Transformation and the IT skills gap

Embarking on a digital transformation, often requires skills you may not have within your current IT team.

The preferred option is always to develop or train your existing resource to be new tech ready. However, time, interest and feasibility sometimes make that unlikely.

This means that you will be entering the jobs market to augment your team before even starting your journey. This is where you will frustratingly find that Cloud, AI, Security, even the art of transformation itself are much sought after skill-sets – and sometimes, you might feel like you’re hunting Unicorns.

Welcome to the IT skills gap.

This is where the law of supply and demand stings your salary structure, and scarcity enables these Unicorns to be choosy when selecting their new employer.

So, if step 1 on your transformation journey is to recruit the right skills to your team, then hopefully the below will assist your quest:

1. Why you?

More demand than supply means they need a clear articulation of your benefits as an employer, you really must sell the company to the potential recruit. They will be interviewing you too.

2. Progression plans

Its all about what you can do for them in two years. If not, they will recycle their skills and move on, just when you are in mid-use of the transitioned platform.

3. Personal development

What’s your commitment to training, attending events, conferences, or time for self-development? The Unicorns will expect rolling opportunities to develop.

4. Remuneration

Salary, bonus, progression and development. Expect these resources to fit outside of your normal model. Often way outside….

5. Patience

It’s a skills gap, its not a vacuum and they are out there. Just plan for it take longer than you had expected. So be patient and you will get the skills you need.

If you think it all sounds a bit tricky then you could revisit the potential to retrain your existing resources.

Or you could work with someone who already has the resource with the skill-set you are looking for. An IT service provider will get you to where you want to be to your timeline.