In the event I need a redundancy zombie plan, what skills are in short supply in the employment market?

[WilfShelf]

I am almost certain I don't have many of them (certainly can't turn my hand to nuclear physics etc) but I'd be interested to know what jobs struggle to recruit people because of skill shortages.

Then if I do get the boot (which is a very vague, but not completely unrealistic, possibility) I guess I will know where to start retraining. Or see if some of my many minor talents stack up.

Thanks.

A friend tells me that there are so few qualified plant scientists in the UK that UK companies are not only recruiting from abroad, but recruiting people from abroad who still need extra specialist training before they can do the research.

Plant scientists? You mean like biologists? Or plant scientists as in people who design factories?

Mind you, I don't know why I'm asking, since I have NO HOPE of being employed in either field.

I suppose I could put my ability to dissect a buttercup on my CV, which is just about the only thing I remember from age 12 biology?

something in IT? my husband is a programmer (or rather, is trained as a programmer, now he's basically a team leader and, as he always moans, gets to do very little hands on work outside of meetings now )... his company (contractor to the MOD) are having to go head hunting to get the specialist skills they need. too many graduates out of uni with the skills on paper but no real experience in industry apparently.

they sponsor a lot of secondments from offices abroad to get people in on a project basis they're that desperate. AND they pay a fair few thousand for recruiting someone into their area if the person stays for 6 months too if you have any IT training it's worth a look to see what the market rate is for them!

frgr, 'something in IT' is a little vague. IT can range from programming to project management to business analysis. Then there are all the different applications, systems that different companies use, programming language.

I am speaking as a non-IT person. Perhaps your dh can be more specific.

i've asked him and he says anything programming related, trainers for the new grads they get, and decent project managers are the three they're headhunting for. project management can be less IT specific, i know from my own work that PRINCE is not neccesarily IT related but he says that's something that's recognised in the IT industry cross-disipline, if that helps? :)

Thanks Frgr.

So how can someone like wilfshelf with presumably no IT background move into this area? Is there a course she can take? Or will companies train from scratch.

blueshoes, you are like my own personal jobsearch agent, bless you.

I am rather hoping my university won't get rid of me. But I need an emergency plan.

I always think Project Management sounds like a Complete Doddle, but I am ready to be shot down in flames. What do you do: get a spreadsheet, set some milestones, allocate resources and then, um, achieve things on deadline and on budget?

I do that already, how hard can it be in other fields?

I'm looking for a literary agent or a publisher if you are interested? These are in huge demand!!

loads of social worker posts all the time - if i could afford it - that is the field where i would re-train

I could NEVER be a social worker, despite trying to help people all the time (see other thread).

I couldn't deal with people hurting kids, or unable to cope with their poverty, or suffering terrible illnesses. I'd just spend the day weeping.

Be my literary agent wilf

i always fancied social work with old people.

i know children and families is where the money is at, but i KNOW i would end up asking DH to go round and sort out scumbags which would leave me unemployed

but i like old people and i think they get a rough deal

Belle, thing is, I'd need to retrain and therefore find someone who knew what they were doing to show me. So I'm afraid I would be No Help At All.

I mean, I could read your work and, um, comment on it. But sell it? Who to? My mates? I have no fecking idea what they do.

Sounds like a great job though. I'd like to be paid to sit round reading all day. Actually, I AM paid to sit round reading all day, kinda. Better hold on to job somehow...

I did think of social work. But wasn't sure how the public sector cuts would affect posts going forward.

Wilf, apart from old people, maybe social work for people with learning difficulties? I actually know very little about this area but just adding my 2p worth.

There are loads of jobs in the NHS that are not longer considered 'shortage', but is crying out for 'quality' candidates. Thinking of nursing as an example.

Basically, there are loads of nurses, but there aren't that many good ones. Providing you know your stuff and have some common sense, you'll always get work.

The same can be said for many other jobs.

radiotherapy physics. Or indeed, nuclear physicists are in v short supply.

More realistically, getting good technical writers always seems to be hard, similarly project managers (ours could herd warring cats - imagine getting 200 people on 3 continents, 7 locations, and approx 30 different agendas to complete the huge amount of paperwork in addition to specifying, developing, testing and fixing their respective bits of software on time to meet a series of milestones)

Yes, as in biologists specialising in plants. There were something like 14 British students studying plant biology this year.

Excellent programmers are always in demand, it's true, but there are a lot of mediocre programmers around... I don't think that you can become an excellent programmer without really loving it, though.

Hmm, I don't think programming is for me, but proj man, or technical writing I could seriously consider if necessary.

What quals/exp for both please?

Nuclear physics. Ahahahahaha. Like Homer Simpson. I'll be the one with the donuts accidentally sitting on the red button.