Funding shortfall hits IT market

The problems with FAS are well documented but what people don’t realise is that now, when the economy is on its knees, is when FAS are need most.

Okay, so a book could be written on the mismanagement at the state training agency but, this does not mean we still don’t need it, FAS still has a role in helping important sectors, such as IT. And we need it to fulfill its duties to those who are out of work and whom need retraining in order that the country has a skilled workforce that is needed to attract the right and retain the IT companies that our economy needs.

In the article below, which was printed in the Sunday Business Post yesterday, Cathal Grogan of Verify Recruitment talks about how the problems with FAS are affecting the IT sector. I have pasted the article in below, but here is a link to article: http://www.sbpost.ie/post/pages/p/story.aspx-qqqt=RECRUITMENT-qqqs=themarket-qqqid=47332-qqqx=1.asp

Funding shortfall hits IT market (article from The Sunday Business Post)

Sunday, February 14, 2010

With scandals at Fás still fresh in people’s minds, the effects have reverberated across the wider economy and unemployed IT contractors are the latest to feel the effects.

Unable to meet the high cost of private training courses in skills such as project management, contractors would ordinarily turn to the state training agency for assistance. However, Fás is no longer funding courses in areas like Princ€2 or IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL). For job-seekers, the problem is that more employers are seeking candidates with these qualifications.

‘‘Our candidates are typically people with lots of experience and who find themselves between jobs,” said Cathal Grogan, managing director of Verify Recruitment. ‘‘They are applying for positions and employers are not only looking for experience, but also some sort of accreditation for their skills.”

Clara Gough, IT consultant with Robert Walters Recruitment Agency, said the requirement was also being applied to broader IT skills such as Microsoft certification.

‘‘Where the hiring manager feels there is a good pool of candidates in the market, they use this as a filter,” she said.

However, job-seekers looking to take some of the higher level Fás courses are faced with long waiting lists. Moreover, there are no clear guidelines as to whether IT contractors, who are often self-employed, qualify to receive funding.

‘‘It’s a grey area as to whether or not they are eligible,” said Grogan. ‘‘That has led to a lot of candidates coming to us and asking us for Princ€2 or ITIL courses, but those can cost anything from €1,200 to a couple of thousand euro.”

Jim Friars, chief executive of the Irish Computer Society, said he was disappointed at the Fás decision. He said training and certification in professional skills were ‘‘essential’’ to economic recovery. Such skills include not only project management, but also data protection.

‘‘We believe that the government needs to strike a balance and to assign a high priority to professional-level skills,” Friars said.

While some third level, government funded initiatives facilitate unemployed people taking part in degree programmes, Friars said industry driven programmes were necessary.

He said that courses like the Data Protection Practitioner’s Certificate and European Certificate of Informatics Professionals (EUCIP), certified by the ICS should receive the same government support as university courses.

Some training firms have responded by dropping prices to fill the gap left by Fás. Last month, IT service management specialist ESMI developed a Princ€2 Practitioner certification course for an offer rate of €795.These courses keep costs low by combining self-study with instructor-led tuition.

Verify is offering the same course at €695 as part of its Upskill Programme of professional development courses.

The full price would normally be more than €1,100.

A spokesperson for Clear Learning, formerly known as Calyx Training, said it had also reduced its prices by up to 30 per cent to allow out-of-work IT professionals to attend courses.

Friars welcomed these moves, but said they would not be enough.

“An IT professional, who is between jobs, still requires support to ensure that they are quickly returned to the workforce and continue to contribute their skills and expertise, so we would call on Fás to reinstate a funding programme for professional level courses as soon as possible,” he said.

Dr Bryan Fields, director of training services with Fás, said its change in strategy to focus on the long-term unemployed meant that self-employed IT contractors were not a priority group.

Around two thirds of Fás’s 600 free training courses cover IT subjects. The agency also operates a technical employment support grant (TESG) to fund people taking courses that aren’t available from Fás.

‘‘Some 11,000 people availed of this last year,” said Fields.

He also said Fás was addressing high-level skills and was in the process of developing a blended learning course in project management. Initially, this will be aimed at former Dell employees in Limerick who were made redundant last year.

The course will be free of charge to those still unemployed, but will not be exclusive to ex-Dell workers.

‘‘If we get a lot of interest, we would look at extending it,” said Fields.

He said Fás wanted to work with IT professionals who have recently been laid off.

‘‘If you have been let go from a company and haven’t had work for four or five months, we would be anxious to get you into a training course or night course,” he said.

Ends