Science & Technology Executive Roles

Notice how in Seek and other web-based job advertisement facilities, there are Jobs, and then there are Executive Roles and the sub-categories for Jobs include Manufacturing, Transport and Logistics, Accounting, HR, Administration, Science and Technology, etc., yet in Executive Roles, there is no category for Science & Technology, yet there are categories for Administration and HR, for example.  Is it that organisations aren’t offering Executive Roles in Science & Technology, or is it that once in that salary bracket, the role is no longer considered to be in the field of Science & Technology?  What is this saying about science in Australia, or even globally?  Do we still wonder why people aren’t attracted to Science & Technology fields, or do we take it for granted that to avoid being monetarily disadvantaged, one must leave the field of Science and Technology?

With economic downturn comes competition for all roles, executive and otherwise.  For future prosperity, the industry needs scientists and technologists in Executive roles.  Here’s why…

Classically, scientists and technologists are analysts, logical problem-solvers, and focused performers, not to mention experts in their field.  Manufacturing industry, particularly in Australia, needs to foster these experts and not to let them drift to other fields such as Management Consultancy, however valuable they might be there.  The industry itself requires strategists who effectively manage risks, see obvious solutions where the rest see only problems, and those willing to foster these talents in others.  It’s these survival skills for this economic climate that have been dormant to date — we need the fastidious Quality Managers who are focused on the detail of waste in production, or the innovators who are combining minimalist principals to areas of logistics, and even those working through their qualifications from the factory floor, whose experience is more valuble than five MBA’s.

So, if you’re a Geek (Keeper) and thinking about abandoning this life of trial and error, remember your Eureka moments, and the importance you will have in these difficult times.  Stick around: we need you.