06 · Industry
We needed 30 certified TIG welders. Europe could not supply them.
The skilled trades shortage is not an abstraction when it is your project that cannot start.
Recruiting thirty certified TIG welders for a single scope of work turned out to be materially harder than the engineering it supported.
The shortage is discussed across European industry in general terms. It becomes concrete when a project is resourced, scheduled and funded, and the constraint is simply the number of people who hold the certification and are willing to travel.
It is worth being direct about this, because the answer is not a recruitment campaign. It is training, certification pathways, and treating the trades as a career rather than a stopgap.
If you hold the ticket and you are willing to travel, we would like to hear from you.