While it may be obvious that offering technology training programs aids in recruiting engineers, developers and other IT professionals, the degree of its importance may be greater than you think.
According to
Robert Half Technology, 68 percent of IT workers rank training programs "very important" when they’re evaluating a job opportunity. Meanwhile, 64 percent say they are "very concerned" about
keeping their skills current during the next three to five years. "IT workers know that the industry moves quickly and favors employers that will help them keep their technical skills relevant," said John Reed, Robert Half Technology Senior Executive Director, in a statement. "Training and development programs are equally beneficial to businesses because they allow them to build internal teams with hard-to-find technical skills." Indeed, it's clear that employees don't want their
skills on the endangered list, nor do they want
to pay for training out of their own pocket. Here's how the survey results shake out:
How important is the ability to gain a new skill when evaluating job opportunities?
- Very Important: 68 percent
- Somewhat Important: 30 percent
- Not Important: 2 percent
Does your organization offer training and development programs?
- Yes: 55 percent
- No: 44 percent
- Don't Know: 1 percent
How concerned are you about keeping your skills current?
- Very Concerned: 64 percent
- Somewhat Concerned: 29 percent
- Not Concerned: 7 percent
Based on these results, companies that aren't offering training may want to alter their stance, especially given the difficulty they face in recruiting talent. While organizations are looking to find candidates who already possess the skills they want, it turns out that many tech professionals still want more training. That means businesses may ultimately find it faster to identify candidates who aren’t quite a perfect fit and train them, since they may have to train their new hires anyway, just to keep them happy.
