The end of the government’s furlough scheme in September, and rising job vacancies in many industry sectors including the UK’s technology sector, provided an opportunity for our client, Harvey Nash Group to be positioned as a commentator and expert in the national mainstream media.

First, in response to the REC/KPMG report on jobs showing the candidate supply in the UK jobs market had dropped at a record pace, Bev White, CEO of the Group told Yahoo Finance UK that: “The company’s research has found that more companies than ever are planning to increase headcount in their tech teams, but two thirds say that technology skills shortages are holding them back and this is impacting on their competitiveness.”

Then in response to the end of the furlough scheme, Bev White was also quoted in both the Daily Mail and Metro, saying that the end of furlough may help the hospitality and leisure sectors. But she added that it is unlikely to offer comfort to the technology sector, saying that: “Demand for programmers and software developers is now the third highest of all occupations in the UK behind only Nurses and HGV Drivers. People in these technology roles have very specific skills and are not on furlough. Vacancies in tech, which the ONS reported today have risen by over 200% in the last year, will therefore remain unchanged.” 

Reuters also interviewed Bev White regarding the end of furlough and how employers could fill the tech roles in demand. She said: “Not all of those jobs require you to be a rocket scientist, and roles such as chatbot managers only required motivation and willingness to learn something new.”