IT professionals lack business skills, says report
Survey shows companies are unimpressed with the non-technical skills of their ICT staff and especially their new recruits.
Over a quarter of UK firms said their IT professionals lack business and other non-technical skills, and new recruits are even worse, according to a new report by e-skills UK.
More than a thousand companies with ICT staff were surveyed, with 27 per cent saying their existing IT staff have "poor" or "very poor" business and other non-technical skills.
New recruits also have trouble with the non-technical side of work. Two in five employers said the business and interpersonal skills of new recruits were below company requirements, while 13 per cent didn't choose to hire ICT graduates because of poor communication skills.
"Employers are looking increasingly for graduates with a blend of technical, business and personal skills," said Karen Price, chief executive of e-skills UK, in a statement.
It's not just intangible skills that new recruits are missing. One in five employers said they didn't hire graduates because of gaps in their technical skills.
"In order to encourage more employers to recruit new graduates, we need to address employer concerns about graduate skills gaps," said Price.
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