Microsoft Ireland is hosting a skills event called Career Reboot which will showcase ICT career opportunities to graduates and unemployed people who are considering upskilling in the recently launched computing conversion courses.
The event will raise awareness of the opportunities which exist for those with varying skillsets to take advantage of the conversion courses on offer to allow people to retrain for a career in technology.
Microsoft is one of the partners of the HEA and a number of academic institutions as part of the government’s ICT Skills Programme. It offers some 768 places in one-year, full-time, level 8 HDip conversion programmes in core computing and programme skills to address the ICT skills shortage.
The event will take place on Saturday, 3 March, from 11am to 4pm on Microsoft’s Sandyford campus with six course providers and 13 prospective employers who will offer internship positions to candidates who complete one of these conversion courses.
Microsoft employees will also be there to share their experiences of a career in IT.
“Through our partner ecosystem a total of 41,000 people are employed,” said Paul Rellis, MD of Microsoft Ireland
“This thriving group of companies – both indigenous and multinational – are continuing to grow but are being restricted as a result of the lack of skills available.
“When some of the companies suggested to me that they were going to attend recruitment fairs abroad or that they were considering opening new offices in other countries in order to grow their business I knew we had to do something to try to keep these jobs in Ireland.
“We are all aware that there is a need to increase the numbers of people coming out of third level with ICT qualifications and that is something that will be addressed in time. In the meantime, what we do have in this country is a rich pool of talented people who are currently not working.
“Many of them have the right attitude and aptitude to qualify them for a successful career in IT,” he said.
A career in IT
Rellis believes that by hosting the event with academic institutions delivering these courses, Microsoft Ireland will raise awareness of the opportunities that exist in IT.
“When people who are unemployed hear about vacancies in the IT sector they don’t realise that this is an opportunity for them. By bringing employers and academic institutions together we want to help change people’s perspectives and show them how they can get a really good job within a six-to-10-month timeframe,” he said.
Rellis also praised the Government’s initiative in this area and said Microsoft Ireland wanted to play its part to help people take advantage of these opportunities that can come from the conversion courses.
“If we can get more people equipped with the relevant skills then our partners will be in a position to recruit locally – helping to ensure we keep talented people in Ireland while also going some way toward addressing the unemployment problem,” he said.
Siliconrepublic.com is hosting Skills February, a month dedicated to news, reports, interviews and videos covering a range of topics on the digital skills debate.
