Four ways to plug the IT skills gap

The IT channel is crying out for ways to recruit and retain the best staff

The IT skills gap has become even more prominent as of late - with the government recently launching an inquiry into the causes of the skills gap, and Microsoft announcing this week that it is giving free Azure training in a bid to fix the skills shortage. With this in mind, CRN has rounded up four of the best suggestions for the closing the gap.

Industry-based education in schools

At a Microsoft event in London in October, Matthew Gould, director general for digital and media from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, revealed that one fifth of adults in the UK lack very basic digital skills. One in ten adults say they don't use the internet. A quarter of small businesses and charities say digital is irrelevant to them.

CompTIA's Zeshan Sattar, certifications evangelist, said that the best way to combat this is to have more industry-based teaching while children are still in school, so they are prepared with technical knowledge before they head into the workforce.

He said: "Sometimes with the education system, what was true five years ago quickly becomes outdated. So we need our teachers to upskill to teach the next generation of specialists. It has got to be a partnership with industry. While we are a big fan of what apprenticeships mean for the industry, we really believe in having that industry-based education as part of the curriculum in general, regardless of the level. It will help them have that extra edge to keep them up to date.

"It's not going to be changed overnight. We have to think about a long-term solution. The right age to target people is when they are still in school, so that when they leave at 17 or 18 they have the right skills and knowledge to succeed."

Change of messaging

As highlighted in CRN's recent Women in the Channel project, there is a lack of women in senior channel roles, with fourteen per cent of leadership roles among the top 50 resellers in the UK held by women.

A gender equality report by Lord Mervyn Davies, commissioned for the UK government in October 2015, found that in 2011, 135 of 1076 directorships in the FTSE 100 were held by women. That had increased to 26.1 per cent of directorships in 2015, and the report set objectives that FTSE 100 companies should have 33 per cent of board positions held by women by 2020.

Joanne Harper, principal at the University Technical College Reading - which was set up in 2013 to combat the computing skills gap in the area- suggested that a change in marketing to appeal to more women could mean "there wouldn't be a skills gap".

"Fixing the skills gap is a long game not a quick fix," she explained. "There is a clear male/female divide. Girls are discouraged from a very young age from doing anything that would stereotypically be seen as male.

"If you had as many women in the industry as you do men, there wouldn't be a skills gap. We've got to get more women in. We have got to get better career advice and guidance in for children at school."

Hands-on training

Shaun Lynn, CEO of Agilitas, believes the best way to combat the skills shortage is to move away from theoretical training in workplaces and more towards hands-on training.

"Instead of investing in theoretical training, I think there is no substitute for hands-on, bespoke training," he said. "I think that training providers are more relevant today than they have ever been. Those companies that offer technical training, that is a big way of reversing the trend.

"It is very short-sighted not to invest in your people. They are your biggest asset. People need to take a much more holistic approach to training. Having a well-trained, well-skilled and therefore motivated workforce adds a great deal more value to the reseller. It also enables them to deliver a far greater quality service which leads to increased retention of customers and greater customer satisfaction."

Better marketing

Another suggestion for beating the skills gap is for IT companies to invest in better marketing, in order to draw in more candidates.

Tim Davey, founding director of recruiter Infraview, said that investing in higher-quality branding, employee packages and marketing is the best way the industry can convince people to consider jobs in IT.

He explained: "As soon as you start moving up to £35,000-plus roles, looking for guys with solid technical skills in specialist areas, that is where there is lot of demand and there seems to be very little candidates. The skills gap is causing recruiters to be a little bit more entrepreneurial in the way we recruit.

"It is a war for talent at the minute, and the companies with the best marketing, branding, client base, vendor certifications, perception in the market, employee packages, and general opportunities are going to help get people in the door."