21712 - SCTE Broadband Nov2022 COMPLETE v1

36 Vol. 44 No. 4 - November 2022 Issue Broadband Journal supports the work that INCA does to address the skills shortage in our sector and caught up with Julie Hobbins, Educational and Funding Lead to hear about the latest developments. Good to see you Julie. What have you been up to? The INCA Labour & Skills Special Interest Group has been busy. We’ve had 20 to 30 attendees at some of the most recent meetings, which is a good turnout. I’ve set up three working groups as subgroups to that special interest group, focusing on three areas: Diversity & Attraction, Training & Upskilling and Recruitment & Retention. That’s a huge subject area. Yes it is, but I’m trying to keep the groups focused on making small steps forward. For instance, within those working groups, we’re trying to capture some of the anecdotal information that we all know and are aware of, but there’s no concrete information about it. So, things like, which are the roles that are most challenging to recruit into? And why do we think that is? Where are the skills shortages? Those kind of questions, so that we can establish that, for example, fibre engineers are actually one of the most challenging for us all to recruit into. So what could we collectively do to address that? On the Diversity & Attraction element, obviously this is very important; we’re really trying to encourage everybody to look at the benefits of having a more diverse workforce. Which benefits everyone, but it’s easier said than done. I agree. We have work to do in that area. Our focus on attraction and the awareness of career pathways within our sector is also important, one that I believe falls between two stools. From a government policy perspective and the education department, construction is a clear pathway and digital is a clear pathway, but telecoms infrastructure falls between the two. There are initiatives in place I believe, but you’re right, there is a gap there that needs addressing. That’s right, there are local initiatives in place and lots happening with schools at a local level, but it’s all very separate. I’d love us to be able to produce a toolkit that we can all use collectively, or work nationally with the Careers Enterprise Company as a sector, for instance. Everyone is trying to reinvent the same wheel; let’s get some economies of scale and get some benefit in working more effectively together. But equally, different people are going to different training organisations to meet their training needs. Do we all have a common understanding of what training is available out there, and is it the most up to date and effective training that we need? Because a lot of it is all still old copper training, and we just need the fibre stuff. from the industry INCA: Labour & Skills Update By Melissa Cogavin, Managing Editor, SCTE