Skills gaps continue to be one of the biggest challenges facing employers in 2025.
New data from this year鈥檚 Skills Horizon Barometer report* from Skills for Life shows that 90% of businesses are anticipating some kind of skills gap within their business, with the biggest at entry level (32%).
One way to overcome these challenges is to embrace technical education and the opportunities it offers to individuals and employers alike.
Hiring people through technical education schemes such as apprenticeships, or hosting T Level students on industry placement, can help boost productivity and bring new ideas to a business. It also offers employers the unique opportunity to shape their workforce, providing hands-on experience that aligns with their business goals and ethos.
While a quarter (24%) of businesses still look to hire those from traditional academic routes, such as university, a fifth (21%) say they would hire candidates straight from school or college, supporting young people with relevant training to build up their skills.
One organisation that鈥檚 seen the benefits of these schemes is Great Yarmouth-based manufacturers, Armultra.
Director Tom Beales said: 鈥淎s an SME, getting people through the door in the first place can be tricky, as you鈥檙e competing with larger businesses and their benefits, however once they鈥檙e in, we know we can retain staff by being a really great place to work.
"We鈥檝e worked with various technical education routes to get staff in. Our biggest focus is apprenticeships, but we鈥檝e also done Skills Bootcamps and a supported internship.
鈥淎pprenticeships in particular are a great way to get people into both a business and also the industry more widely. We gain in particular, as we鈥檙e able to reach people at an early stage of their career, and then shape them to suit the way we work and the clients we work for. It鈥檚 also helped us build more diversity into our workforce, particularly across age and gender.
鈥淚鈥檇 encourage other businesses who are facing skills gaps to look into the opportunities available to them via technical education. There are many options for recruiting and upskilling and we have found it to be a really valuable asset.鈥
If you鈥檙e looking to invest in new or existing talent, there are many options at your disposal, including:
- Apprenticeships - Available to anyone over the age of 16, apprenticeships combine on the job training with study. You can offer this opportunity to new or current staff of any age, allowing you to develop the skills your workforce and business needs.
- T Levels industry placements - Hosting a T Level student gives you early access to the brightest young people interested in a career in your industry, whilst giving you the opportunity to develop your workforce of the future.
- Skills Bootcamps 鈥 Flexible training courses to fast-track specialist skill development for existing or new talent within your business. Available to anyone aged 19 or over.
Visit Skills for Life to find flexible government-funded training and employment programmes for your business.
*Statistics from the
