Kelly unveils its first Asia Pacific IT Skills Study

Kelly Services, today released its first IT Skills Study in Asia Pacific, providing businesses and employers with insights into the most significant IT talent issues and methods adopted to address these issues.

With respondents consisting of senior IT decision makers and hiring managers in a range of medium and large national or multinational organisations, the web-based study explored the critical skills needs and skills shortages in the IT workforce as well as the attraction and retention strategies and tactics undertaken by organisations to ensure a high-performance IT workforce.

The study found that the lack of IT professionals with relevant skills is having a negative impact on organisationís ability to serve clients and customers. Almost 80% of respondents describe the adverse effect on their business as moderate to severe.

ìWith more than 440 leading organisations participating in the study, we can see that the IT skills shortage is real and is fast approaching a critical state,î Dhirendra Shantilal, Senior Vice President - Asia Pacific of Kelly Services said.

ìChanging demographic profiles, globalisation and innovation in technology open up new opportunities and put a greater focus on jobs which require specialised IT skills while making existing ones obsolete,î said Mr Shantilal.

According to the study, 42% of respondents cite the lack of experience amongst the current IT workforce as the driver behind the shortage of qualified IT talent. This was followed by the unpreparedness of new IT staff to meet the business needs and the organisationís lack of ability to train and develop staff.

ìIn Australia and many countries in Asia Pacific, there is rapid innovation in technology. In addition, the IT job market has been very active in the past two to three years due to the setting up of IT hubs and regional shared services centres which see a boost in the demand for experienced IT professionals and teams to manage and support these operations,î said Mr Shantilal.

The study also showed that there is significant overlap between the technical skills considered most critical within an organisation and the technical skills cited as the shortest in supply.

Four of the top five technical skills and non-technical skills with the greatest shortage of IT talent are among the top five technical and non-technical skills that are considered to be most important for IT professionals in their organisation.

Technical skills include applications development and integration, data management, enterprise systems integration and customisation, and customer relationship management (CRM). Non-technical skills include communication, creative thinking, problem solving and decision making, and initiative and enterprise.

ìApart from good academic qualifications and experience, business or soft skills are just as important for IT professionals in order to succeed in their job,î said Mr Shantilal.

To overcome the shortages of both technical and non-technical skills, the two most popular means for remedying the shortfall are to hire from other companies and to train existing employees.

ìThe hiring of IT talent from other companies to cover skills shortages is intensifying the war for talent in the marketplace as it can also drive up employee costs significantly and may not be effective in the longer-term.

ìInstead, strategies such as offering employees opportunities to develop new skills and competencies are critical in winning the war for talent.

ìTraining and development is increasingly seen as a valuable benefit within the overall compensation package and can make a difference for organisations that are seeking to attract and retain the best talent,î said Mr Shantilal.

When asked about sourcing IT talent, some 70% of organisations said they work with recruitment companies and turn to internet and job portals at the same time.

ìMany IT employees have access to sensitive personal information of customers and employers want to verify their credentials before hiring them. Recruitment companies should go beyond matching a resume with a job description and be a better partner to organisations by managing the process of selecting the best IT talent,î said Mr Shantilal.

He said the IT skills shortage needs to be tackled from all areas and by stakeholders including individuals, employers, industry and education institutions, alongside local government programs.

ìOne of the key ways to address this is for employers to partner with their employees to create the right culture, environment and infrastructure support and encourage their staff to take responsibility for their own career development.î