IN THE FAST moving information, communication and technology (ICT) world, demand for workers with specialised skills is in overdrive and HR will have to get moving to keep up
IN THE FAST moving information, communication and technologies (ICT) world, demand for workers with specialised skills is in overdrive and HR will have to get moving to keep up.
Workers with skills in client/server applications such as SAP and Siebel, as well as operating system applications such as Linux, and internet security are hot property.
Skills shortages in these specialised areas have been compounded by an exodus of ICT workers over the past few years as the best and brightest chase lucrative jobs overseas.
Lower demand for ICT university places has also reduced the pool even further. But as dependence on technology continues to grow, enterprises will have to gain full value from their ICT investment. This means their ICT staff must be retained and retrained.
“When ICT workers were plentiful [in the late ‘90s], it was easy to find people with a close skills match, so many companies didn’t bother with training and simply brought new people in as needs changed,” said Dennis Furini, chief executive of The Australian Computer Society.
“ICT trends and technologies are constantly changing, so it’s important that employees are always updating their knowledge and skills to maximise their understanding of how to apply ICT to most effectively meet the business goals.”
An online poll by ICT recruitment specialist Candle ICT also revealed that a large percentage of ICT professionals would be happy to compromise in terms of salary or rate, organisation or location in order to acquire new skills.
Forty-two per cent of the 1,000 professionals surveyed Australia-wide would be happy to accept a less attractive position to acquire new ICT skills.
HR professionals must also work closer with CIOs to “clearly communicate the organisation’s intentions in relation to the human resource aspects of its technology plans”, Furini added.
“While ICT professionals must take final responsibility for their own education and ongoing development, there’s also an important role for the business in identifying and enunciating its own future directions, providing a roadmap to help workers make informed choices about their training options,” he said.
