Is training the answer to IT skills shortage?

Training has been offered up as a remedy to the UK's impending IT skills shortage - but getting it right won't be easy.

Right now the practice is not particularly widespread. According to a recent poll of silicon.com readers, nearly a quarter of respondents said they'd never received on-the-job training.

Terry Hook, workforce development executive at e-skills UK, told silicon.com that while these numbers are in line with anecdotal evidence, one of the problems with investigating training is that the results depend on how individuals define training.

To some it could be as informal as a manager offering some impromptu coaching while at the other end some may define it only as a course paid for by the employer.

When training does take place - whatever the form - it may not be happening often enough. The largest group of respondents (41 per cent) said they'd received on-the-job training more than a year ago. Meanwhile 35 per cent said they'd been trained sometime within the last year.

Hook agreed with the assumption that training could help the fast-growing IT industry fill the need for skilled workers.

"When you have that sort of growth we would see on-the-job training as ensuring that the existing workforce is kept current," he said.

IT may be a bit ahead of other industries on this issue. The government's 2004 National Employer Skills Survey revealed that 20 per cent of IT, telecoms and communications organisations provide on-the-job training compared to an average of 17 per cent across all industries.

The challenge for managers is to know which skills their organisations need today and will need in the future - and thus which areas staff should be schooled in.

Since this is such a difficult task, the best way to create a training plan, according to Hook, is through a team effort.

"It's truly a partnership between employees and managers because the needs of the individual are very often similar to the needs of the organisation. If individuals know the skills gap they want to address and the managers understand the skills requirements, they can work together to develop a plan for addressing it," he said.