64% of tech firms find poor skills as biggest recruitment challenge: Study
Around 32 per cent of the companies surveyed have apprenticeship programmes to recruit and train new employees. HCLTech is one of the early adopters of such a programme in India. The company, through its apprenticeship programme called TechBee, recruits employees in Sri Lanka, Australia, New Zealand, the US, and Canada.
Under the programme, the company hires and trains talent in high schools while the students pursue their education. “Investing in talent as early as high school not only builds entry-level talent, but also nurtures future leaders who can drive long-term innovation and value for customers,” said Jagadeshwar Gattu, president of digital foundation services at HCLTech.
As many as 69 per cent companies said they use on-the-job training for new recruits and another 13 per cent plan to use such a programme in the next two years, said the MIT-HCLTech report.
Around 63 per cent of companies said they are collaborating with educational institutions to train employees hired as part of early career programmes.
In January and February 2023, MIT Technology Review surveyed business leaders about their experience in recruiting employees for information technology (IT). Of the 250 respondents, 83 per cent were C-suite executives, directors, or managers. They represented a broad range of industries, from retail and financial services to manufacturing and health care. The companies surveyed represented ranged from less than $50 million in annual revenue to more than $5 billion.
