So I was talking with a group of graduate recruiters the other day and they were commenting on how hard it is to find suitable IT grads. Another part of this discussion was around recruiting practices and the qualities required of graduates - 'cognitive competence' was high on the list, along with 'Leadership' and 'Emotional Intelligence' (usually referred to as EQ and EI).
Is it clear to anyone else that the number of people, especially those in their early 20s, with an IT bent, are probably not going to have a high level of social maturity? More importantly, does it matter?
When it comes to recruiting techos, I see many problems with the graduate recruitment practice, but i want to focus on two of these.
Problem 1: People who are technically brilliant may not be excellent in the areas of communication, emotional intelligence and leadership. The fact that recruiters are finding it so hard to find IT grads supports this. A selection process that bundles people from all disciplines together is fraught with difficulties. Most IT nerds don't crave leadership roles; climbing the ladder is anathema to them - what they need are new technical challenges and the freedom to work through these independently, or in small teams. Whether they are the back room boys who don't mind working amongst a trail of wires and electrical sockets, or the types who need to be left alone to sort through the complexity of data and programming symbols, they do not have much time for the corporate life - although they will reward employers with loyalty as long as they are valued. Of course there are exceptions - some will move on to management roles, but no employer wants or needs everyone to be a leader, even the graduates who they invest so much time and money in recruiting and developing.
When I raised this point with the graduate recruiters, a short discussion ensued and there was general agreement that what I had said held true.
Problem 2: This relates to sourcing. Having just been shown the statistics which indicated that there simply weren't enough IT grads to go around (which exacerbates the first problem), the next question I asked was 'Have you considered TAFE graduates?'. The responses I got, in order, from around the room were 'No, we don't do TAFE!', 'What is TAFE?', and 'No, we are high-end corporate so we only ever recruit (university) graduates'.
It became apparent at this point that our TAFE system is in serious difficulty and this goes way beyond the current fee cuts and competition from 'new' private players who have shown a a lack of integrity to the sector. It is not so much that it has a negative image, than no image at all. Although there was genuine interest among the group about TAFE and VET generally, I didn't leave with any sense that any of them would follow up to find out more information,
Going back 30-40 years, there were no university IT courses. People wanting to enter the industry were taught on the job or via a short course run by a vendor. Obviously, the industry has become a lot more complex since then and it is reasonable to expect that entry level personnel will have some training. The thing is, VET programs in schools equip students with up to Certificate III level, and many TAFE courses provide far more relevant training than universities. A young person of 18 or 20 straight from school or college may well be of greater use to an employer than a four or five-year degree holder, but employers will never know what they are missing out on.
One further question that I was asked during the break was, why would a young person even consider TAFE? Why don't they just go to university? Actually many do go on from TAFE to complete a degree course, but some don't - university is just not for everyone. TAFE generally provides more practical (and I would argue, more useful) training than universities. Young people often fail to achieve the best marks at school, not because they are not very smart, but because the business of growing up and becoming independent gets in the way. The other distinction is that, even today, TAFE courses aim to be vocational preparation courses, while university courses are more about learning for its own sake.
At various stages over my career, I have managed (with some difficulty) to persuade employers to consider TAFE students in their graduate and general recruitment programs, and can site various successful outcomes. I'm more than a little bit sick about the negativity around the TAFE sector. There is rarely any good news about it and the media should take responsibility for this. In any case, a general lack of awareness and interest in TAFE graduates means that employers are missing out on a large pool of potential employees, to their detriment. The TAFE sector needs to engage in robust marketing to and networking with larger employers, otherwise they are doing their students a great disservice. State and Federal governments also need to do what they can to ensure TAFE students have access to a wider range of employment opportunities.
