Do veterans hold the secret to bridging the digital skills gap?
Category: Job Finding
Publish date: 03/05/2023
Kinly is a global Audio-Visual integrator and collaboration specialist, with a focus on UCC solutions across corporate, education and government vertical markets. Solutions offered include, but are not limited to, visual collaboration, digital signage, collaboration spaces and events and broadcasting. Our primary markets are Europe, North America and APAC, with 20 offices located across the three continents.
After 20+ years of experience in the AV and video collaboration industry, we now have around 1200 employees working with over 2,500 clients across the world—whose success we believe is the key to the company’s ongoing growth.
A word from Justin Paveley, Engineering Director at Kinly
"Albert Einstein famously said: “In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity”, and this seems quite fitting when you look at the current struggles facing the tech industry.
"Currently, technological innovation is developing faster than the skills needed to apply said technology, resulting in a huge skills gap and talent shortage that has impacted UK businesses at large. In fact, a recent survey found that 81% of UK managing directors say that a lack of digital skills is negatively affecting their company.
"While many are using pay as an incentive to solve their own skills gap – inflating wages to rival competitive companies and attract the best talent – this is a short-term fix to a long-term problem. Other companies are focussing on upskilling internally, an absolutely necessary step in tackling the digital skills gap in the long-term, but one that naturally takes time.
"What many companies are overlooking is one massive opportunity – a wealth of untapped talent with the skills to help tackle the digital skills gap now and in the future – otherwise known as Service leavers."
So, what can veterans offer that’s different?
"As a veteran myself, I’m almost certainly biased, but I believe that employing military personnel is one of the smartest decisions businesses can make, and one of the best investments if you’re wanting to see real long-term rewards.
Firstly, whether you’re an engineer or a foot soldier, digital skills are a core component to working in the military – from using the technology and weapons available to us in wartime, to maintaining that technology in peacetime. This knowledge means that most military personnel moving back to ‘civvy street’ already have the digital skills necessary to slot into the ‘gaps’ available within civilian employers.
"Secondly, veterans make fantastic employees. When you join the services, you’re instilled with the mindset to never give up on those things you’re passionate about. It’s this mindset that can help military personnel be far more driven in the workplace and offer unrivalled dedication to their teams.
"That is not to say that all veterans will naturally slot into civilian companies with no issues. When I left the Armed Forces I found it incredibly difficult to adapt. I struggled to find an interest or purpose and generally felt out of place with the civilian ways of working. But, after climbing the ranks within Kinly, I realised I could do something to prevent other veterans from feeling this struggle, all while solving the big recruitment issues facing our industry. From this realisation, our Veterans Resettlement Programme was born.
"The idea was to design a programme that not only allowed us to tap into a new talent pool, but also created an offering that was attractive to veterans – something that is structurally similar to the military ways of working they’re used to.
For me, the most important part of this programme is watching our veterans thrive and flourish in civilian life; the fact that it’s a fantastic solution to one of our biggest industry-wide problems is an added bonus - albeit a pretty big one."
Find out more or apply, today!
So, if you live in London or Surrey and would like to join Kinly, or want to know more about our Veterans Resettlement Programme, just head over to our recruitment schemes page or reach out directly by email.
You’ll also find all of our latest vacancies on CTP’s online job portal, RightJob. Simply search for job reference: N423510