How Has COVID-19 Impacted 3D Printing Jobs?

With the pandemic still having a major impact on economies and industries across the globe, there will undoubtedly be questions about what impact it is having on jobs and salaries! Thankfully, Additive Manufacturing Talent Specialist, Alexander Daniels Global, are launching their 5^th Annual Global Salary Survey on February 1^st, which hopes to answer some of the burning questions organisations and individuals might have about the talent market for AM.

The report offers the reader an in-depth look into the salary landscape across six main disciplines: Service; Applications and Consulting; Sales; Marketing; R&D and Engineering; and Software. Salaries are broken down by seniority/years of experience and then also across three geographies: North America; EMEA and Asia

The data for the report comes directly from the industry with organisations and individuals contributing. Alexander Daniels Global partnered with The Barnes Global Advisors and Janne Kyttanen to launch the survey in October 2020 through a competition, which resulted in a record number of responses.

Speaking about the report, Founder and Director of Alexander Daniels Global, Nick Pearce said, “We are always overwhelmed by the support from the industry, without whom the salary survey would not be possible. This year we received more responses than ever before which gives even better validity to the data.”

“2020 was a turbulent year for the AM industry.” Nick goes on to say. “In my 5 plus years in AM it has always operated at near full employment, but that changed last year. The number of people looking for work versus the number of companies hiring changed dramatically.”

Reading the report offers some startling early insights into the impact COVID-19 had on the jobs market; a 60% reduction in job opportunities in 2020 by comparison to 2019.

“There are still positive signs the industry is growing” Nick says. “Demand certainly dropped off in larger, more established AM companies; with many key players like Stratasys, 3D Systems and Desktop Metal making layoffs. Smaller, high growth start-ups and scale-ups, less dependent on revenue or more focused on technology development continued to hire and grow.”

This provides some notable insights on salaries: where in many cases the average salary in each discipline is decreasing, but the highest salary is still increasing. Nick comments that, “There is still low supply and high demand in some specialist skill areas, like Software, Controls and Mechanical Engineering, where talented professionals can command large salary increases. There are also big discrepancies between Countries and States, for example between Germany and Spain, or Massachusetts and Michigan, which the report doesn’t cover directly, but impact the results.”

The detailed report offers useful evidence of changing motivations for talent and key HR challenges that organisations will face, as well as the most ‘in-demand’ skills employers are looking for. It is an essential guide for all employers in Additive Manufacturing and an especially useful tool for hiring managers and HR professionals alike.

You can download a ‘free’ copy of the report by visiting https://www.alexanderdanielsglobal.com/salary-survey-2021/

Founded in 2015, Alexander Daniels Global is a boutique recruitment consultancy, specialising exclusively in Additive Manufacturing. Built on the vision that, ‘Additive Manufacturing will change people’s lives’, the companies mission is, ‘To enable the industrial revolution in Additive Manufacturing through talent.’ Working from offices in the UK, Germany, Spain and the US, the company partner with 3D Printer OEM’s, Material Developers, Software Companies and Adopters of AM Technology to help identify talent. More information on their range of services can be found at https://www.alexanderdanielsglobal.com/. Should you wish to discuss the salary survey directly or have any other questions you can contact Nick Pearce directly by e-mail on [email protected].