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IT skills gap effect on businesses reaches annual high

According to e-skills UK, the Sector Skills Council for IT and telecoms, the percentage of firms reporting ICT skills gaps increased in Q1 of 2006 and the reported impact of these gaps on UK businesses reached the highest level recorded in a year.

The findings were released from the latest quarterly e-skills UK ICT Inquiry.

The ICT Inquiry findings show that the percentage of firms reporting a skills gap increased from 12 per cent to 14 per cent. However, on the impact scale of 0-100, where 0 is 'no effect' and 100 is 'company closure', firms reporting gaps in the skills of ICT staff rated the effects at 48.

Other findings from the e-skills UK ICT Inquiry, which which e-skills UK says is based on the opinions of over 1,000 business, IT and HR leaders, include:

• On average each ICT position advertised externally will attract around 26 applications but just seven (27 per cent) applicants will fully match the requirements set out within the job description
• One in five (20 per cent) ICT recruiters stated that they had difficulties finding applicants with the required level of skills / knowledge - a rise on the previous quarter (Q4 2005 - 17 per cent)
• Despite skills gaps being more common, one in five firms surveyed stated that they would still not train staff over the coming year
• On average it takes 42 days to recruit a new ICT professional compared with 32 days for other workers

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