The following report was authored by Sam Higgins, Fiona Mark with Frederic Giron, Chiara Bragato, Bill Nagel of Forrester.
It was published by Forrester on June 4th, 2024. You can find the original report here.
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Alternative Talent Pools Help Address Talent Scarcity And Bend The Skills Supply Curve
Summary
The tech talent crunch is really a double disruption, as old jobs disappear and new ones are constantly created. Finding and developing talent to fill these changing positions is a challenge, particularly in a shifting economy. Leaders who continue to rely on traditional role-based workforce planning and talent management will be left behind when it comes to meeting future demand. An underutilized method to ensure the flow of new tech talent is to educate or retrain existing staff to become the new face of technology. This report describes how two leading Australian firms, REA Group and Reece Group, partnered with Holberton School to boost their access to relevant tech talent.
An Alternate Solution To Attracting and Retaining Tech Talent
Finding tech talent is not a new challenge for Australian firms REA and Reece. Unemployment in Australia has been historically low, and the country will need an estimated 1.2 million additional tech workers by 2030 — a difficult environment to attract and keep skilled workers. The number of open tech jobs even increased amid the extensive layoffs during the COVID-19 pandemic and is now growing four times as fast as other occupations. Companies are responding to this talent acquisition challenge by exploring innovative strategies to source and attract tech professionals. This case study looks at how two leading Australian firms, REA Group and Reece Group, partnered with computer science institute Holberton School to tap into a fresh pool of talent. This partnership is enabling REA and Reece to successfully address many challenges associated with filling tech positions as they:
• Retrain existing staff. A direct partnership with an educational institution gives internal staff an opportunity to learn new skills and develop their careers without the stress of job insecurity or financial concerns. These partnerships train existing staff in tech while maintaining their full-time pay — a possibility that previously was often not readily available. Graduates of the Holberton program are already familiar with their company’s environment and can use their new skills and insights in practical ways. Knowledge of the business and its products helps them contribute effectively, improving the company’s tech solutions with a grounded perspective, developing careers, and encouraging staff loyalty.
• Bridge the gap between interest and education. Partnering with Holberton gives REA and Reece unique opportunities to educate and reskill existing staff. University courses require significant commitments of time and money that are beyond the means of many, discouraging huge numbers of talented people who would otherwise be interested in tech. The nine-month Holberton course is shorter, less strenuous, and less expensive than traditional education programs, enabling focused and specific learning and encouraging diversity; this makes it an appealing option for people looking to pivot to a new career or acquire qualifications swiftly.
• Create a culture of support. As technology advances change the reality of work, employees feel constant pressure to adapt. Many people in tech roles want to develop skills and establish themselves in a growing industry; a significant number want to switch to tech from other fields. The technology space can be extremely siloed, which is further compounded by challenges in communication, making it difficult for tech workers to effectively collaborate or share insights with those outside their specialized areas. Partnerships between educational institutions and companies bridge the culture divide by creating internal and external support and encouraging cross-functional collaboration.
REA Adds A New Dimension To Its Tech Talent Development Strategy
REA is a A$24 billion Australian real estate agent and manager company that operates on three continents and serves an average of 10.6 million users each month in Australia alone. The firm is meeting its complex technology demands by developing and supporting internal talent. Entry to REA partner Ingrid Russell is a champion of the company’s effort to support career development and diversity in tech. Under her guidance, REA continues to:
• Expand educational programs. To address the tech talent issue, REA has established several programs: the Graduate Program, the Springboard Women to Tech Program, and General Assembly boot camps. Over the past few years, these programs have grown in size and scale, as teams “never have enough grads or Springboarders.” The Springboard program has 250 applicants for 25 places; this appetite for opportunities to learn tech skills demonstrates the need for methods of education beyond university degrees or self-directed online courses.
• Introduce new talent streams. REA has introduced two new streams of tech talent into its workforce. It offers existing staff who want to reorient their careers the opportunity to attend Holberton’s nine-month program on full salary. This financial support encourages engagement, as one of the primary obstacles to shifting career paths for experienced workers, particularly women, is the time and financial investment that typical educational programs require.
• Upskill and reskill existing employees. Acknowledging the value of its existing talent, REA focuses on upskilling and reskilling employees whose tech abilities may have become outdated. By supporting their participation in the Holberton program, REA ensures that these people can modernize their skills while continuing to work. This strategy emphasizes the importance of lifelong learning and adaptability in the tech industry, ensuring that the workforce remains competitive and relevant.
Reece Fuels A Growing Business Appetite For Tech-Driven Innovation
Reece, an Australia-based commercial retailer in the construction space that also operates in the US and New Zealand, is using new educational methods with Holberton to support its complex business and technology needs in the residential, commercial, and infrastructure sectors. The partnership with Holberton was championed by Marcos Kurowski, Reece’s former chief digital and technology officer and an advisory board member at Holberton; it helps Reece to:
• Develop existing talent. Reece directly supports internal staff who want a career change to a more technology-focused role. It supports their development with full pay while they attend the Holberton program and “peppers them into various teams” once they have graduated, ensuring that they get the necessary support as they navigate their new roles. This strategy is pivotal for tapping into the vast potential of existing staff, many of whom are keen on making a significant career shift toward technology.
• Avoid new-graduate challenges. By developing tech talent internally, Reece avoids issues associated with fresh young university graduates, such as limited work and life experience, a lack of domain knowledge, and insufficient practical skills. Kurowski points out that university graduates often have a more theoretical approach, whereas employees with work experience bring a practical perspective to their tech training. Staff members also better understand the enterprise and its products, enabling them to apply their new knowledge and skills to solve problems and identify potential issues that might elude someone without such experience.
• Increase retention. Talent retention is a major challenge in the tech industry, exacerbated by the demand for evolving skill sets and employees’ ease of transitioning to new jobs. This is especially true when people gravitate toward more prestigious or better-paying positions. By establishing a supportive culture that encourages personal and professional growth, education programs like the Holberton partnership bolster staff retention. As Kurowski says, Reece considers Holberton graduates to be “long-term stable rocks on your teams.”
Alternative Education Partners Like Holberton Help Bend The Supply Curve
Securing and retaining tech talent requires innovative approaches beyond the scope of traditional educational frameworks. The Holberton School is an example of an alternative approach to solving this problem. Founded in 2015 by Julien Barbier, Sylvain Kalache, and Rudy Rigot in response to the inefficacy of conventional universities in preparing students for STEM careers and the shortage of software engineers at companies like LinkedIn and Docker, Holberton’s unique educational model has three key aspects that underscore the school’s approach and its broader implications:
• Redefining technical education. Holberton’s curriculum is shorter (less than 12 months) and more focused on practical, real-world skills than traditional academic paths. Concentrating on project-based and peer learning, the program aims to instill a deep understanding of software development principles and essential soft skills like teamwork and problem-solving. This emphasis on practicality seeks to ensure that graduates remain versatile and employable in the ever-evolving tech landscape.
• Broadening access and promoting diversity. The school’s partnerships with companies exemplify a strategy to extend educational opportunities to those who might not typically pursue or have access to tech education. By targeting employees who might find it difficult to leave their jobs for traditional university courses, and by supporting disadvantaged, marginalized, or minority groups, initiatives like Holberton’s are pivotal in making tech education more inclusive. In 2023, only 9% of IT graduates were women, so efforts like these are critical to addressing tech industry disparities such as the gender gap.
• Creating mutual benefits for employers and employees. Firms that engage with alternative educational programs like Holberton’s can reap substantial benefits, including higher employee retention and satisfaction. Partner companies indicate high rates of program satisfaction and continued employment, suggesting that such educational initiatives can effectively foster a loyal and engaged workforce. Of those who completed education programs at REA in 2018, 89% are still with the company. In recent years, the cohort had a 97% engagement score and a 100% program satisfaction rate. Company cultures benefit from the influx of passionate, well-prepared tech professionals who can integrate seamlessly into teams, driving innovation and productivity.
Build Tech Talent Within Your Organization By Supporting Continuous Education
Organizations need to come up with new and creative ways to develop, attract, and retain tech talent, especially as new and emerging technologies like generative AI demand new skills. Direct collaboration with an educational institution is a clear and effective way to increase available tech talent and skills and retain staff in the long term. Building this type of talent pipeline into your business strategy enables your organization to stay ahead in the market. Doing so requires tech leaders to:
• Leverage continuous education to close the talent gap. Providing educational opportunities for your staff to retrain in the tech realm will create a direct pipeline of talent with the skills that your business needs. While developing workers with certain skills may not have the urgency of concerns such as security or emerging technologies, continual investment in upskilling to meet long-term needs is a critical aspect of a successful tech organization. Integrating tech education with the enterprise experience will create a group of experienced workers with unique and valuable insights into your business problems and solutions.
• Establish a culture of growth and increase retention. Supporting the career development and passions of internal staff will foster reciprocal feelings of loyalty, especially considering that lack of opportunity is a top-three attrition driver. When your staff recognizes that the company values them as individuals, it creates a positive working culture that fosters enthusiasm and encourages staff to remain where they know they will be both challenged and supported. In a world where companies lure staff with benefits, flexible work arrangements, and unique projects, identifying your firm as a place where people want to work will distinguish it from many others.
• Target untapped talent. Education programs that exist alongside a usual workstream create opportunities for marginalized, minority, or disadvantaged workers. Establishing supportive communities to promote and encourage the development of skills within these groups creates an extensive internal market for growth. People in these groups thrive in all aspects of the organization and will take advantage of opportunities such as further education. Utilizing these staff and supporting their personal and career growth opens a whole new pool of tech talent that you and your leadership will likely not have recognized.
• Make learning a core value of your business. Rapid change is a constant in today’s world of work. Adapting to change is learning; as such, you must see it as a core value. This will make your company more efficient and give it flexibility to shift skills as required. The goal isn’t to just add another word to your vision or mission statement but to embed learning into the culture of the organization so everyone perceives it as a mission-critical business strategy, not just a reactive training function measured by content consumption. This approach to learning and education will establish your business culture as one that can weather the shifting landscape of economic and social change.
Companies We Interviewed For This Report
We would like to thank the individuals from the following companies who generously gave their time during the research for this report.
REA Group
Reece Group