17 Apr 2008
More than half (53 per cent) of UK employers doubt that they can find skilled staff to meet their business needs, according to research by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and qualification provider Edexcel.
Fifty six per cent are concerned about existing employees' IT literacy and 69 per cent are investing in training to raise IT skills of their staff with the main reason cited being that workplace skills lag behind technology advances.
And six out of ten firms requiring workers with science, technology, engineering and maths skills (STEM) are having problems recruiting, partly blaming the drop in university applicants for these subjects.
The vast majority (92 per cent) of firms across all sectors want people with STEM skills.
While 36 per cent are recruiting from India, 24 per cent are looking to China and 35 per cent will look at hiring in Europe in the next three years.
And larger firms are twice as likely as their smaller peers to recruit in the expanded EU, such as in Poland.
But the shortage isn't limited to IT, as two fifths of employers are seriously concerned about basic numeracy and literacy skills among staff.
This Arunn person doesn't know what he's talking about. This person actually even believes (or maybe he's just doing his job) that there is a shortage of COBOL jobs. When I last looked in London CWJobs where advertising 7 jobs with the word COBOL.
Well for your son my advice would be to get some certifications and also get involved in some open source projects.
The type of certification I think depends on what your son both enjoys and what technologies he would like to get into. The advantage of a certification is that it will strengthen his skills base in a certain area and show that he is really keen in a particular area of interest. Then an open source project will give him the experience he needs in development such as version control for example. Also an open source project will allow him to appreciate some real code base.
Don't do COBOL.
Sorry if i've assumed that your son wants to do development. Please do reply back if I can help or if this was useful or not?
Thanks.
Posted by: Peter 06 May 2008
My 22-year-old son has been unable to find a job in the technical side of IT for two years.
He has his HND in Computer Systems Engineering with Commendation, and we have tried everything - yes, everything and everyone since his qualification.
He is based at home, works voluntarily, builds his computers and dazzles us all with his know-how - but still no employer comes to light.
Any suggestions would be welcome.
Posted by: David Alston 29 Apr 2008
This research from the CBI once again highlights the serious skills crisis facing organisations across the UK. Whilst this has been a prevailing theme for a number of years, we are now seeing CIOs struggling more than ever to fill specific IT roles, with those employees involved at the start of the UK software industry moving towards retirement and not enough graduates being trained to take their places.
Whilst it is heartening to see that over two thirds of UK employers are now investing in initiatives to raise the level of IT proficiency among their workforce, it is vital to setup a more sustainable framework for future. While investing in internal staff training is a quick fix, companies need to work closely with academia to ensure that the supply of skills meets their future demand. Care must be taken to ensure that the focus of these efforts is not only on new technological advances, but also upon existing systems, some of which may have been in place for a number of decades. These systems have long been the lifeblood of the organisations which they serve, and a shortfall in the skills needed to maintain these could have serious implications for UK business.
Posted by: Arunn Ramadoss, Micro Focus 18 Apr 2008
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