Findings from the latest quarterly survey from e-skills UK – the sector skills council for information communication technology (ICT) – indicate that skills gaps in the sector are at a yearly high.
The ICT Inquiry findings, which cover the first quarter of 2006, show that the percentage of firms reporting a skills gap increased from 12 per cent to 14 per cent but on the impact scale of 0-100, where 0 is ‘no effect’ and 100 is ‘company closure’, firms reporting gaps in the skills of ICT staff rated the effects at a worrying 48.
Other findings from the e-skills UK ICT Inquiry, which is based on the opinions of over 1,000 business, IT and HR leaders, include:
- On average each ICT position advertised externally will attract around 26 applications but just seven (27 per cent) applicants will fully match the requirements set out within the job description.
- One in five (20 per cent) ICT recruiters stated that they had difficulties finding applicants with the required level of skills/knowledge – a rise on the previous quarter, where it stood at 17 per cent.
- Despite skills gaps being more common, one in five firms surveyed stated that they would still not train staff over the coming year.
- On average it takes 42 days to recruit a new ICT professional compared with 32 days for other workers.
The full survey can be found at: www.e-skills.com/ictinquiry
