Skillnet offers agile response to people who lost jobs in the pandemic

More than 2,000 workers have benefited from the Skillnet Ireland Skills Connect programme since its launch last autumn. The programme is aimed at supporting workers who have lost their jobs as a result of Covid-19, particularly those in sectors most impacted by the pandemic, including hospitality, tourism, and retail.

The programme, designed in partnership with industry, offers a suite of bespoke upskilling and training solutions aimed at supporting re-entry into the workforce. Participants benefit from free online training programmes as well as virtual job placements. The overall aim is to enhance cross-sector employability and allow people to move into high-growth areas such as medtech manufacturing, cyber security, wind energy, software programming, digital marketing, customer service and customer experience, and logistics and warehousing.

“There has been very strong demand for the programme,” says Skillnet Ireland executive director Dave Flynn. “We have more than 2,000 people come through the programmes so far and we will support a further 5,000 before the end of the year. The intervention gives people the skills and confidence to go for jobs in sectors that they may previously have believed to be beyond their reach.”

ICT is one such sector and the Future in Tech initiative run by the Technology Ireland Skillnet is helping people acquire the skills needed to move into the sector at the same time as creating a new talent pipeline for the industry.

Future in Tech offers eight certified programmes to help non-tech jobseekers rapidly and easily develop new digital skills and access new job opportunities. Skills pathways covered include technical support specialists, networking specialist, cloud practitioner, digital marketing professional, cybersecurity analyst, software developer, web developer and data analytics.

“Demand for talent is growing exponentially in the tech sector,” says Flynn. “The Future in Tech programme has had more than 400 participants so far and is helping deliver much-needed talent for entry-level roles in the industry.”

Green economy

Healthcare is another growth sector targeted by the Skills Connect initiative. The Leading Healthcare Providers Skills Connect programme provided training to more than 200 people in 2020 alone. “It has been hugely successful and provides participants with a real pathway to a new career in acute hospitals, long-term care homes, residential care, home and social care and other settings,” says Flynn.

Very importantly, on completion of the Healthcare Support Course each student receives a certificate in healthcare support QQI Level 5, Major Award. “That can form the basis for going on to a third-level qualification eventually,” says Flynn.

A further area of focus is the emerging green economy and career opportunities in the renewable energy sector. To date more than 100 people have participated in the GreenTech Skillnet’s Skills Connect Programme’s three learning pathways: introduction to wind; wind turbine technician; and energy efficient retrofit technician.

Companies that have participated include EnergyPro, Ionic Consulting, H&MV Engineering, Energia, Siemens Gamesa and EDF Renewables.

“We recognise that people will be key to the energy transition, and this programme is an excellent example of the opportunities the transition can bring and has the potential to be an important pipeline for talent in the sector,” says Gráinne O’Brien, HR business partner with Energia.

Agility

Looking to the future, he believes the need for the Skills Connect programme will continue after the pandemic. “We see a lot of disruption ahead, and we will probably need to continue delivering the programme well into 2022. We want to expand the intervention to support and engage greater numbers of impacted businesses and workers.”

That need will be driven by a number of factors. “We believe Covid-19 will continue to impact businesses into 2022, while there will be further disruptions arising from climate action, digitisation and so on. We will also have to deal with increasing levels of skills obsolescence in various areas over the coming years.”

The Skills Connect programme is built to respond to key emerging needs as well as to disruption and change, says Flynn. “We will look at every sector where we see opportunities. That includes regions where there are pockets of employment potential. We will make sure the Skills Connect programme meets the needs of companies in the regions who need new people coming through to take up roles.”

“In 2022 we’re likely to see an expansion of support for industries such as aviation and retail banking,” he concludes. “A key feature of Skills Connect is agility. The initiative can quickly evolve to address the emerging needs of business and impacted workers.”