Time to Competency Ranked Top MRO Workforce Challenge at MRO Europe Poll

Time to competency emerged as the leading workforce concern at MRO Europe in Amsterdam, where industry and education leaders called for closer collaboration, improved training and stronger career development to address skills shortages. An audience poll ranked time to competency as the biggest workforce challenge, followed by skills shortages, recruiting new talent and retention. Panelists said the time needed to develop competent technicians is putting pressure on the maintenance industry.

Kenan Şahan, senior vice president of human resources at Turkish Technic, said the challenge goes beyond recruitment numbers to how quickly technicians acquire the skills and authorizations needed to work independently and safely. Turkish Technic works with vocational schools and universities to identify candidates early, assess their development and provide practical experience before full-time employment. Its program includes a six-month development process and internships at the company's maintenance campus. Şahan said about 55 recruits a year come through the student pipeline.

Sorush Satar, technical product manager at Lufthansa Technical Training, said training must adapt to younger generations' expectations, with more hands-on activities, simulators and digital technologies, and by combining classroom learning with practical experience through school-industry collaboration. Henri Werij, dean of TU Delft's Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, urged companies to engage students before graduation through internships, research projects and involvement in university programs, saying most graduates have already found jobs elsewhere if companies only appear at graduation.

The panel also stressed developing broader competencies such as communication, critical thinking, teamwork and digital literacy. Kerri Kunkel, business analytics manager at BAE Systems, said reliable data is essential if technology is to support training and transfer knowledge from experienced employees. On retention, Şahan warned against promoting highly skilled technicians into management without preparing them, which can lose technical expertise and produce ineffective managers. Panelists called for clearer development pathways, continued learning and more approachable leadership.

Putting time to competency ahead of recruitment in the poll points to a different kind of bottleneck from the one usually described as a skills shortage. A new hire can be on the payroll long before being authorized to sign off work independently, so the capacity a maintenance organization gains from each recruit depends on how short that gap can be made. That makes training design, not just hiring volume, the lever the panelists kept returning to.

The approaches described fit that logic. Early engagement with students, structured development periods and internships are all ways of moving part of the competency-building into the period before full-time employment. Simulators and digital tools aim at the same gap from the training side. Timing matters in the labor market as well: Werij's point is that a company arriving only at graduation competes for people who have already committed elsewhere.

Retention completes the picture, because a technician's competence is only worth the time invested in it while that person stays. Şahan's warning about moving skilled technicians into management without preparation describes a way organizations can erode their own technical depth even while keeping their people. The measurable test for any of these programs is the interval between joining and working independently, and whether the experienced staff who carry the know-how are kept in roles where they can pass it on.