Invest in people to close skills gap, says McLaren's Chris Hicks
Start before they reach you, and continue until they leave
McLaren CIO Chris Hicks says the way to solve the IT talent crisis is to start early – even before new starters reach the workplace.
It sounds contradictory - why spend time on money on someone who doesn't work for you? - but is increasingly common. In fact, reaching out to schools is probably necessary if we want to close the gap between talent demand and supply.
That's exactly what McLaren is doing, says Hicks.
"Our STEM programme means getting out into schools and colleges and universities to encourage people to get into technology... It's about getting in there at the youngest level possible to showcase what careers and opportunities are out there, and what that career path might look like, because it can be daunting."
Chris and his team travel to educational institutions to tell their own personal stories: how they got into tech, the route they took and the skills that helped them get there.
They also tell students what technologies to research and stay abreast of. In a world where potential techies have to consider a plethora of diverse roles - and that's without touching the different programming languages and specialisations like AWS vs Azure, or Kubernetes vs Docker - that advice is invaluable.
The pay-off benefits the whole industry, as well as the company working with students. When they graduate, new starters are more likely to consider the firm that started them on their technical path as a future employer.
Building a holistic employee
IT graduates who join McLaren go straight to work, but their learning doesn't end there. Instead of heading straight for a specialism, they join a graduate scheme to continue training.
"We have them move around different areas of the organisation to learn. They might spend a quarter or a few months inside the security team, then move into the engineering team, then move to the new services team.
"They get a real breadth of understanding of not only the way that IT operates, but the wider business as well."
In a world where IT and business are drawing ever closer together, that's important knowledge to have.
"It's been so successful. Every graduate we put through it comes into a position in the end... So that's been really, really strong for us."
Learning never stops
Bridging the talent gap doesn't stop with recruitment. When demand for tech workers is as high as it is in 2023, retention plays a key role.
When people are already making signs that they want to leave, you really only have two choices: accept their resignation or offer more money. Not every IT leader has the budget for that.
Instead, you should be looking to head off any wobbles before staff consider leaving. Hicks is a fan of professional development and training - even when budgets are restricted.
"Often companies, when times get hard, the first thing to get cut is the training budget. But we've never gone down that road because it's so important. Technology moves at an incredible rate of change, and we've got to stay abreast.
"Last year we put several of our team through DevOps apprenticeships, as an example, to then bring those skills into the team. So, we're aligning our training programmes with the growing needs for competencies within the team."
Paying for individual staff members' training, and then asking them to share what they've learned with the team, is an efficient way to spread new skills and knowledge. McLaren has internal training platforms to do just that, and also invests in self-training opportunities.
"I think that's [how to close the skills gap]: it's investing in your people."