Time to dive into the UK's talent pool

IT becomes more important to global business all the time. Young people live and breathe technology, and they are vital to the future of this fast-paced profession. Yet fewer are entering it.

When the economy picks up, we don’t want to suddenly realise that we lack the skills to do the jobs on which global business is so dependent. The IT workforce of the future won’t appear on its own, we need to work to attract and train it today.

It goes without saying that talented people in all sectors are currently struggling to find work. This is particularly problematic for graduates and school leavers who have little experience to promote themselves to employers. So we face a situation where we have a talented pool of people looking for work, and an IT industry struggling to attract its future workforce.

Many young people are enthusiastic about IT, but don’t consider it a career path. They see an advert for an IT role and assume they are not qualified. Many think IT is about programming, but often it is about managing infrastructure, and that doesn’t require a computing degree.

In reality, IT can be a career for any highly motivated person who likes thinking and working with their hands. Intelligent people can quickly learn vital skills and acquire necessary certifications to get on the IT career ladder. From there they can build their career as an integral part of an organisation’s IT staff, as well as helping solve the impending shortage of IT professionals.

One of the best ways to get young people excited about any career is by showing that you will support and invest in them. Organisations should look at offering introductory courses that lead to industry-recognised certifications as part of the employment contract. Certifications prove that employees can apply the knowledge learned, and offer them a valuable asset that they can be proud of as they start their career.

There are plenty of courses available to get people started in IT. O rganisations need to look at where they stand to benefit from new skills, and identify correct training routes to attract non-computing graduates and enthusiastic school leavers.

Training and certifying young people is a win-win situation: organisations get employees with specific skills; the IT sector gains professionals who fill its expanding role in society; young people get certifications, which help them in their career; and the economy benefits from increased employment in a sector that is critical to the future of Digital Britain.

And there has never been a better time to do it. The government is committed to getting young people into work or training. Ministers are calling for organisations to help them achieve this, and offering a range of incentives to those who do so. While this commitment covers all sectors, there can be few industries where it is more important than IT.

As the voice of the global IT industry, bringing people into IT has always been a big issue for CompTIA. We consult widely with industry, and repeatedly hear about the need to provide direct routes to support young people into IT careers. Last year we responded to this by launching the CompTIA Strata series of certificates, to provide a broad introduction to technology. We hope that this will be part of a trend that sees more young people supported into careers in IT.

If we don’t start recruiting, training and certifying people now, the industry will not be able to sustain itself when the upturn comes. How we act on these opportunities now will determine the future of the IT industry.

Matthew Poyiadgi is European vice president of CompTIA