Professor Ian Allison is head of the school of computing science and digital media at Robert Gordon University. Get more information on Robert Gordon University’s energy industry programmes here.
I was at a breakfast meeting a few weeks ago where it was evident that oil and gas companies are struggling to recruit and retain IT talent. But what are they doing about it? Well I suspect paying more in salaries, obviously, offshoring and lining the pockets of recruitment agents. That however, is not the answer.
Aberdeen is not alone in this scenario – organisations across the country are experiencing great difficulty in securing the skilled IT staff they need to grow their businesses. For many years now reports have identified a growing demand. In the ScotlandIS 2013 survey, 70% of digital business companies were expecting to recruit staff in the coming year, with software development skills being the primary area of demand. e-skills estimate that 9600 new entrants will be required in the sector each year for the next three years.
Recent data shows that 100% of the RGU 2012 graduates from courses such as Computer Science, Business Information Systems and Multimedia Development were employed or in further study. Since then I have noticed a real change of tempo. The number of employers wanting to recruit our graduates has risen dramatically, many of which are oil and gas companies – with several requests a week for posts to be filled or seeking opportunities to pitch their company to current students. With some companies planning to take on 10 or more graduates annually it is easy to see how students quickly secure positions. And I am already hearing of final years with secured positions for next summer. We have also recently introduced a Masters in IT for the Oil and Gas Industry in response to companies wanting to ensure graduates have contextual knowledge.
So what should you, as a company, do about it? First, in terms of recruitment, engage early with students and be prepared to invest time and money in doing so – taking them on as placements, sponsoring students on the above course, propose projects for students to do or get actively involved in our courses. This makes you attractive to the student but also it helps to provide a bridge for graduates into work. And once you have them, ensure that there is a good development programme in order to keep them.
However, beyond the recruitment process, I believe there is a need to secure the future pipeline of IT talent. Computing education must be prioritised in schools, colleges and universities, and you can help raise the profile of the need for this by lobbying your MSP or local councillor.
Furthermore, raising awareness of the difficulty and cost in recruiting the many excellent international students in the city because of immigration legislation imposed by the Home Office should be highlighted to your MP. I suspect many of them do not realise that there is an issue here – if you make them aware of the economic opportunities for the city then they will take notice.
More directly – what have you or your company done to encourage school pupils to become the future talent in the digital sector? We see plenty being done to address the skills shortage in oil and gas engineering but not software engineering, computer science, networking or digital media. Or how could you help to attract more females into the sector? Organisations need to think about the long term, but that’s not easy as it does not result in short term bottom line results.
We have a pupil-student-professional event in November and a Christmas lecture on security for pupils, and are grateful for the support of many individuals for their involvement in these. Demand is growing for our courses, but this is by drawing from beyond the country boundaries – there is insufficient interest from the brightest ‘home’ pupils. Public perception of the discipline and a lack of intellectually stimulation in schools has put youngsters off the subject.
With Curriculum for Excellence there is a chance to change that but at present many schools are withdrawing from this subject, putting our digital economy at risk. So, how about getting out and supporting your local school – adopt a teacher and help them to make the subject engaging, invest in them to ensure they are getting the development they need, and help to show pupils there is a bright and fascinating digital career ahead in the oil and gas sector.
It’s up to you to ensure your talent pipeline is strong this year, next year and in five years! Don’t assume it will happen automatically.
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