Dear Parent,
Allow me the liberty of not introducing myself because that is of totally secondary importance in this matter. With a great deal of devotion I address you in the name of all my colleagues, competitors, service companies, production companies, interim, recruitment and selection agencies. In short, on behalf of everyone who sees their activities stagnate, possibly even decline and, in the worst case, have to stop these activities. The competitive position of all of us is under enormous pressure in Belgium. Crack or break.
How this all came about? The glaring shortage of technically trained specialists. The ageing population, a terribly poor connection between education and business, and the totally unjustified bad image of technical professions and the corresponding education. And about this, dear parent, I am now going to tell you a thing or two to get this misunderstanding out of your mind forever and ever and to make a case for the wonderful world of technical professions. The world is changing very fast, the energy transition and the never ending automation of processes are crying out for well-trained and especially motivated technicians.
As a father, I own myself the right to speak here and go full defense of technical and vocational secondary education. Forms of education where internships and practice occupy a large part of the curriculum. This is where we prepare the technical doctors of tomorrow to integrate into the society and professional life of tomorrow. In other words, this is what business is greedily waiting for.
Your life will also take a totally different turn without technical specialists, and I can almost feel you begging for some examples. There is the bottleneck profession of bottleneck professions "technician electromechanics". Wait, now I'm going to introduce myself quickly; Davy Jonckers, manager and owner of a healthy Limburg family-run technical maintenance company specializing in electromechanics that is hungry for employees to at least maintain its level of employment but even more to ensure a golden future for your children. So what do these people do? They install, maintain and repair technological equipment and machinery.
Far from your bed? Not at all! What would NOT happen is perhaps even clearer to frame this shortage. Your luggage won't make it onto your plane on your next vacation because the luggage belt is broken. Your ordered packages will never get sorted so they won't be delivered to your doorstep. There will be no more refrigerated food in the supermarket. Building or renovating a house? Impossible because there are no more building materials produced locally and if you do find something abroad, no one can come and install it. Let's hope your boiler will last a lifetime. Ah no, it's not going to do it anymore anyway because who is going to make sure it produces power? No more sauces or fryer snacks on your hand cut and home grown fries. Soft drinks or a nice Belgian pint: forget it. Sweets or chocolate? Absolutely available but most likely foreign imitation brol. Watching favorite program on TV? Impossible to broadcast anything anymore without technical specialists. Guaranteeing your health through research in labs, well-equipped and functioning machines in hospitals? No guarantee anymore. And I can hear you thinking; "we have figured him out, the slob, he is exaggerating". I can only hope so for both of us, but unfortunately, the examples I just cited are services and products that are offered or produced locally and are doomed to disappear without technical specialists.
Not to mention the carpenter, welder, technical draughtsman, engineer, auto mechanic, operator, calculator, plumber, handyman, bench worker, it-er, team leader, electrician, security engineer, interior decorator, metalworker, bicycle mechanic, machine builder, sheet metal worker, elevator mechanic, already in a mild panic? Gas technician, burner technician, refrigeration technician, pipe fitter, software developer, printer, feel it coming because I'm going to go on and on, warehouseman, technical buyers, crane specialist, autoCad draftsman, driver, sign builder, steel fabricator, telecom engineer, hydraulic engineer, measurement and control technician, teacher in engineering, dental technician, brewer, fiberglass technician, and so I can really go on for hours to convince you to let our children make a guaranteed choice for the future with a very solid income, fringe benefits, a lot of choice regarding the content of their job, personal development, lifelong learning and a lot of respect from everyone where he or she offers a solution to a problem that often no one else can solve. And so dear parent, on behalf of all my colleagues, competitors, factories and other service providers, you who need these skills to keep society running and living comfortably, and myself, this warm yet urgent appeal.
At least look at the possibility, together with your son or daughter to choose an incredibly noble, fulfilling, assured of a very good income, with prestige and with guarantee of job satisfaction, profession in engineering.
Sincere gratitude for considering this.
Mvg,
Davy Jonckers
CEO Yontec nv
