Our IT Recruitment Specialists have seen an increased skills gap within IT and digital occupations during the pandemic. This has been due to a large proportion of skilled individuals, who may have otherwise naturally changed their careers or been attracted to new opportunities, remain in their current employment. This resistance has been caused by a lack of confidence in the market as individuals have been unwilling to move to new, unknown territory at another company. As the ramifications of the pandemic have proven to be somewhat volatile within a large number of organisations and industries, many have been fearful of a ‘last-in-first-out’ scenario if they were to accept a new job. As such, they have remained with their existing employers where they feel relatively safe in their careers, until such a time when there will be a more positive vibe in the job market without the disruption of the pandemic.
Moreover, we have seen many individuals take advantage of the comfort and financial stability of being Furloughed by their employers. Whilst a small number of these individuals have been open-minded to new employment due to feelings of insecurity about the longevity of their current jobs, the majority of individuals have preferred to stay where they are, so they retain the protection of a stable income offered by the government’s scheme.
Nevertheless, we have also seen a gradual rise in new technical job opportunities. Despite some redundancies and a surplus of contractors becoming available during the pandemic, there has been a shortage of suitably skilled candidates to substantially reduce the skills gap on a national scale. This has been a compounding issue, as companies that have needed to recruit during the pandemic due to high demand of cloud-based infrastructure and full digital transformation projects, have not been able to successfully fill their necessary, and often urgent, job vacancies. This has caused a chain of events amongst technical professionals who have continued to work tirelessly throughout the pandemic. For these employees to consistently keep up with the demands of employers and customers, and to enable business-critical staff and departments to successfully work from home, many have been required to work beyond their capacity. These employees have undoubtedly taken on additional responsibilities, extremely challenging assignments, and worked longer hours to ensure tight deadlines are met, and to ensure their technology works seamlessly with minimal disruption and downtime.
If your company is experiencing an IT and digital skills gap, here are some crucial ways in which to address these challenges :
- Hire new talent – Finding the right people may sound easier said than done. However, when you come to recruit skilled professionals with niche capabilities where the demand for similar advanced IT skills are also required by other organisations (including your competitors!), the pool of potential candidates is extremely small. Although it might seem like a costly solution from the outset, we advise employers to consider this option as a long-term investment that will reap countless future benefits. For advice and support on achieving your recruitment goals, our IT Recruitment Consultants can offer you all the tools to maximise your reach and uncover sought-after candidates, particularly when there is a shortfall of desired skills.
- Upskilling – If any of your existing staff lack the skills you require to fulfil your projects, try upskilling to bridge that gap. Not only will your employees be grateful for the opportunity to gain industry-related certificates and accreditations and greatly benefit from such training, but the return on investment for your business is huge! Upskilling will champion internal individuals that are willing to train, will reduce the strain on other members of staff, and will give you the edge over your competitors as you consistently improve and streamline your technical operations.
- Outsourcing – Hiring and upskilling are both great ways to sustain your business for the long-term, however we appreciate that this may not resolve your immediate needs. As such, to enable your projects to move ahead quickly, we recommend outsourcing your technical requirements to a specialist IT Partner or engage with a skilled IT Contractor. Whichever option you choose, you will save a lot of time and resource without recruiting and/or upskilling. No matter what your needs are, Bond Williams Professional Recruitment can introduce you to a number of interim contractors or temporary workers with a variety of technical skills who would be competent in delivering your projects. We can also introduce you to IT Partners that may be able to support you with more long-term technical support if you wish to go down this route instead.
For friendly advice and support about any of these challenges or solutions, our knowledgeable IT Recruitment Consultants would be happy to discuss these with you further.
