In 2015 BIMA reported that of 117 companies 95% reported that their growth is held back by a shortage of skills and 75% of the companies said finding the right people is a challenge. Figures from the Tech Nation 2017 report reflect this and with the digital tech jobs being created twice as fast as non-digital jobs, growing talent for a sustainable future is a priority.
The BIMA Young Talent Council has an incredibly important primary purpose – creating a pipeline of future innovators in all areas of digital to allow for growth in our sector in the years to come.
BIMA is at the heart of the digital community and are prime to join the dots with organisations and initiatives that are already engaged with school children, education and careers.
BIMA’s Digital Day will grow and be a key annual event at the centre of the Young Talent Council, partnering with agencies and national organisations to forge important links between schools and industry. It will create introductions, inspiration and take its place on schools’ calendars for the year.
However Digital Day is 1 day a year and the conversation with young talent must be wider, longer and reach further to teachers, educators and parents if our purpose is to be successful. We want to inspire those who are able to inspire every day and create a network of advisors to continue the exciting conversation past Digital Day.
The BIMA Young Talent Council will be formed of individuals across the regions who have a passion to raise awareness of the digital sector with young people and who are already working closely with education, community interest companies, government and governmental companies, careers advisors or providing initiatives themselves to young people.
The council will be responsible for working with BIMA HQ on driving initiatives across the regions, including Digital Day and for defining and supporting best practice models for engagement with young talent.
In addition to forming the Young Talent Council, it is essential to have a Young Talent Advisory Panel made up of ambassadors at a school age who can input to our initiatives to ensure that we are creating the best possible connection with future generations and we are talking to them in a way they can relate to.
These will be people between the ages of 10 and 17 who are active in the youth digital community, are already innovating and who, like the council, are passionate in making changes to encourage young talent to grow and be aware of the opportunities in the digital sector.
By bringing all these people together through the council, partnerships and advisory panel we will be able to make Digital Day bigger, better and make it even more impactful for more than just one day. We are going to be able to ensure that with all this input, what we do and what we say really makes a difference to our potential young talent.
Our future talent could change everything with their ideas and innovation if we can let them know we are here.
If you are already a BIMA member and you’d like to join us on this great purpose by taking one of the seats on the Young Talent Council please email amandafollit@bima.co.uk with a description of why you want to represent your region on this council and an overview of any initiatives you have taken or are assisting for young talent.