Despite rapid acceleration of digital modernisation, our recent research report – Unlocking the UK’s potential with digital skills – finds that 69 percent of leaders think they still have a skills gap within their organisation, despite 80 percent recognising that digital skills investment will be important to the country’s economic recovery. At the same time, employees are hungry to learn. 59 percent agree that developing digital skills will be important to their employability post-pandemic.

The challenge for many leaders now lies in how to create a culture in which employees are guided and empowered to learn the skills that they are eager to develop, and will be so important in the digital economy. To that end, I’ve penned a couple of thoughts and would love to hear your reflections in the comments below.

1.      Acknowledge the skills gap

Awareness is the first step to action. It’s certainly a positive that almost 70 percent of UK leaders recognise the gaps in their digital capability. Now is the time to turn awareness into action.

Identify the barriers your organisation is facing when it comes to skills investment. It is possible your challenges are like those experienced by other companies. 37 percent of leaders cite cost as their primary challenge, whilst 28 percent are united in feeling that their lack of strategy holds them back. I often find engaging with my counterparts beneficial, not least as we discover shared challenges and learnings. If you aren’t sure where to start, organisations such as FutureDotNow provide useful opportunities to listen and learn from like-minded leaders on how to bridge skills gaps.

Then, create an integrated, cross-functional digital team who are responsible for driving the effective use of digital skills and solutions throughout the organisation. Work with this team to evaluate your technology stack, identify skills gaps and assess your digital talent pool.

2.      Affirm your commitment

Actively champion the value of lifelong learning. Share resources for employees to develop in-demand skills. Also, provide space for everyone to learn throughout the working week. Over time, these steps will contribute to an inclusive learning culture that will empower learners and prepare your organisation for the digital economy.

At Microsoft, we host a quarterly learning day; an opportunity for employees to focus their time entirely on growth and development. Talks and training provide employees an opportunity to learn something new. We allocate space for employees to learn in the way that best suits them. Learning Day serves as an important and regular reminder to all the value of personal growth and skill development.

3.      Invest in the right skills

One of the biggest challenges can be knowing which skills to focus on. Of course, this varies in every company. But we uncovered a great place to start: data literacy. Our research found that data literacy skills have the greatest impact on business performance. It also provides employees with a useful capability to develop in a wide range of roles. To further support leaders in identifying the right skills to invest in, we split digital skills in to two categories:

• Consumptive skills such as using Microsoft 365 and adopting new technologies to allow people to use digital tools and systems.
• More technical productive skills such as coding, developing algorithms, computer science modelling the enable us to create those solutions.

Since others adopt what the creators develop, productive skills can have double the impact on organisational performance. Your initiatives should take this distinction into account and deliver the right balance of learning options. Microsoft Learn is a great place for employees to get started.

When you empower people with digital skills they become interpersonally stronger too, leading to greater critical thinking, collaboration and decision-making. Build on this by offering training that goes beyond technical capabilities to support workers in developing professional skills such as creativity, adaptability and collaboration.

4.      Nurture your Next Gen Workers

Our research shows that a creative new generation has joined the workforce with a strong blend of consumptive and productive skills. These Next Gen Workers make up 73 percent of the workforce today. Democratise consumptive skills by providing opportunities for employees to learn and engage with no code/low code technologies such as PowerApps. In turn, the potential benefits for organisations and society could be significant.

5.      Think differently about talent

To prepare for the new world of work, leaders should rethink their talent acquisition and development strategies by looking outside traditional talent pools to fill skills gaps. One such way could be to hire a digital apprentice into your organisation to support your goals and develop throughout the apprenticeship. I know first hand the value apprenticeships provide for both employer and employee. I would encourage anybody interested in hiring an apprentice to explore our new UK apprenticeship network.

Building skills in the new world of work

As we enter a hybrid world of work, conversations on skills and talent remain high on the agenda for leaders across the UK. The skills challenges within organisations are complex and unique, however these steps, alongside our our digital skills report, will provide you with actionable insights on how to unlock your organisation’s potential.

Recently, we’ve been discussing how to think differently about talent with industry leaders. It’s something that has been at the top of my mind as well. Therefore, in the next blog, we will dive a bit deeper on how to develop and attract diverse talent, with insights from leaders across the UK.

Find out more

Unlock the UK’s potential with digital skills

Learn how to harness the power of data

Develop your skills and own your story

Watch a panel of industry leaders discuss how to think differently about talent in an on-demand session from Microsoft Envision

About the author

Simon is passionate about unlocking the potential in every person and organisation and has been with Microsoft since 1999. In his role as UK Chief Learning Officer, Simon is responsible for leading the learning culture and skilling strategy in the UK and driving the execution for customers, partners, employees, and future generation skilling. Prior to this, Simon has held several senior positions at Microsoft, leading several businesses across the UK and EMEA.

The post 5 steps to help leaders close skills gaps in their organisation appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs - United Kingdom.

The role of technology is growing across all sectors. Therefore, it’s no surprise to find a corresponding surge in demand for technical skills. According to TechNation, tech jobs now make up 10 percent of all job vacancies. Despite this, many organisations often struggle to find candidates with the experience and knowledge they need. This is especially the case for advanced and specialist skills, such as data analytics, network security and AI.

The shortage of suitably qualified professionals for existing roles – let alone the estimated three million new UK tech jobs by 2025 – poses a major challenge to our economic recovery, productivity and growth.

Addressing the skills gap and creating new learners

To help tackle the widening digital talent gap, Microsoft launched Get On 2021 last October. Our five-year commitment focusses on driving technology adoption and increasing access to tech skills. As a result, we aim to empower more learners and boost the UK’s productivity and competitiveness.

Our specific commitment is to help 1.5 million people build tech careers across all industries, by empowering them with in-demand skills. We are also focussed on connecting 300,000 people to tech job opportunities through programmes such as the Microsoft Apprenticeship Network.

Living the life of a learner

At the heart of our Get On 2021 commitment is a belief that every person in the UK – whatever their background, life stage or career history – should have access to the skills, knowledge and opportunity needed to achieve more in a tech-enabled world.

It’s this conviction that underpins our new campaign to widen access to learning opportunities and empower more people to build in-demand skills.

We wanted to better understand the challenges and opportunities faced by learners across the UK. So, we recently set out to learn ourselves from people who are building tech careers. In our new campaign, #OwnYourStory, we share the tales of Amelia, Enrique and Poornima; three individuals with experiences that will resonate with learners and provide food for thought for leaders seeking to empower their workforce.

Enrique is at the very start of his tech career, having completed a digital apprenticeship after his GCSEs. Amelia has switched to a new career as a data analyst apprentice after working in care. And Poornima is a developer with a clear passion for lifelong learning and professional development. All three are in 10 of the most in-demand roles today.

Owning their story

Enrique, Poornima and Amelia have taken bold steps to start new chapters at different stages of their lives. They share a united passion for technology and, in reimagining themselves, they offer inspiration to others who may seek to unlock their own potential.

They also remind me why it is so important for organisations to think differently about attracting and developing diverse talent. It’s through a digital apprenticeships that Amelia and Enrique are unlocking their potential in a technology career. Additionally, Poornima reflects that she is often underestimated as a woman in her industry. Their personal experiences will resonate with many and may provide further inspiration for leaders on why it’s important to place diversity and inclusion at the heart of talent planning as well as sourcing talent from non-traditional pools such as through apprenticeships.

Above all, it’s hard not to feel inspired by Enrique, Poornima and Amelia’s zest for learning and development. They show that learning is a journey, not a destination. They show the potential that can be achieved with the right skills, knowledge and opportunity. It’s their enthusiasm and personal ambition that I see every day amongst other learners. And it’s a constant reminder of what can be achieved when we invest in learning and development.

Over the coming weeks, we’ll share more thoughts on how we can close the digital talent gap and empower more learners across the UK to own their story. In the meantime, I’d like to invite you to view Enrique, Poornima and Amelia’s stories. I would love to hear how learning has empowered you, or your team, in the comments below.

Find out more

Meet our learners: Discover how digital skills helped unlock their potential and how you can get started

Discover the report: Unlocking the UK’s Potential with Digital Skills

About the author

Simon is passionate about unlocking the potential in every person and organisation and has been with Microsoft since 1999. In his role as UK Chief Learning Officer, Simon is responsible for leading the learning culture and skilling strategy in the UK and driving the execution for customers, partners, employees, and future generation skilling. Prior to this, Simon has held several senior positions at Microsoft, leading several businesses across the UK and EMEA.

The post Empowering learners to build fulfilling tech careers appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs - United Kingdom.

The UK, like many of our global counterparts, has a worrying skills gap, and those who have skills and those who have not transcends many pockets of society. For example, a recent report by Lloyds Banking Group showed that 11.7 million people are without the digital skills needed for every day life. And commercially, a 2020 McKinsey survey found that 87 percent of executives say they have skills gaps in their business, or expect to in coming years.

Investing in skilling

At Microsoft UK, we see it as our responsibility to help our customers, partners and wider society learn skills needed to achieve more in the changing economy. We have long supported the call to close the UK’s skills gap and we’re passionate about leaving no one behind as technology advances. That’s why we invest in partnerships with leading charities such as UK Youth and Catch 22 to provide more young people with opportunities to build skills, and it’s why we provide free hands-on opportunities for everybody to grow their technology skills through Microsoft Learn and our Virtual Training Days.

However, with the economic upheaval caused by COVID-19, we knew we had to accelerate our commitment to skilling. Although we are yet to fully understand how the current climate has impacted the skills gap, we know it was already widening before COVID-19. It’s incumbent on all of us to work together to close the skills gap. A skilled UK will be a fundamental part of an inclusive economic recovery and we must strive to mitigate the challenges faced by the thousands facing unemployment during this difficult time. As LinkedIn suggests, “COVID-19 will create the ‘toughest jobs market for a generation”. The sad truth is that many jobs will not return as businesses evolve in this digital economy, and for those that do, we foresee a greater demand for digital skills. Navigating this skills gap requires a partnership between the public, private, and non-profit sectors to address three challenges:

1. The rapid emergence of AI-powered technologies that are propelling a new era of automation.
2. The growing need for technological acumen to compete in a changing commercial landscape.
3. The drop-off in employer-based training investments over the past two decades.

Skilling for the future

Over the next five years, we estimate that there will be approximately 149 million new tech jobs. This includes not just technical roles such as software engineers. It includes roles that will be more reliant on technology and become ‘tech enabled’ too. These roles will be important as every industry looks to use technology in new ways to serve customers.

It is crucial that businesses think today about the skills needed for the future. The UK government agrees, introducing initiatives to build skills, such as the Skills Toolkit and reviewing ways to improve post-18 education aligned to technical routes.

To support the millions of people looking to reskill, we recently launched a Global Skills Initiative, to support 25 million displaced workers with the skills needed today. As part of this major commitment, our friends at LinkedIn identified the most in-demand jobs and skills that are currently in demand based on job openings listed on their website. These are listed below:

1.      Software developer

This learning path gives employees perspectives on the core technologies for web development, software development and databases such as CSS and HTML.
Become a Software Developer

2.      Sales representative

Help your employees develop their soft skills to become a trusted partner in the sales process.
Become a Sales Representative

3.      Project manager

From small, simple projects to enterprise-wide activities, give your employees the confidence to manage projects effectively.
Become a Project Manager

4.      IT Administrator

Help your employees prepare for certification with this learning path that teaches essential networking concepts.
Prepare for the CompTIA Network+ Certification

5.      Customer service specialist

As customer service roles move to digital, learn how to create more personalised customer experiences.
Become a Customer Service Specialist

6.      Digital marketer

Become a digital marketing specialist with this hands-on training to understand and use digital marketing effectively.

Become a Digital Marketing Specialist

7.      IT Support/Help Desk

Help your IT team support a transition to new flexible ways of working with virtualisation, desktop imaging, and maintaining software and devices.

Prepare for the CompTIA A+ Certification 

8.      Graphic designer

Help employees create innovative digital design projects and empower them with the visual and communication skills.

Become a Graphic Designer

9.      Financial analyst

Make better business decisions by equipping your finance team with the skills to evaluate current and historical economic and business data.

Become a Financial Analyst

10.  Data Analyst

Develop better insights and business strategies by equipping employees with the skills to examine information using data analysis tools.
Become a Data Analyst

Your skilling roadmap to the future

These courses and discounted certifications provide an opportunity for furloughed, redundant, unemployed, or economically impacted workers to take steps to ensure they too can thrive in the new world of work. I would encourage readers to share this summary with job seekers in your community.

Our vision for skills extends beyond this important and immediate step for job seekers. We are also developing a new learning app in Microsoft Teams to help employers upskill new and existing employees, and more will be announced on this later in the year.

We are in the midst of a rapidly evolving world of work. Everyone of us has a role to play to make sure that the global economic recovery is broad and inclusive. As UK businesses look to the future, my final piece of advice would be to encourage business leaders to consider the role that skilling and learning plays in driving your business goals and helping you to achieve more. For employees to succeed in this future, they need to take skills and learning approaches to work with new technologies and evolve their jobs.

To do this, turn your organisation’s culture into one that supports continuous learning, investing time, and resources. Get a start on this by identifying your skills gaps and create a roadmap to your organisation’s future success. Technology should be seen as a feature that optimises employees experiences, enhancing everything from individual productivity and performance to job satisfaction and peer-to-peer learning. In doing so, you will not only empower your organisation, but you will help empower your workforce to thrive and grow in this rapidly changing world.

Find out more

Reskill for the future

Capitalise on the AI skills opportunity

The future of work in Europe

Tools to empower your development team

10 high demand roles for developers and how to skill up 

About the author

The post 10 roles and skilling resources for job seekers in the new normal appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs - United Kingdom.