Written by Camilla Long, Director, Bespoke Communications
Camilla Long is the director of Bespoke Communications and CareerEncode.com Facilitator. She helps organisations to develop their brightest talent and offers media training, public speaking coaching and leadership development to the country's biggest and best-known organisations.
We live in a data-driven world. Digital transformation is now at the heart of every industry, providing decisionmakers with access to information to drive their organisation forward.
Right across the UK, growth in the digital sector is 2.6 times that of the economy as a whole. And here in Northern Ireland we have embraced this digital future. According to Tech Nation, of all the new jobs created in Northern Ireland in 2018, one in four was a digital job.
But has this explosive growth now become the tech industry’s biggest challenge? The digital skills gap is now being laid bare, as the number of unfilled jobs in the tech industry is now 22% higher than 5 years ago.
So how can companies in Northern Ireland keep pace with growth? It’s time to add some new ingredients into the recruitment cake-mix. Alongside tried and test recipes with graduate recruitment and recruitment agencies, any growing company will need to look at new ways of serving up a high performing team. This is where Apprenticeships could help.
Young talent is an obvious place to look when considering new recruits. And it’s interesting to hear what they think of technology as a career. At the World Economic Forum in Davos recently, the OECD presented their take on the Future of Work. Specifically they asked 15 year-olds what they want to be when they grow up. It turns out that in twenty years, young people’s career aspirations haven’t changed much at all.
Over 50% of 15-year olds see themselves in traditional job roles like doctors, teachers and lawyers. This is the most digitally connected generation ever but it’s clear that it’s time for tech employers to find ways to connect with their future workforce.
Young people need to understand that tech jobs exist, and how to get the skills they need to get into the industry.
David Lysakowski, now working as a Higher Level Apprentice, got tailored career guidance while at school at St. Mary’s in Limavady which led him to choose a career in technology with Mallon Technology in Cookstown.
Initiatives like mTech.Academy here in Northern Ireland have shown that learning by doing can have a huge impact on how students see their career choices. And arguably just as important as career guidance in schools, is the choice available to young people at the point of leaving school. Higher Level Apprenticeships can be an effective pathway into a fulfilling tech career at this important moment in the life of a school leaver or early-career changer.
A Higher Level Apprenticeship allows an employer to recruit a young person or a career changer into a job role, and mentor them and guide them with the specific skills they need to do that job.
Connor Hamilton now works in the IT department of CDE Global as a Higher Level Apprentice.
Connor said that he felt ready to enter the workplace after leaving school, so his CareerEncode. com Apprenticeship ‘combines the best of both worlds with training in the workplace as well as a Foundation Degree qualification’.
A tech job comes in a variety of shapes and sizes and changes fast. That’s what makes it hard to explain to the future workforce. But it’s clear that every company nowadays is an IT company. Digital transformation means that software systems are at the heart of every business.
For continued business growth, every company will need digital skills. And for our young people to develop a fulfilling career, it’s important that they see themselves as part of this tech landscape. There are ways for employers to tap into this source of talent - it sometimes means thinking differently and embracing change. But then again, isn’t change what the tech industry is all about?
This article first appeared in the Women in Tech special edition of the Sync NI magazine. You can download a FREE copy here.
