Large gap, difficult recruitment, photovoltaic industry encounters talent shortage

"The total number of employees in the photovoltaic industry in my country is about 2.46 million, with an average annual increase of 221,000 to 387,000 from 2022 to 2025. Calculated based on more than 20% of the bachelor's degree or above, the average annual number of employees is 44,000 to 77,000. However, in 2021, universities will be required.Photovoltaic talentThe annual new supply is only about 15,000. "Recently, the China Photovoltaic Industry Association gave a set of statistical data and pointed out that the entire industry is facing severe problems such as unreasonable talent supply structure, incomplete talent training system, and disconnection between industry, education and research.

Under the "dual carbon" goal, the photovoltaic industry continues to be booming. Tianyan Check data shows that the company's name or business scope includes photovoltaic companies in my country. In parallel, employment demand soared and employment opportunities surged. It’s the graduation season again, what is the employment situation of students? What do major companies rely on to attract people? Has the problem of shortage been alleviated? The reporter launched an investigation on this.

The talent supply gap is huge

"This year, our school recruitment satisfaction rate is about 80%. Hundreds of undergraduate and above have been introduced from fresh graduates in 2022, including many graduates of 'Double First-Class' colleges and universities." Cheng Lijuan, deputy director of the Chint New Energy HR Sharing Center, did not feel relaxed. "The entire industry is currently in a stage of rapid development, and there are many large enterprises such as automobiles and electronics investing in the new energy industry, and talent competition has just begun."

Cheng Lijuan told reporters that the "dual carbon" goal combined with the "digital and intelligent" transformation requirements are promoting industrial upgrading and capacity expansion, and enterprises urgently need to cultivate and reserve a large number of talents for the future. "But whether it is based on the feedback from many recruitment institutions such as Zhilian Recruitment and Qiancheng Wuyou, or our own observations, the mentality of graduates seeking stability has increased and 'slow employment' is still the norm. For example, due to the fever of postgraduate entrance examinations, job hunting time is delayed, or waiting for opportunities, and priority is given to state-owned enterprises and central enterprises. Statistics show that only 4% of fresh graduates work in private enterprises in the energy and power industries, and the competitive pressure for enterprise recruitment is very high."

Ma Fuhai, deputy general manager of Longi Green Energy Human Resources Management Center, deeply feels the same. "We attach great importance to the introduction, training and growth of fresh graduates. In the past three years, we have introduced talents from major universities at a compound growth rate of 60% every year. As the industry develops into the fast lane, the demand for talents has increased from upstream metal silicon, silicon wafers to midstream photovoltaic glass, batteries to downstream inverters, components, etc. At present, only more than 90 out of thousands of universities across the country can provide counterpart professional talents, which is far from meeting the talent needs of the photovoltaic industry."

It is worth noting that the severe situation is still continuing. According to statistics from the China Photovoltaic Industry Association, by 2025, the demand for direct employees alone will reach 557,000-668,000. However, judging from the graduation situation in 2021, under a wide range of perspectives, the number of graduates from ordinary undergraduate photovoltaic-related majors is about 240,000, but the actual proportion of employment is less than 5%. Until this year, the situation has not improved significantly. "Also, the problem of unreasonable supply of talent structure is prominent, there is a shortage of talents in senior management, high-end R&D, engineering and technical personnel, and the supply of composite and information talents is insufficient. The regional distribution is also unbalanced. The Yangtze River Delta region has industrial agglomeration, treatment, living conditions, etc. are relatively good, the talent concentration is relatively high, and the talent supply in the western region is obviously insufficient." Wang Bohua, honorary chairman of the China Photovoltaic Industry Association, said.

There is a serious disconnect between "production and education"

What causes the already imbalanced supply and demand situation to deviate repeatedly? The reporter randomly interviewed several graduates and found that the gap between actual working conditions and ideals made many people hesitate.

Xiao Wu, a master's degree in power engineering at North China Electric Power University, just joined the New Energy Research Institute under a central enterprise not long ago. "The four companies I invested in have won, and even the ones that did not perform well in the interview also issued an employment notice. I feel that the company is very urgent to recruit people. The main consideration of choosing a central enterprise is to be relatively stable, but to be honest, it is quite different from the imagination before graduation. I got more than 3,000 yuan during the probation period, and the performance will be higher after becoming a regular employee. Until now, no one in the company has talked to me about development space, promotion channels, etc."

Recruiting people, keeping them. Xiao Wu admitted that he was mainly responsible for the preliminary work such as resource planning, project site selection, etc. "I don't even think about traveling on business, but I have to go to the wilderness. Sometimes, climbing up one mountain to investigate and collect data is really difficult. Just what I saw, a few people have left in the department."

The transition from campus to job is not easy. Li Zhaohui, an associate professor at Hunan University of Technology, who was once the general manager of the micronet energy storage department of Weisheng Group Co., Ltd., noticed that the disconnection between industry and teaching has existed for a long time. "It is difficult for fresh graduates to use it immediately after they arrive. They can only get started with at least 1-2 projects. Behind this is the long-term problem of serious derailment between teaching courses and practical applications. Many teachers in schools have rich theoretical knowledge but lack on-site experience and other chronic diseases."

Wang Bohua said that the current situation of incomplete talent training system cannot be ignored. "In terms of course setting, general courses are mostly common courses, and rarely focus on the professional field of photovoltaics. High-quality photovoltaic professional textbooks are relatively scarce, and they have not been iteratively updated with the rapid development of industrial technology. There is also a paper-oriented approach, such as many studies tend to emerging fields such as perovskites, and there is a lack of research work on crystalline silicon battery modules and photovoltaic power generation systems, mainly because the equipment required by the latter is expensive and it is not easy to produce new results and papers."

The above view has been agreed by many corporate personnel. "Without sufficient professional education resources, the talent gap is difficult to fill." Cheng Lijuan said that for the traditional thermal power industry, almost 80% of engineering colleges and universities have corresponding majors such as thermal power and engineering, thermal power generation and control systems, which are enough to target every stage of thermal power generation. "But in the field of photovoltaics, there are not many colleges and universities that can achieve such subdivision and professionalism, and students' theoretical level and practical foundation need to be improved."

Focus on the cultivation of applied talents

The reporter learned from multiple sources that in the entire photovoltaic industry chain, professional and technical workers, high-end technical R&D personnel, and compound talent resources are very scarce. To this end, enterprises often choose quasi-material science and engineering, electrical engineering and automation, mechanical manufacturing, engineering management and other related majors, and even other professional talents such as communications, computers, polymer inorganic non-metals.

"Zhengtai will provide dual tutors to every fresh graduate, and HR counselors will provide support from adaptability and training rotation resources. Professional tutors will guide students step by step to transform into workplaces, help them obtain various growth resources, and establish a clear career development system. We hope that universities can also appropriately strengthen industry targeting and organize multiple professional counterparts to go toPhotovoltaic enterprisesExchange and internships to establish a comprehensive understanding of industry development prospects and emerging technologies. "Cheng Lijuan said.

Ma Fuhai said that the photovoltaic industry is accelerating its development towards "specialization, precision, specialization and newness", and urgently needs highly educated and high-level innovative talents, business talents, and a large number of high-quality technical and skilled talents. "In addition to setting up majors and courses that are closer to the needs of enterprises, it is recommended that universities combine the national 'dual carbon' goal to further strengthen the training of new energy talents, moderately expand the scale of professional talent training, and cultivate talents through a new model that combines academic and examinations and training and warfare."

Ma Fuhai gave an example. Longi and Xi'an Jiaotong University jointly established the Jiaotong University-Longi Zero Carbon Energy Research Institute, and cooperated with Lanzhou University to establish the Longi Future Technology Research Institute of Lanzhou University, actively building an interdisciplinary talent training and scientific research cooperation mechanism. In addition, we have established joint laboratories, talent training bases, training and internship bases and other projects with Zhejiang University and Tongji University to strengthen school-enterprise cooperation. "For example, enterprises provide venues, equipment, and projects, jointly design several stages of training courses with universities, prepare project-based courses according to work tasks and organize implementation, so that students can directly participate in the real production process during practical training."

Wu Miao, director of the PGO Green Energy Ecological Cooperation Organization Office, told reporters that strictly speaking, before the Ministry of Education issued the "Work Plan for Strengthening the Construction of a Talent Training System for Carbon Peak and Carbon Neutral Higher Education" in May this year, universities in my country did not open direct photovoltaic majors. According to incomplete statistics, dozens of universities such as Sun Yat-sen University, Nankai University, and North China Electric Power University, as well as more than 100 vocational colleges have offered majors and courses for new energy such as photovoltaics, and the momentum is worthy of recognition. "Enterprises should attract talents through a good scientific research atmosphere and generous material and spiritual conditions, improve scientific and reasonable talent incentive and assessment mechanisms, so that talents can come in and retain them. At the same time, they should also increase the deep integration of industry, academia and research, and use the strengths of college talents to combine with corporate practices to cultivate and train compound talents that meet their own requirements."