NEWS
Recruitment focused on data managers to lay AI foundations
AN EXPLOSION in demand for artifi cial intelligence skills has been mirrored by an explosion in fi rms hiring data professionals to lay the foundations for future AI projects. A report by recruitment fi rm Robert Walters used fi gures based on its own data on job demand in diff erent sectors. It said: “IT professionals dedicated to data management seem to be the fastest growing area within large or global enti- ties, with volumes increasing ten-fold in three years. This is the most visible sign of the importance fi rms are placing on improving data quality to enable more eff ective AI.”
However it said there were risks to growth: “While the data points towards a sustained AI job boom, political uncer- tainty makes 2020 projections diffi cult to ascertain. While it’s clear that UK businesses are making investments to be at the forefront of AI, contractions in the candidate market due to a hard-border Brexit could cause the AI market to grow at a more laboured pace.”
In a section of the report called “Hotspot
roles: professional services” the report set out the year on year growth of the the top fi ve job functions: data managers came out top with positions increasing from 246 positions in 2018 to 404 in 2019, a year-on-year increase of 64.2 per cent. Not far behind were data engineers, up from 79 roles in 2018 to 128 in 2019, an increase of 62 per cent. At the other end of the spectrum informa- tion security manager roles saw no growth at all, with 128 positions in both 2018 and 2019. The report authors said: “Job growth for information security has levelled-out after what was an active recruitment period in the lead-up to the GDPR dead- line” it also said: “The rise of cyber crime has resulted in professional services – particularly fi nancial services – hiring aggressively for information security professionals since 2016, however since then volumes have held steady.” More evidence of interest in the sector is provided from the venture capitalist sector with total deals in the UK having increased from $200m in 2014 to $1.3
billion last year. The report said this is “a function of the arms race now at play across corporations. As FTSE 250s start to address their data issues, they are now looking for solutions that can help them harness the power of the data they now hold and utilise it.”
Ollie Sexton, Principal at Robert Walters said: “If you look at the statistics in this report we can see that demand is already rife, what we are at risk of is a shortage of talent and skills.”
Tom Chambers, Manager – Advanced Analytics and Engineering at Robert Walters said: “We are seeing retail, professional services and technology industries’ strive to develop digital products and services that are digitally engaging, secure and instantaneous for the customer– leading to huge waves of recruitment of professionals who are skilled in implementing, monitoring and gaining the desired output from facial recognition, check-out free retail and computer vision, among other automa- tion technologies.”
Pssst, Pen&inc. is out – pass it on
THIS Month’s Information Profes- sional comes with a free copy of our supplement on diversity and inclu- sion in children’s publishing. Launched in April of this year, Pen&inc. is a unique resource that promotes the pos- itive impact of representative and diverse books in children’s publishing. As well as being delivered to CILIP members, it also goes to hundreds of booksellers across the UK and to Heads of public library services. The aim of Pen&inc. is to highlight the need for more diverse and inclusive books aimed at children, and also to provide a listings guide to what books are available. Pen&inc. Editor Rob Green says CILIP members can get involved, even if they do not work directly with children. He said: “We want Pen&inc. to make a diff erence in children’s publishing, but we know that we can’t do that alone. Thankfully there are many other people and organisations that are also working to increase representation
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in children’s books – and CILIP members can also do something. “We want Pen&inc. to get into the right hands. That’s why we send it to booksellers, because we know they can make a tangible diff erence through the books they order. Public and school librarians can also make a real diff erence by putting books that feature under-represented characters onto shelves. “And while many of CILIP’s members do not work in these areas, they can still have a positive impact, which is why we have a simple favour to ask – please pass on your copy of Pen&inc. That could mean giving it to a local school or nursery, handing it over to a community group or even pass- ing it on to an individual who struggles to fi nd books that are representative. “We know that it makes a massive diff er- ence to a child if they can see themselves refl ected in the books they read, and anything you can do to help make that happen will be of huge value.”
October-November 2019
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