Anyone who is looking for staff with specific IT skills will
disagree with the Government and a contractors' group which claim
that there is no skills shortage. So where are they?
Confusion reigns as to whether the supposed IT skills shortage,
does in fact exist. According to the Professional Contractors
Group, the IT skills crisis is now over. The Government apparently
agrees, and has moved to strike all IT jobs from its skills
shortage list.
In direct contrast, research from market analyst IDC suggests that
the IT skills shortage is increasing and will rise by up to 19%
over the next three years, leaving almost 1.7 million positions in
Europe unfilled by 2005.
While industry bodies and analysts argue the point, common sense
would suggest that, following the recent spate of redundancies that
left thousands in the industry without a job, a skills shortage
should be out of the question. But while the skills pool is far
from dry, what skills are actually in there and are they of any
use?
While skills such as basic network administration are commonplace,
what happens when you need someone skilled in more specialist areas
such as voice and data convergence or Java?
In many cases, it is these emerging technologies that companies are
focusing on, so these skills are becoming ever more important.
However, even when you are after someone to fill a fairly
mainstream position, the recruitment process can be a real
eye-opener - there are a surprising number of poor
candidates.
It should come as no surprise that when redundancies are made, the
least competent staff are the ones who are jettisoned. So while the
labour pool may have the skills on paper, much of the time they're
not actually the most talented workers. This may sound harsh, but
if 20% of the IT workforce is below par, then after redundancies,
the labour pool is going to contain quite a slice of this 20%.
One of the main problems that these IT job seekers suffer from is
their lack of broad ranging skills. It is incredibly difficult to
recruit people with the right mix of technical skills and
commercial nous.
Most organisations these days do not just want "techies", they want
people who can also work well in a team, solve problems and drive a
project. Managing budgets and presenting ideas have become as
important as the solid technical skills, but it is this
cross-section of qualities that is so hard to find.
This problem is not helped when the large organisations such as IBM
and Microsoft, which have for years acted as universities for the
industry, are doing far more to keep hold of their staff.
Traditionally, IT workers learned their trade here before moving on
to smaller companies. With the big players hogging the best people,
these skills are not being spread out, leaving a gulf further down
the supply chain.
Training is the obvious answer to this problem, but as companies
focus on squeezing costs out - through redundancies and budget cuts
- they are reluctant to spend any money on training. It is still
far more cost-effective to employ someone who already has these
skills - albeit more difficult.
So if companies are not training their employees, how does the
industry overcome this problem?
It can lay some blame at the door of the universities and colleges,
and they can still do much to help the problem. The courses they
offer must reflect the needs of the industry, and this means
teaching business skills such as communication and leadership as
well as the technical skills.
Another problem that could hamper UK workers trying to get back
into the industry is a possible influx of foreign labour.
The Government has put some barriers in place by striking IT skills
from the shortage list. This means that companies must now
advertise in the UK before they go abroad.
However, if the right skills mix doesn't exist, we risk alienating
our own workforce as companies are forced to recruit from overseas.
Simon Brown is director at Scalable Networks