In the fourth of a five-part series on the digital skills shortage, the Australian Interactive Media Industry Association (AIMIA) chief executive John Butterworth has argued the problem has been intensified by high rates of staff churn and low levels of business experience.
His comments come in the wake of a number of studies which indicate incredibly low digital skill levels in the Australian marcomms industry. These have caused strong reactions from numerous industry bodies throughout Australia.
Butterworth argued the digital skills shortage in the marcomms industry is certainly a problem, but said that before the industry examines skill levels, it needs to rectify a lack of business experience.
“People are complaining about digital skills,” Butterworth said. “But the true issue is a lack of experience in the industry. Look at the high levels of churn at so many companies.
“We are such a young industry, so we need to entice people from other industries with high degrees of business experience. We can then give them digital training if need be, because there is no shortage of courses, but it is the lack of experience which is the major issue.
“There are too few people who have that key business experience, so you have people in high ranking jobs who have only been in the industry for three or four or five years. So it's not just about digital skills, it's about blending those skills with business skills and experience.
“What's more, the churn rate isn't helping. It's drying up salaries. We are competing with our clients for talent.
“This is a young industry, where the idea is to take young people who are considered digital natives. We still need this, but the industry should also be attracting more experienced business people from outside the industry, and if they need it they can be trained up in digital.”
Butterworth echoed comments made yesterday by The Communications Council chief Margaret Zabel that companies are incredibly conservative and unwilling to invest in education and training.
“There is certainly a lack of willingness to invest in this area. There is no shortage of training courses, so we don't need more boot camps. More courses is not the solution. Companies actually have to send their staff along to these courses.
“But, of course, there are pressures on funds and time pressures.”
Meanwhile, he also touched upon points made by Interactive Advertising Bureau Australia chief Paul Fisher and the Association for Data-driven Marketing and Advertising (ADMA) chief executive Jodie Sangster in the first two parts of the 'Digital Skills Crisis' series.
Fisher and Sangtser both argued that universities were not adequately preparing graduates for jobs involving digital skills. However, Butterworth argued it is not the function of universities to do this.
“I just don't think it is realistic to expect tertiary institutions to stay up-to-date with an industry that is changing so rapidly. Tertiary institutions take a very rigorous approach to how they develop courses, and the industry is so fast-moving.
“Unis should provide the fundamentals, but there is no way they can train people up to be job-ready.”
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