Should I Be Considering IT Training In A Recession?
It’s no surprise that many people are frightened of doing anything right now. Almost every piece of information we get from the media seems to be another dash to our hopes and dreams – and our input of daily doom and gloom keeps the vicious circle spinning. Small wonder that confusion reigns, and we’re not sure whether we should risk doing something new, or just hang in tight until 2012!
Why now is absolutely the right time for IT Training…
Recessions come and go. However, whilst inevitably a lot of people take a hit during a downturn, many others thrive by doing the right thing at the right time. But how do we identify what the right thing is, and when the right time is to start it? Hindsight is a great thing, but not there at the time we wish to benefit from it!
What we can say is look at the facts, steer clear of the obvious losers, and pro-actively prepare for the up-turn, for it will surely arrive, just as spring bursts forth after winter. You then will be hailed as one of those ‘lucky ones’ who successfully weathered the storm.
Not doing anything won’t put off the inevitable. Many sectors are already going through a very hard time (take the car industry for example), and our society is very inter-dependent. What affects one part of the economy today, bounces over to another tomorrow.
Even prior to the recession hitting, we knew really that many traditional industries in the UK were doomed, as overseas manufacturing can be done so much more cheaply. But the one thing that ALL areas of our public and private sector are desperate for is more commercially qualified and skilled IT workers.
A Point Of Interest: Men and women with professional IT qualifications can work in ANY market sector.
Very few areas of industry need plumbers, electricians or driving instructors, yet every industry needs PC support, network administrators and web designers etc. Demand is industry wide – there are currently over one million core IT jobs in the country as a whole, and around a quarter of those are not filled. Even with the inevitable cut-backs that some sectors are temporarily making, that still leaves massive numbers of jobs available for trained professionals.
Since 1998, IT jobs have enjoyed an average growth rate of 4.5% – 5.5% – that’s approximately 55,000 new potential jobs every year. UK companies are becoming ever more dependent on computer systems, and the government predicts that by 2012, vacancies in IT positions will rise to around 500,000.
With or without a recession, there’s no moving on for the economy of the UK unless very substantial numbers of people train to fill those positions. Are you going to be one of the ‘lucky ones’?
