{"id":1564,"date":"2021-08-05T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-05T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/education\/blog\/2021\/08\/05\/accelerating-the-success-of-entry-level-it-hires-through-education\/"},"modified":"2025-04-08T08:42:32","modified_gmt":"2025-04-08T15:42:32","slug":"accelerating-the-success-of-entry-level-it-hires-through-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/education\/blog\/2021\/08\/accelerating-the-success-of-entry-level-it-hires-through-education\/","title":{"rendered":"Accelerating the success of entry-level IT hires through education"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There is no doubt that the economic and workforce transformation happening today will have long-term impact on the types of professions and careers that will grow in demand in the future. We\u2019ve entered a stage where digital literacy is a global phenomenon<\/em>, as Microsoft President Brad Smith, shared recently in the next stage of our Global Skills Initiative<\/strong><\/a>. While every job role will require some form of digital skills, we also appreciate the increasing demand for jobs across the IT sector and need to ensure that students today who are studying these disciplines have access to the right curriculum, hands-on experiences, and on-the-job training to best equip them to kick-start their careers when they graduate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A new IDC white paper, sponsored by Microsoft, titled \u201cEssential Learning: Skills for Early IT Career Success,\u201d provides insights into what defines the most successful and least successful new hires in IT across a variety of industries and geographies. You can view the report here<\/strong><\/a>. The study surveyed supervisors from 453 organizations in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States who managed 906 entry-level hires. It sought to understand how the educational experiences in and out of the classroom for these new hires impacted their onboarding and impact during their first two years of employment.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The findings solidified the importance of student exposure to real-world technology experiences<\/strong> throughout higher education academic years, as well as the role that higher education institutions have in providing <\/strong>access to this learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study shares that, \u201cThe speed with which entry-level employees can absorb their new environment is strongly correlated to the experiences and capabilities they bring with them to their first position. When new career entrants bring relevant technical, cultural, and interpersonal skills and experiences with them, they are more likely to be successful in their role. Managers identified role-specific technical skills (85%) and job experience (82%) as the types of experiences most important to new hire success.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Not only did the experiences gained prior to initial employment influence the new hire\u2019s ability to gain accelerated proficiency in their role, it also paved the way for the hire to have increased opportunity for rewards and promotions, and a propensity for a successful career within the organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Surveyed participants also indicated that new hires equipped with industry-recognized certifications and hands-on experience with cloud technologies proved more successful. \u201cMore than 60% of hiring managers believe that certification in a technology core to the position influences success.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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While the findings provide evidence on the importance of relevant curricula taught to students throughout their higher education or vocational education enrollment, we also know that there are many challenges for higher education institutions to keep up to date with the dynamic and changing technology ecosystem and workforce requirements. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Supporting institutions and students with technology curricula and experiences<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Microsoft is working hard to support higher education institutions and faculty members to evolve curriculum and keep up to date with emerging technologies to teach their students. Through our skills-focused programs and offerings, along with LinkedIn and GitHub, we are poised to collaborate with faculty and students to best prepare for graduation and success from day one of new hire employment. We\u2019ve already seen incredible examples of institutions adopting Microsoft\u2019s Official Curriculum and leveraging Microsoft Learn for Educators and Azure for Students offerings, among others. This has included institutions such as Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education<\/strong><\/a>, University of Lincoln<\/strong><\/a>, and others across Canada<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take a look at the resources below and we look forward to collaborating with you in providing these experiences to educators and students:<\/p>\n\n\n\n