IT RECRUITMENT

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 | Updated: Fri, 21 Nov 2008 10:59 am

UK employees want IT skills to be assessed centrally but many are oblivious that national bodies already exist for skills management, according to a survey by The Training Camp.

The research found that 79% of IT students believe that there should be a professional body for IT skills management. However, 83% of those questioned were unaware of not-for-profit bodies such as Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA), which has been set up to provide national recognition for skills required for certain tasks.

Robert Chapman, chief executive of The Training Camp, says: “The UK skills shortage continues to hit the headlines, and the majority of people feel that a nationally recognised framework would enable us to standardise skill sets across the profession. But all this is irrelevant if the UK workforce has no idea of the support that’s available.

“We have the mechanisms in place to alleviate the skills shortage, we just need to ensure the public knows about them – otherwise we’re fighting a losing battle.”