IT widens employment net

The homeless, jobless and single parents are to plug Britain's IT skills gap, under a new IT training scheme. Around 2,000 people will be recruited to the programme, called Career IT, which is designed to deal with the IT skills shortage and millennium problem. Career IT will be launched tomorrow by training, recruitment and IT consultancy CRT Group, which aims to address the urgent need for IT staff within UK companies. The company will invest up to #70 million into the scheme over the next five years. Career IT will place particular focus on recruiting from sectors of the job market which have traditionally been excluded from the IT world, including the over 40's and women as well as the homeless and the unemployed. "CRT Group wants to give people who have missed out on opportunities a chance," said a company spokeswoman. Candidates will go through a screening process once their application has been accepted. Places on the programme will be filled by recruitment agency SDA, who will put people through an intensive three month training scheme. Once their training is completed, candidates will be employed by the CRT Group and placed in jobs with local businesses. The CRT spokeswoman said salaries would range from #10,000 to #40,000 depending on the candidate's previous experience. "For example, if someone has come from a managerial position in the past, even though it wasn't in IT, then they will obviously be earning more," she said. Though a spokeswoman from homeless charity Centrepoint was unable to comment directly on the scheme, she said the organisation was already involved heavily in computer education. "It is an area where there is a deficit and we ourselves are already working with lots of companies including Gateway 2000 and IBM in computer training (for the homeless)," she said.

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