We have previously spoken about the Fourth Industrial Revolution, a revolution driven by digital technology. Technological changes have been critical disrupters across all sectors, with professional services being no different.
New technologies like mobile, cloud computing, big data, and the growing demand for “anytime-anywhere” access to information have all increased the demand for IT and digital skills, with digital skills being a requirement in around 82% of advertised jobs in the UK, according to a government report in June.
Key IT roles required
In the professional services sector, we have seen the most in-demand roles have been in IT, specifically; IT Application Engineer, IT Systems & Network Engineer and Cyber Security Engineer. These roles have seen demand increase by at least 16% in the last 12 months, but by far the most significant increase has been in demand for Cyber Security Engineers – with an increase in demand of 33% over the last 12 months.
Recruiting for key IT roles
We work with many professional services companies, and have recently looked at the data we have around salaries and the type of roles demanded by clients.
The report below is a snap-shot of this data – some interesting insights from the last 12 months in the London IT market.
Cyber Security protecting Big Data
Big data powers the cybersecurity world. As more data is collected the need to manage and protect it grows – the UK cyber security industry employs more than 58,000 people in the UK, according to The New Statesman, which is a 160% increase since 2011.
Within the professional services sector, client confidentiality and transferring of commercially sensitive data puts even more importance on security.
Finding the right IT talent
Research conducted by our IT Recruitment team has discovered that within professional services, the key challenges around recruiting for IT roles centre around timescale – with it taking up to 6 months to fill roles.
Law firms, in particular, found they could fill roles 45% quicker if they responded to CV’s within the first 24 hours. Which indicates a candidate led market, with demand outstripping supply of IT skills.