D&I push should come from the top, says panel

Skills of the future

Diverse talent being “hard to find” is a commonly heard concept when it comes to trying to employ under-represented groups in the tech sector, with some firms claiming they want to recruit diverse employees, but the talent pool isn’t there.

“This concept that diverse talent is hard to find is not true – let’s flip that on its head,” said Hersham, pointing out diverse talent can also be “selective” about the companies they want to join, ensuring that they choose an employer with an inclusive culture where they will feel welcome.

“We can understand all of these mechanisms and we can go out there, but if we’re not genuinely showing that commitment internally, then it’s going to be hard to attract diverse talent,” she said.

Companies also often complain of a lack of skilled workers, despite computer science graduates having one of the highest unemployment rates six months after graduation.

Ultra Education’s Hall said skillsets flagged by the World Economic Forum as being important for the near future, such as critical thinking and data, have been “accelerated” by the coronavirus outbreak due to an increased reliance on technology.

But there can still be many barriers for certain groups of people trying to enter the tech sector, including a lack of appropriate networks, or feeling like they need to change their identity to fit into the workplace.

Hall said pursuing entrepreneurship can solve quite a lot of these problems, and that in some cases it can be more beneficial for an individual to “pivot” their skillset towards creating their own job.

“To do that successful actually reinforces who you are – you have to dial up your identity,” said Hall. “If you can’t find the job of your dreams, you should be able to create the job of your dreams.”

Digital skills are becoming a must as technology adoption increases, but Gori Yahaya, founder and CEO of Upskill Digital, said that the “rollercoaster of emotions” brought about by the pandemic has meant “employers are definitely looking for people with [soft] skills”.

Although digital skills are at “the heart” of the transformation most companies are undergoing to be successful in the future, Euan Blair, co-founder and CEO of Whitehat, said soft skills are also extremely important and will continue to be so going forward.

These include skills such as management, prioritisation and communication, but also empathy, which Blair said is especially important “in the moment we’re living with right now”.

Remote working also means “we’re all going to have to turn remote communication into a bit of a superpower”, he added, because it seems like the world will be like this for at least a little while longer.

Many have previously spoken about a shift towards life-long learning as people begin working more flexibly and for longer, and Blair pointed out that people need to be “constantly retraining and relearning” and that “everyone’s going to have to get comfortable that we’ll have multiple careers”.

Stating that opportunities to reskill should be equally distributed, Blair said companies “have the power” to change who has access to these opportunities, and to increase the sector’s diversity and inclusion.