Getting young people into tech

Encouraging young people to develop tech skills is key to futureproofing the UK’s tech industry. Our current skills shortage sees companies struggling to source candidates with the skills they need.

Whereas ongoing training programmes can help existing employees to upskill, our talent shortage needs to be addressed earlier in the recruitment lifecycle, specifically, when future job candidates are still at school.

According to recent survey from Deloitte, 62% of UK business executives say that their tech talent pool doesn’t have the capability to deliver their digital strategy. Companies in a variety of industries, not just tech, are struggling to find candidates that can transform their business.

CWJobs own research reveals that 80% of business leaders say that having a tech specialism is an important factor in their future hiring decisions across any sector. Cyber security (79%) is the most in demand tech skill for businesses, followed by data analytics (76%) and business intelligence (76%).

In this article, we look at some of the ways that companies, schools and government can take action to encourage more young people into tech.

Showcase tech careers outside of the technology industry

In this era of advanced technology, tech skills play an essential role in most industries. At CWJobs, we’ve seen job roles open up in a variety of sectors in recent years, from sport, to film and the automotive industry.

Whilst many tech workers are already aware of this, the key is to deliver this message to students in both primary and secondary school. To ensure a steady flow of future talent, children need to be aware of the possibilities that tech skills can bring, from a young age. Schools should aim to provide information on careers that use tech skills outside of the technology industry.

In the sports industry, for example, 76% of business leaders say that cyber security is a top priority. In media and marketing, 66% of business leaders say that coding is an important skill for employees, with 60% of those in the automotive industry agreeing likewise.

CWJobs recently hosted a careers session in London with some young candidates as part of the TalentRISE tech workshop series. Participants heard about the importance of tech skills from various speakers from outside the tech industry, including Salesforce Administrator Stephen Holloway.

Our own Commercial Director, Dominic Harvey spoke about how to be successful in sales and Talent’s Rebecca Trowell ran a session on how to approach job searching practically and emotionally. Events like these can provide young people with a holistic overview of how tech skills can lead to careers in a range of industries.

Give technology more prominence in the school curriculum

One way to encourage young people to develop their tech skills is to give tech subjects more prominence in the school curriculum. According to CWJobs’ recent research, over half (53%) of business leaders say they don’t think children are taught enough tech specialisms at school.

Subjects like Information Technology, graphic design and food technology can provide secondary school students with transferrable tech skills that can be used in a variety of roles.

Our report also finds that more than two-thirds (68%) of business leaders believe that being educated in subjects like coding or data analytics is more important than traditional ‘core’ academic subjects like maths and science.

As a result, the majority (71%) of businesses are encouraging candidates to learn tech specialisms to futureproof their careers.

Develop partnerships with schools

Tech companies need to reach out to schools and colleges and build relationships that can lead to entry-level roles. Dedicated school events and cross promotion on social media can help raise awareness of the wide spectrum of jobs that are available in tech.

Encouragingly, CWJobs survey finds that 86% of tech companies would consider partnering with a school or college to inspire students to join the industry.

One example of schools and tech companies working together is Shireland Collegiate Academy’s partnership with the Apps for Good programme, which offers free online tech courses for the classroom. The school is also partnered with Codeacademy to teach pupils how to code and is supported by Microsoft.

Highlight inspirational role models

Having a role model plays a crucial role in helping young people define their career. Schools and tech companies can promote role models to young people to inspire them to pursue a career in tech, particularly when it comes to girls.

Previous research from CWJobs revealed that 64% of women in tech have been motivated by an inspirational figure to pursue their career, compared with just 47% of men. CWJobs recent article about pioneering women in tech, provides a good entry-level list of role models for women.

Our list includes Margaret Hamilton, who developed software for the Apollo 11 moon landing, and Karen Spärck Jones, who created the information retrieval system that’s used by today’s search engines.

Championing role models in the tech industry is key to encouraging young people to develop their tech skills. It can also help change the mindset that technology skills are the domain of men.

Download your free copy of our CWJobs’ More than Code report.