Firms in the UK IT channel can best pull in the next generation of talent by ramping up their social media presence and pushing harder on graduate/apprentice schemes.
That’s according to two young IT channel pros who took part in this special Oxygen Influencers podcast (see full episode, bottom, and highlights, above).
In episode 1,Telefonica Tech UK’s Tiffany Nelson and Distology’s Daniel Evans opened up on their career paths and highs and lows of their roles.
They were among the 50 individuals nominated by peers and selected for our Oxygen Influencers project, which was created in association with Nebula Global Services.
Asked in episode 2 what more vendors, distributors and resellers could be doing to attract and retain next-generation talent, Nelson held up the HPE Channel Reality Show – of which she is the reigning champion – as an example.
“Even through doing the Channel Reality Show and posting a lot about it on my LinkedIn, people who I was connected with or maybe went to school with reached out to me and said, ‘oh, it’d be so interesting to get involved in the channel and Telefonica Tech’,” she said.
“It’s all about having that online presence, and just showing the younger generation what’s out there. Because that’s how they consume information, and that’s how they learn.”
Evans said he is a “massive advocate” for apprenticeships, meanwhile.
“Organisations like Softcat are doing a great job at bringing on board apprentices and graduates – but outside that, I’ve not seen as much,” he said.
“The channel should be one of those industries where you go, ‘that’s a great place to get into’.”
In the final episode of the podcast, Nelson and Evans open up on their career highs and what they have in store for the rest of 2026.
