Ex teachers, shop assistants, nurses and carpenters are playing a growing role in easing the UK IT channel’s skills shortage.
According to Tech Channel Ambassadors, the UK IT channel contributes £50bn to the UK economy, but requires around 100,000 people to plug the current skills gap.
Although the industry may have a reputation for “fishing from the same pond”, vendors, disties and VARs/MSPs are increasingly looking to other professions and industries in their quest to land new talent.
On that note, we will be recognising the best ‘Out-of-Industry Rising Star’ at the inaugural Oxygen Awards (you can enter someone you think fits the bill – or even yourself – here).
“I knew nothing would come close to that challenge”
Often, those joining the industry from other professions come with an attitude and skillset that is impossible to replicate, former Jabra exec and Fractional VP Nigel Dunn noted.
“My best hire of a salesperson was someone who was a psychiatric nurse,” Dunn wrote in a LinkedIn comment in response to a post on the topic.
“I knew there was nothing in the world of sales and IT I could throw at her that would come close to that challenge.”
Companies will reap the benefits by hiring based on attitude rather than experience, The Channel Community Founder Yvonne Matzk argued in an IT Channel Oxygen podcast last summer (see above).
“They’re hiring on work ethic and desire to learn, as opposed to a whole list of accreditations and experience that actually has not done so well in the past,” she said.
Dunn agreed, saying he is a “real believer in looking at the person not the CV”.
“The IT and PE recruitment industry is obsessed with tick boxes and so much talent is precluded, particularly female talent because they find it so hard to break into these roles without experience and the recruiters just screen them out or, more usually, they are put off from applying at all,” he said.
£1m-selling carpenters and teachers
In 2024, IT Channel Oxygen caught up with a former teacher and carpenter who are now bagging seven-figure deals in the UK IT channel (see here).
Ex PE man Lavender switched careers to become an account manager at Ampito in 2023, while commercial carpenter Jeffery joined Westcoast as a BDM a year earlier (he now works as a Client Success Director at Reward Gateway).
Asked how channel firms can smooth the path into the industry for outside-industry talent, Jeffery urged them to emphasise there will be a role for them in their businesses even if they’re not from a technical background.
“I’m not from a technical or pre-sales background, so that was an initial blocker for me,” he said.
“I thought, ‘all eyes are going to be on me’. I guess it’s about trying to park that and leverage the skills that an individual does have.”
From rocket science to retail
We believe that companies leading the way in this trend – as well as the individuals involved – deserve to be recognised and celebrated.
Do you know a rising star who’s lighting up the industry using the transferable skills they’ve learned in another profession, whether that’s real estate, retail or rocket science?
You can enter anyone you feel deserves to win the ‘Out-of-Industry Rising Star’ award here. It could be a colleague, or peer – or it could even be yourself (we’re welcoming both self-penned and peer-penned entries).
On a similar note we also have an award for the Gifted Graduate/Apprentice (enter here).
Alternatively, the Oxygen Awards also features a “Grow Your Own’ category for the firm that’s gone the furthest in their efforts to attract and nurture fresh talent, whether that’s graduates/apprentices or those joining from other sectors (enter here).
Deadline for entries is 9 October.
Find out more about the awards here.
