The Netherlands

T: +31 71 341 7500

“Dear HE Space………”
M: +31 63 413 9037
E: kmuirhead@hespace.com

www.jobsinspace.eu