The current shortfall of qualified personnel in the construction and engineering industry can be attributed to recruiters turning away large number of fresh graduates about five years ago, according to the head of a top recruitment agency. Michael Markiewicz, global CEO of Australia-based Carmichael Fisher, said many companies in the sector were only now thinking about training and developing their existing staff to make up for the talent shortage. However, things would never have come to such a pass if they had recruited fresh graduates earlier while they were available in adequate numbers. "In 2002-2003, many companies closed their doors to fresh university graduates since they had no experience. Seven years on, many of these companies, desperate for qualified staff, are training and developing their existing employees. Had the freshers been recruited earlier, they would by now have gathered enough experience to occupy the vacant positions," Markiewicz said. He attributed the current crisis to a lack of foresight in the industry to anticipate the boom in the region's construction sector.