Employers need to start to engage school children “as young as five”, according to Dennis Gissing, BT’s head of diversity practice.

Speaking at an Employers Forum on Age (EFA) roundtable in London on 22 September, Gissing said that in the past 10 years the number of ICT (information and communications technology) degrees taken in the UK has halved, and that on the whole women and girls are far less likely to want a technical career than men.

The effect on the talent pool of these trends is a concern for BT and the sector as a whole.

The solution, Gissing suggested, could be going into schools and getting children excited about the world of work and a technical career “from as young as five”.

Read more about the EFA roundtable in Recruiter’s new issue out 5 October.