A survey of 502 IT decision makers from different UK firms and carried out by Censuswide on behalf of tech jobs board CWJobs, has found that 68% of UK business leaders believe that employees with technology skills - such as coding and cybersecurity - are more valuable than those with traditional skills such as maths and science.
It was also found that 53% did not think children were taught enough tech specialisms at school – with 71% of businesses urging candidates to learn tech specialisms in order to further their careers.
The survey also found that 73% of employers felt that tech education needed to happen at either primary or secondary school level and, in order to help close the tech skills gap, 86% of businesses would consider partnering with a school or college.
Dominic Harvey - Director at CWJobs - said:
“The UK is facing a skills crisis and those with tech specialisms on their CV are being sought after by all companies, now more than ever. In order to plug that gap, businesses are calling for tech to be given more of a prominence in the school curriculum. What’s clear is that learning a tech skill isn’t just something that’s relevant for one role or one industry, but the entire UK workforce needs to be embracing it if the country is to remain competitive on the world stage.”
Tech skills can put jobseekers high on the hiring list as 80% of employers stated that having a tech specialism is an important factor in their hiring decision and 63% said that they would hire someone with a tech specialism over a candidate without one – with 64% giving their reason for this as the fact that the candidate would be able to train others.
Cyber security was cited by 79% of those polled as being the tech specialism most in demand.
Of London’s employers, 73% said skills around the Internet were important for their employees to have and in Birmingham, 54% think coding is a vital skill.
Within current UK workforces, 44% had Cloud skills - the most prevalent amongst employees, with Cyber security next at 43% but the majority of the UK workforces had no specific skill present.
Top suggestions for remedying the lack of tech skills in future job candidates were increasing training programmes - cited by 52% of those polled, with 50% suggesting more government investment in the tech industry and 47% wanting more apprenticeships to be offered.
