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How the UK can overcome the tech talent shortage

With Brexit on the horizon, the majority of employers in the UK believe they will be forced to tackle the tech talent shortage over the next 12 months. The Edge Foundation highlighted that the UK was already losing £63 billion a year because of 600,000 vacancies in digital technology. Unsurprisingly, only 11% of employers feel that the tech skills shortage won't affect them.

In more positive news, there are plans to help the UK to become a global hub for blockchain technology. But once again, it's a shortage of tech talent that is currently holding the country back from thriving and surviving in a digital age.

We are entering a transformational period where emerging technologies and political landscapes look set to dramatically change the UK as we know it. However, the challenges that tech, automation, globalization, and an ageing population bring, will also pave the way for a new digital era of opportunity through innovation.

Preparing Your Workforce for a Digital Age

The Open University recently highlighted that 94% of SMEs are struggling to secure the needed tech talent to fill their empty roles. Predictably many are fearful that the problem is only going to get worse. These challenges can also lead to new issues such as inflated salaries and an increase in temporary workers while existing workers quickly become overstretched and underappreciated.

As traditional jobs begin to disappear, they are also being replaced by a wide variety of new roles that require a very different skillset. It's important to remember that the short supply of tech skills is a worldwide problem. But there are many examples of how regions are attempting to solve these issues by educating and reskilling their citizens.

These are just a few reasons why we decided to tackle the UK tech skills gap head-on and embarked on a journey to revolutionize tech education. With _nology, we launched a 12-week technology conversion course. Our mission is merely to equip businesses and individuals with the knowledge and experience required for today and tomorrow’s workplace.

We believe that it’s time to bust a few myths that surround the industry. Technology is everyone’s business, and it has transformed all of our lives, both in and outside of the office. In a digital world where exponential change is the new currency, diversity of thought is becoming increasingly important to every business too.

Technology now provides everyone with equal opportunities. A fulfilling and futureproof change in career is not just a pipe dream, it’s available to everyone, regardless of their age, gender or race. With a guaranteed position waiting at the end of the course, it’s the perfect time to join the tech revolution.

The Role of Technology in Post-Brexit England

The uncertainty that surrounds Brexit combined with a shortage of tech skills could make it very easy for candidates across multiple industries to feel they are trapped. But advances in technology is actually providing everyone with equal opportunities to change their career path.

A fulfilling and futureproof change in career is not just a pipe dream, it’s available to everyone, regardless of their age, gender or race. With a guaranteed position waiting at the end of technology conversion course, it’s the perfect time to join the tech revolution.

Contrary to what you might have read, it’s not about replacing people with technology. The best results are from workers seamlessly working alongside sophisticated technology. From startups leading the way with new innovations to the digital transformation strategies at large corporations, technology and people are crucial to the success of the UK.

Ironically, embracing technological change is possibly Britain’s best chance of surviving Brexit. But there needs to be a new narrative to solve the biggest problem in recruitment. We need to deliver a new message that anyone, of any age or background, has a chance to upgrade their career path in a digital age of opportunity.

How Recruiters Can Bridge the Gap

Almost every business now has technology at the heart of everything that they do. Protecting and improving that tech or bringing new technology into the market to meet the rising expectations of their customers, all require employees with a specialist set of tech skills.

Traditional jobs are already beginning to disappear along with intermediaries that provide little in terms of business value. But there is a massive demand for new roles that are crucial for businesses to stay relevant in a digital age such as security analyst, developer, data scientist, UX designer, machine learning engineer, AI programmer, etc.

Many employers will look to recruiters to help fix their problems. We can expect a new generation of specialised digital headhunter that can focus on a niche area and help bridge the gap between employer and tech talent. Recruiters will need to lead the way and maintain authority as technology specialists.

The government, businesses and education authorities will all need to work closely together to ensure the UK builds a new infrastructure where the UK can thrive. Recruiters will play a critical role in ensuring that candidates with the right skills, knowledge, and experience will fill the growing list of vacancies.

The role of the recruiter will also be transformed by emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence too. AI will automatically provide higher data accuracy leaving the recruiter to lean on their soft skills around emotions and behaviors.

The new partnership where recruiters and technology work seamlessly side by side could also improve the candidate experience, eradicate bias and increase diversity across the employment landscape. Maybe technology does work best when it brings people together and, in this case, a divided nation.

These are just a few reasons why we are passionate about bridging the tech gap with our successful 12-week coding course. By upskilling people of all ages and backgrounds, we are also providing an opportunity to secure a tech role of their dreams. Businesses of all sizes are also winners in this new approach as they can secure the perfect candidate who has the exact skills they are looking for.

A combination of technology, education, and hands-on experience is helping Opus provide global recruitment solutions for technology recruitment across all sectors. Visit Opus Talent Solutions to see how we can help you with a range of tech talent solutions.

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