Two simple ways to help overcome the challenges of the IT skills shortage

It is clear that CIO’s are operating in an extremely challenging environment and the role has never been more important than it is right now.  IT has a crucial role to play in the UK’s continued growth and with the worst of the budget cuts now behind most IT departments, the focus again is on the IT skills shortage.

We are all so heavily reliant on technology and whilst 80% of IT spend is still focussed on “keeping the lights on” to simply sustain some form of business growth it has been reported by Deloitte that only 58% of budget allocation within IT is for BAU and 42% for change and growth.  This is great news for those CIO’s with an appetite to drive this area but with IT project delays frequently reported in the news and  IT request backlogs growing at a rate of 10 to 20% per year, having the right team on board to help develop and deliver new capabilities is one of the highest priorities for CIO’s.

The report also highlighted the IT priorities for the next 12-18 months:

– 82% support new business needs
– 56% drive digital strategy
– 56% reduce IT cost
– 53% consolidate infrastructure
– 52% maintain IT operations
– 52% strengthen risk and security
– 49% develop skills
– 44% restructure IT operating model
– 29% develop sourcing strategy
– 12% increase offshoring

The impact of the recession has seen businesses being slow to hire and train and as a result, we are not developing our technical skills at the same pace as pre-recession.  Over half of CIO’s are experiencing difficulties when looking for business-centric IT professionals who not only have the necessary skill set but can also think strategically and communicate effectively.  According to a recent survey by CBI, 39% of companies are now struggling to attract workers with advanced STEM (science, technology, engineering, maths) skills and 41% expect this issue to continue for the next 3 years.  More surprisingly, it also reported that 66% of UK employers are not satisfied with basic IT skills in their workforce.  On top of that, the European Commission predicts that the UK will need an additional 500,000 IT professionals by 2015!  Recruiting and retaining IT superstars is no easy task for any CIO.

So what can you do about it?

In a reported conducted by City AM, the average salary for technology jobs in the London area rose by a staggering 26% in the last 12 months, with the average topping £48k (£38k nationally) and according to CareerBuilder/EMSI, a third of UK businesses plan to hire full-time employees in 2014, with software professional vacancies expecting to increase by 3.1% to 325,500 jobs and ITC Managers by 3.6% to 326,429 jobs.  Are we set to see average salaries rising even further as companies try to attract the talent they need to prosper?

But those of you who read last week’s newsletter will know that attracting and retaining is not all about salary.  Over 40% of respondents to the Deloitte survey are redesigning IT roles and structures and providing access to cutting edge IT projects to help make their role the more attractive career choice.

Here at Langley James, we are seeing companies offering profit share, performance related bonus, blue sky thinking time, time for training and development and even “free pizza Friday’s” in an attempt to attract the best of the best.

Personal development with tailored training and project opportunities are key to attracting and retaining the right talent so it’s quite surprising to hear that only 12% of CIO’s are offering opportunities on projects outside the IT function – are you missing an opportunity to attract and retain talent?

Here at Langley James, we are passionate about recruiting – that’s why we do it!  We love getting to know you and getting to know our candidates resulting in the right person for the right role; something we have done over 3,000 times in the last 15 years.  We are experts at attracting the best calibre of candidate for your role, not just skills wise, but that all important personality and business skills too.

To discuss your IT recruitment needs please call us on 0207 099 4839 or email us: langleyjames@langleyjames.com.