According to the Open University, a lack of skilled workers is costing companies in the UK around £2.2 billion a year.
The levy was introduced in part to combat the digital skills gap. A combination of the uncertainty surrounding Brexit and a limited talent pipeline within the UK has impacted the number of skilled workers applying across Tech roles, most notably in IT and nursing. Europe as a whole faces a shortage of around 756,000 IT professionals by 2020.
One of the goals of the levy was to create a sufficient pipeline of digital and IT-related skills. While on a junior level this is beginning to take effect, it’s still too early to have had an impact on more experienced talent.
While the apprenticeship levy can provide inexperienced but eager candidates across a range of different pathways, it’s not yet developed enough to provide technical expertise in more specialist roles.
So, what other solutions are there to the tech skills challenge?
1) Recruiting Newly Trained Talent
Through our IT Technician, Software Development and Data Technician Skills Bootcamps we can offer technically experienced and certified candidates for entry-level and senior roles.
They’ll be equipped with the latest industry skills through a combination of practical work and theory. Each Skills Bootcamp includes a blend of relevant certifications, such as CompTIA A+, HTML5 & CSS3, Windows 10, Cisco CCNA and JavaScript. Our candidates have already shown a strong passion for IT, by electing to enrol in a self-funded training course.
They are focused on developing an IT career and are given soft-skill coaching and interview practice to make them job-ready and a great fit for any organisation. These candidates are also available through our work placement scheme, giving you the chance to trial a candidate to ensure they’re a good fit for you.
2) Consultative Approach with Recruitment Agencies
Typically organisations will work with a recruiter on a contingent or single role basis, but when it comes to filling large skills gaps such as digital, this isn’t always the right approach.
Retained solutions take a more consultative approach, to provide an in-depth candidate search that finds the perfect fit as per the client’s request.
Just IT Recruitment – specialists in delivering a retained solution – believe this approach gives clients better placements through a more thorough understanding of what the needs of the client, in terms of skills and personality fit of candidates.
Compared to a contingency solution with an average 30% success rate in the industry, our retained solution has provided a 98% success rate, making it the ideal solution for challenging niche and senior roles.
We use hosted interviews as a time-effective solution to fill any role. This allows you to meet and interview our top candidates for your role – typically exclusively. Our hosted interviews have an 87% success rate compared to the industry average of 33% for standard interview procedures.
3) Commercial Training
According to the LinkedIn Workplace Learning Report, 94% of employees would stay with a company longer if offered training. Retention is important in organisations of any size, but particularly in smaller organisations that might not be eligible to use the levy.
Our Commercial Training Division offers 1,500 courses spanning IT and business skills, that can be delivered flexibly across the UK, on-site or at our training centre in Central London.
“To ensure the successful delivery of all these courses their trainer worked closely with Line Managers to develop a customised solution for the groups of staff on each event” Richard Mortimer, Egress
If you’re looking to develop an experienced team member or team members further, Commercial Training products offer a specific and targetted solution to a companies training needs.
For more information on any of our solutions, contact us on 020 7426 9835 or by emailing hello@justit.co.uk.