There are two issues in the AV industry we wanted to explore in our Total Tech Summit Virtual keynote, The Workforce of the Future.
The first is relatively straightforward. There isn’t enough new talent entering the industry. Every year Commercial Integrator conducts its State of the Industry survey, and every year the top issue integrators face in hiring new employees is a lack of qualified candidates.
The second is much more nuanced. There isn’t enough diversity in the AV industry.
AVIXA started a Diversity Council specifically to address the issue. Of the women in AV, a recent study shows that about 80% identify as White/Caucasian. If you head to a tradeshow or industry event the evidence will sit plainly before you. Plenty of anecdotal evidence exists as well, including a recent AVNation podcast episode expounding on the experiences of diverse members of the AV industry.
Both of these problems speak to the insulation of the AV industry. There is no AV degree one can earn in college. There is no AV trade school. There is no path that a 16-year-old can look upon and say that when they reach the end they’ll be a member of the AV industry. In fact, most people that have worked in the AV industry for years weren’t aware of it until they had already entered.
We seek to work against both problems with a single approach – recruiting and training diverse talent. Neither of these problems will be fixed overnight. Both will take strategy and effort from integration firms themselves. But the result will be a more well-rounded industry with a preponderance of new talent – a rising tide to lift all ships.
In the above keynote, we’ve gathered a group of all-star industry veterans to discuss what exactly such a program would look like. Representatives from NSCA, CEDIA, the AVIXA Foundation, and the AVIXA Diversity Council meet to emphasize the importance of diversity and where it meets the strategy of recruitment and retention of new talent. Topics include:
- Why and how a more diverse employee base makes a difference to the bottom line
- The business side of creating strategies for recruiting and training new talent
- How to target more diverse potential recruits to the industry and to your organization
- What diversity will do to improve the AV industry, and how homogenized employee bases can hurt your business specifically
- Next steps for getting started on the path of bringing in new talent and emphasizing diversity in your organization
- Much more!
After watching this keynote, we believe integrators will be inspired to be proactive about solving the talent problem in the AV industry by focusing on the diversity problem in the AV industry. 2020 has been filled with discussions around the topic of diversity, and we hope integrators head into 2021 with actionable strategies on how to begin to turn the tide. If our keynote can be of even minor help in beginning that journey, all the better.
We may never see a school for AV. There may never be a clear secondary education track such as computer engineering that perfectly prepares graduates to join an integration firm. If integrators want to sit around and wait for those programs to start then they’ll continue to feel the frustration of the shallow new talent pool that has been a problem for years.
With everything that has happened in the past year integrators are poised to be a key part of our customers’ business strategy moving forward as we’ll be the ones designing the technology that shapes the new workplace. If integration firms want to grow, each of us need to be proactive about recruiting new talent. If the industry wants to grow, we need to be honest and open to improving our inclusion and mitigating our insulation.
If anyone is interested in developing their own strategy to recruit talent or improve diversity in their organization, feel free to reach out to us directly and we can put you in touch with representatives from NSCA, AVIXA, and CEDIA to begin that journey.
