Arecent report for the CBIhas identified a key concern for many employers as the competition for great graduate talent heats up post recession.
The report,Ready to grow: business priorities for education and skills, reveals that over half of the employers surveyed are concerned they won’t be able to fill posts requiring the right graduate level or higher skills in the coming years.
A large majority of employers want the government to ensure all young people leave school or university equipped with the employability skills they need to succeed in a commercial environment. The ability to communicate, work in a team, and solve problems are considered crucial to graduates achieving success in the workplace.
Notably, 45% of companies asked have also encountered difficulty when trying to attract candidates with skills in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM), with manufacturers and science-related businesses having the most difficulty finding highly-skilled people to fill their posts. 59% of companies project that this will be an issue in the years to come.
Richard Lambert, Director General of the CBI, says that encouraging young people to study science and maths related subject s is a crucial priority for the new government. ‘In the future, people with qualifications in science and maths will be particularly sought after, and firms say it is already hard to find people with the right technical or engineering skills. Businesses can help by showing that these skills lead to exciting and rewarding careers, helping to tackle the big challenges, such as climate change and energy security.’
Here atFreshMinds Talent, we’ve spent the last 10 years building up a network of analytical candidates, with a particular emphasis on those with degrees in science, maths and engineering. Numerate candidates continue to be in demand and are extremely valuable in the highly competitive post recession environment.
TheFreshMinds Interim teamdevelop candidates’ commercial skills by offering them the opportunity to work on short term placements across a variety of different sectors, including consultancy, retail and the public sector. We also work closely with our sister business FreshMinds Research, where candidates will often work on short term projects to build up their expertise in the consultancy arena.
Our collaborative approach and industry expertise means that FreshMinds Talent is always at the top of our game in terms of equipping our candidates with relevant commercial skills. Hopefully we’re doing our bit to bridge the talent gap.
Helen Donnelly is a Candidate Manager on ourGraduate Team.
