'How can we overcome the digital skills gap in the North West?' - Jeff McCarthy, MMU

Jeff McCarthy is a Senior Lecturer in Digital Marketing at Manchester Metropolitan University with a remit for employability and digital skills. He entered a career in Higher Education in 2009 as he wanted to make a difference after having a digital career in both agency and client-side roles. He has represented the MPA since February 2015 and the DMA North Council since November 2018. Both of these roles involve nurturing the talent pipeline through stronger Higher Education and industry collaboration. We caught up with Jeff to get an educational-based perspective on the current digital skills gap in the North West.

What do you think of the digital skills gap in the North West?

I believe there is a risk we overstate it and that the phrase ‘digital skills gap’ has negative connotations. One of the reasons for a gap as such is the growth and success of the digital businesses in North Western cities such as Manchester, Liverpool, and Leeds, plus the many pockets of excellence in surrounding towns and villages including parts of Cumbria. Due to this, there is a much higher demand for skills and an ever-expanding range of roles that are digital specific due to the pace of technological innovations. Then we have the ever-increasing demand for digital literacy across almost any job type you care to mention, regardless of levels of seniority.

For example, the Creative Industries contribute over £100bn per year to the UK economy and the North West plays a key part in that. FinTech, E-commerce, and Gaming are among the top three sub-sectors for UK tech scaleup investment from 2015 to 2018 – all areas in which North West organisations have a strong track record. So, in summary, what you’re talking about is a rate of growth in opportunities that is incredibly difficult to match in terms of a talent pipeline. That is why proactive collaboration is so critical.

What does your role as an Employability Coordinator entail?

The overarching role is to collaborate proactively with the industry. That cuts right across B2B, B2C, third sector and public sector… My remit is specific to the Marketing, Retail and Tourism Department, however, my ethos is always to represent Manchester Metropolitan University more holistically and to facilitate collaboration with external organisations in the way that helps them – in doing so providing opportunities for our students of all levels. So, working closely with our Careers and Placement teams, I meet employers every week, I help them advertise vacancies, we collaborate on live briefs for tutorials, guest lectures, create bespoke sessions during Professional Development Week, creation of a course-specific mentoring scheme featuring course alumni, leading on the iDEA Award initiative across the entire University, and much more! I also created the MPA Student Award Category in 2016 which has gone on to become a huge success with MMU students winning twice in the first three years this has run. Fingers crossed for 2019!

How does MMU support Digital Graduates into employment?

We do so much, it’s quite incredible. We work very closely with organisations across Greater Manchester, the North West, the UK and the globe. These organisations vary from major blue-chip organisations to start-ups which is extremely refreshing. Here are just a few insights on this:

1. We have the incredibly successful and ground-breaking Year 2 Agency Life unit which has seen students go on to spend a placement year at those organisations, often continuing to work for them part-time during their final year, before returning as a full-time employee after graduation – that is a talent pipeline to dream of for all parties!
   
   
2. We host lots of events such as our ‘Meet the Employers’ series which provides a round-table, informal networking format that enables students of all levels to meet and gain insights from employers. Employers see us as a very outward-looking University which is a reputation we are all incredibly proud of. It’s not uncommon for major North West employers to come to us first via Careers and Lecturers to seek talent for upcoming and open graduate opportunities, our Careers and Placement teams are incredibly proactive in this.
   
   
3. We have a track record of introducing initiatives such as iDEA Award, Futures Skills Award, and now the Enhanced Third Term (ETT) initiative. All of these enterprises have the aim of helping our Graduates enhance their skills in key areas like digital, and in the case of ETT, gain additional credits on top of their degree.

We are also doing a lot more work that involves Students and Graduates working across other disciplines in order to diversify their skill set, something that was badly needed in Higher Education in particular. For example, Marketing students working with Computer Science, English Language, Biochemistry etc.

What are the advantages of employing fresh Graduates? How will this contribute to reducing the skills gap?

There are so many! You’re getting someone very keen to learn, proven to be successful by completing their degree. Most of all, you are recruiting a curious mind, keen to learn, soak up knowledge and add value to your organisation. Someone you can train in your particular way of doing things (processes, software, reporting lines). You’re gaining someone who will offer a different perspective, look at things differently, perhaps suggest better ways of operating.

Regarding the skills gap, always remember you are not getting the finished article. You are employing an individual right at the beginning of their career.  Like many of us at that age, they may be very keen to work for your organisation but have less of a definite idea on the specific role that interests them or that they’re best at. So, the onus is on organisations as employers to encourage ongoing training, lifelong learning, and invest in their development whether that’s training in-house or on-the-job, or funding their desire to study particular qualifications or bespoke courses.  

Are you finding more businesses recruiting Grads/Students or implementing training schemes to overcome this problem?

Yes, we are, as per my comments mentioned above regarding lifelong learning and ongoing training, we’re the UK's leading provider of Degree Apprenticeships educating over 1,100 Degree Apprentices and rapidly growing. Our brand new Digital Marketing Degree Apprenticeship starts in September 2019 and we are already over-subscribed. Other employers are developing and implementing their own Graduate Schemes. It very much depends on what’s the best approach for their organisation requirements. We have so many amazing organisations of all shapes, sizes, and specialisms increasingly wanting to partner with us in established or more innovative ways.

Is there anything else you would like to add from an educational perspective on how the digital skills gap can be overcome so Manchester and the North West can thrive as the digital powerhouse it is?

Well with 531 more digital businesses in the Northwest since 2011 we all have a huge part to play in this. Businesses and Higher Education Institutions need to continue to form partnerships, as collaboration is key and that means proactively engaging with one another. The best strategy any organisation can adopt is to raise on-campus awareness with students from the very beginning of their educational journey with MMU. That helps organisations identify potential talent, makes students familiar with your organisation, and gives them experience working with your organisation on some level. Whether it be formal and paid, or facilitating a live brief workshop, invite students in to see your organisation. All of this helps organisations anticipate who can fill future vacancies rather than reactively seeking to fill those already vacant.

So, speak with lecturers, careers and employability people, member associations like Manchester Publicity Association (MPA), Data & Marketing Association (DMA), Manchester Digital and so on. Myself and my colleagues look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you to Jeff, for sharing his stance on the digital skills gap and providing insight to both organisations and Graduates across the Northwest on how we can collaborate to overcome this!

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