Tech Talent

On Monday I saw an article by Computer Weekly highlighting that the need for tech talent continues to grow year on year with 12,800 tech vacancies advertised in 2021.

This is great for the industry as a whole but with the apparent skills shortages it does pose some problems with making sure there's a pipeline of talent to tap in to which is where there has been a lot of change although sometimes it feels we fall back to the same routes and expectations.

We've been looking at a range of ideas to help our recruitment initiatives, I'm sure they're much the same as many others which include using apprenticeships both for recruitment and retention for existing team members, retraining initiatives across the organisation and externally - there's such a wealth of transferable skills from people across sectors and disciplines as well as graduate and industrial placement initiatives.

One thing we have just launched for the entire organisation is an alumni programme, this looks to be a great way of staying in touch with a pool of people that might be interested in re-joining. This could have added benefits as recruitment costs may be lowered, you know their capabilities and they know how the organisation works which has to be a good thing.

Another area we've been looking at is schools outreach. This is an area I've been interested in for some time as a school and university governor. Creating connections between organisations and professions early and often is a really good thing to be doing to bring to life the range of roles that exist in the world of tech - it isn't all computer science! We need more of this to inspire and provide relatable role models, it can't be left to chance and it needs to be sustained, not just one off presentations.

It has other benefits too, we can start to really learn about the 'future of work' from those that will be the future. This could be as much about the way we work and expectations of the type of work but also help us to start thinking about the roles, or skills we need to develop going forward.

All of this is of course about getting people in, there's a whole host of things to do to make sure they stay which if the 'great resignation' is to be believed will need to be high up on a CIO's agenda.

I'd love to hear how others have developed successful recruitment approaches and what made the difference, as well as those that have engaged with initiatives to build awareness, excitement and interest in schools.