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It Skills Gap Widening


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According to a new CompTIA survey, the gap between the IT skills employers need and the IT skills employees offer is widening. Tech skills are changing rapidly and with companies less likely to offer training, the survey found that IT pros have to take it upon themselves to keep up. In the poll of 1,061 IT and business managers, 93% of respondents reported a gap between their staff's skills and what they need to be;. 56% said their employees' skills were "moderately close" or "not even close" to where they need to be. The most competitive companies both in the U.S. and abroad are taking steps to improve their ability to contribute to an employer's success. At the same time, employers now expect higher performance and harder work from both their current employees and those applying for their open positions.

Rapidly changing technology was the most-cited factor contributing to the skills gap, followed by lack of resources for IT skill development (43%) and ineffective training for IT staff (39%). Only 15% of respondents said they have a formal process in place to identify IT skill gaps. 56% said they had no process at all. At least eight in 10 companies reported this gap hurt business in areas such as staff productivity, customer service, time to market and security. 64% of respondents with business functions said HR and management gave enough attention to the IT skill gap problem, yet 42% of respondents with IT functions said HR and execs are not paying enough attention to the problem.

From IT Business Edge
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