Tech Employer Discussion – A Gathering of Employers to Discuss Ideas to Tackle Talent Shortages
Venue: Room K213a&b, Level 1, Te Ohaka, Ara Institute of Canterbury
Time: 4.30pm for 4.45pm start, finishing by 6pm
Who should attend: all tech employers
Cost: Free
Included: Light refreshments will be provided
Please note this event is intended for technology employers in Canterbury and is not for those who might be seeking a job! We do reserve the right to decline your registration.
About the event
Over the last few months, there have been a lot of conversations, plus chatter on social media, about the issues facing tech companies trying to hire new staff. The issues vary, but in the last 18 months, the situation has undoubtedly become much more acute due to Covid-19, with incoming skilled immigration reduced to near-zero, and increased competition from overseas for NZ skilled workers. This is unlikely to change in the short to medium term, but here at Canterbury Tech we figured it was time we pulled together a group of tech employers to summarise the current state of play and kick-around ideas for ways in which we might work together to address the various issues to some degree.
Background Documents and Initiatives Already Brewing
Some of you may have fed into the Digital Skills Aotearoa Report which does a pretty good job of identifying some of the longer-term structural issues that need to be dealt with, and which the Digital Industry Transformation Plan aims to tackle through various Skills Workstream initiatives (draft doc due out soon).
The long term solution is – that there is no single solution, and that multiple interventions will be required on multiple fronts over different time-horizons, but that the major pre-Covid issue was one of a mismatch between the supply of skilled talent and industry demand. To quote from the Digital Skills Report “… indicates a skills shortage for senior experienced capabilities and an oversupply of underskilled graduates. To solve this problem, organisations have increasingly relied on immigration to access the required digital skills at the required time.”
It is hardly surprising then that the Covid-related reduction in immigration has exacerbated the situation!
Bring your ideas and get ready to talk!
These issues aren’t going away, and Canterbury Tech would like to pull together a group of technology employers who are experiencing issues right now, to see how we might work together in a few areas to alleviate the effects over the next 12 months or so. We’re not intending to undermine or duplicate national initiatives that are likely to emerge, instead identify things we can do to pull together as a local group and have a useful impact. We DO have a few ideas for potential solutions to address various issues and will share these at the discussion on 24th November. We hope you come along brimming with ideas too, as we certainly don’t claim to have all the answers.
