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Rethinking the skills conundrum: In Focus - Defence

We’ll be exploring the skills conundrum across the UK, bringing you the latest sector insights direct from our teams on-site with their clients – featuring video and commentary from our experts in sustainability, social value, supply chain, talent acquisition and sector specialisms on how we can collectively address rising skills shortages through a demand-led skills revolution.

  • James Dimmock

    James Dimmock

    Sector Director - Defence

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With better direction, former service personnel can orientate themselves towards rewarding opportunities within the construction industry

James Dimmock, Sector Director - Defence at ISG, shares his thoughts on the company’s latest white paper on ‘Rethinking the skills conundrum’ and how we can unlock built environment data to join forces and help equip the UK with the skills required to match future industry demand.

Modern service personnel operate in a complex, fast paced and dynamic environment that creates a skill set that is easily adaptable when they are ready to transition into their next career.

Service leavers are invariably adaptable, practical and highly resilient with an inbuilt discipline and commitment to excellence that makes them a rich talent resource. The highly-valued attributes of teamwork, problem solving and leadership are instinctively part of our service personnel’s skill set, and also feature strongly within the complex and tech-led built environment sector – more on that later. 

The UK, like many nations, has an ever-growing skills challenge, which is directly impacting major investment decisions that have the potential to be transformative to communities and wider society. The absence of a single UK-wide skills master planning strategy has led to a fragmented and short-term focus on vacancies for many industries and potential future talent, rather than a strategic plan for a sustainable and relevant skills pipeline. But we believe we’ve got a solution that mirrors the very cornerstone of military planning – in the area of intelligence.  

Our latest white paper highlighted the importance of early-stage planning data as that intelligence source. If we understand what physical assets are being planned and invested in across the UK – then we have time and a chance to create routes to high value and well rewarded career opportunities.
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With better direction, former service personnel can orientate themselves towards rewarding opportunities within the construction industry

James Dimmock, Sector Account Director - Defence, provides insight into his thoughts on reading ISG's latest Wide Angle report 'Rethinking the skills conundrum'.


ISG's commitments to the armed forces community

Four people in discussion at a table
ISG has made a commitment to the Armed Forces Covenant, a promise that those who serve or have served in the armed forces, and their families, are treated fairly. Our team of armed forces champions meet regularly with events that encourage networking and learning to share with the wider community. We recently joined them to speak to some of the people involved and hear their stories.
Armed forces

Gold standard support for our armed forces community

ISG’s commitment to the Armed Forces Covenant has now been recognised with the highest honour, a Gold award as part of the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS).
Group of ISG early careers employees in PPE working on a construction site rooftop overlooking St Paul's Cathedral London

If this has sparked your interest in working for an organisation where you can make a difference to what we build and how we build it, with ESG firmly in focus, then...

Matching aspirations to pathways to overcome the skills shortage

ISG’s Talent Development Director, Sarah McKinlay, commented “ISG’s ‘Rethinking the Skills Conundrum’ report highlights the importance young people, and their parents, put on finding a career that suits their interests, has an impact on society, and provides them the opportunity to use their skills whilst being fairly paid for their contribution.
 
“ISG’s aim is to be an outstanding employer, empowering our people to be the best they can be, and our early careers programmes support this ambition, and the aspirations of the young people surveyed in our research. It’s essential that young people have the opportunity to gain experience and continually learn new skills. Our participation in Open Doors and our early careers programmes provide both this insight, and a focus on gaining inspiring first-hand experience”.

Skills shortage | ISG

Construction: the great overlooked tool in our strategic workforce planning

Our latest Wide Angle, ‘Rethinking the skills conundrum’, seeks to connect the dots between people, place and productivity.

Discover Wide Angle

Through Wide Angle, we work with some of the brightest minds across the construction landscape and beyond, bringing together leaders, experts and specialists to explore the topics, insights and research that really matter, now and in the future. Read more here

James Dimmock

James Dimmock

Sector Director - Defence