Over nine in ten (93%) UK CIOs are calling on government, businesses and universities to help solve the country’s tech skills crisis. Research from recruitment specialist Robert Half Technology UK shows 31% of UK CIOs feel that actively promoting IT as an attractive career path to Millennials and Generation Zeros is crucial to address the skills gap. Another 20% believe that an equal mix of measures – including more investment in training, closer collaboration with educators and additional government initiatives – is the best approach to solve the crisis.

This view is held across Europe, with the continents CIOs agreeing that a mix of these initiatives would be beneficial in solving the skill shortage, even if exact solutions differ. CIOs in Belgium place higher priority on promoting IT as career path for Millennials/Generation Z professionals (45%). Whereas French CIOs place greater importance on in-house training (21%) compared with 13% in the UK to address the tech skills crunch.

European CIOs were asked: In your opinion, what is the single thing that would alleviate the skills shortage in the technology field?

	Continental Europe and UK	UK	Belgium	France	Germany
Promote IT as an attractive careerpath for Millennials/GenZ professionals	31%	31%	45%	31%	16%
All of them in equal measure	10%	20%	4%	5%	15%
Increased in-house training initiatives	17%	13%	15%	21%	16%
Increased government initiatives	10%	11%	9%	10%	11%
Increased collaboration with education providers/universities	16%	13%	16%	12%	23%
Increased collaboration initiatives from the business community	12%	8%	8%	16%	15%
Nothing	3%	5%	1%	3%	3%
Don’t know	2%	2%	2%	2%	3%

Source: Robert Half, 2018

“With continued uncertainty surrounding Brexit and the potential of reduced access to skilled EU workers combined with visa caps, the IT skills gap is likely to increase unless all we take positive steps to address it,” commented Matt Weston, UK Managing Director at Robert Half. “By taking a holistic approach to tech recruitment challenges, UK organisations will start to see more candidates attracted to a career in IT.”

Businesses are already facing increasing competition for talent in the technology sector. In fact, 79% of CIOs claim it is now more challenging to find qualified professionals than five years ago. This is comparable with Europe, where 67% of CIOs agree that it is more challenging today. With a possible tech talent exodus imminent, upskilling and training current and future employees now is key to the UK’s continued competitiveness. 

“Our research shows that the UK is not alone in its challenge to find qualified, highly skilled IT professionals. This is a worldwide issue that is particularly prominent in IT as digital transformation, automation and industry 4.0 shapes the future of the working world. CIOs in the UK recognise that if government, businesses and universities can work together to provide the correct environment to nurture, develop and train IT professionals, the benefits to both organisations and employees will be a major boost to the UK economy,” concludes Weston.