Leading lights of digital world make Leeds attractive to talent

Glynn Robinson, managing director of Leeds-based BJSS, said having businesses such as Sky Bet and William Hill makes the city even more attractive to digital firms as it draws talent to the region.

Speaking to The Yorkshire Post, Mr Robinson said: “Leeds has got some good, strong digital skills. If you look at the organisations which are in the city – Sky, William Hill, other organisations of that ilk, even HSCIC – they’ve all brought some strong digital skills into the area and that’s great. It’s created a marketplace now within Leeds.”

Mr Robinson added that “Leeds is becoming quite a hub for digital skills and digital awareness” and that is really good for BJSS.

The full IT services provider employs 550 people across the group with over 250 based at its headquarters in Leeds. While looking for the right calibre of talent is still a challenge, BJSS said that quality talent tends to gravitate towards the city due to the presence of high profile digital businesses.

Mr Robinson said: “Sometimes you can look at a town and think it’ll be great to have an office here because there’s nobody big in the area and you could have the pick of the local talent.

“Actually I think the opposite is true. The more organisations that you have, the more talent tends to gravitate there anyway.

“Leeds is now a great place to be for that.”

Attracting high calibre technical employees is still a challenge for the firm.

“It’s always hard to get high calibre technical staff. In that sense there’s a skills shortage. If you can offer variety of work and a variety of opportunities then you make yourself a preferred place to come and work. That’s all you can yourself do,” Mr Robinson said.

He would like to see more computer science graduates but says the business can only deal with what is available.

BJSS has its own academy which looks to train graduates and give them development opportunities.

Mr Robinson said: “BJSS Academy is an interesting addition to what we’re doing inside the organisation. We’ve always recruited graduates but over the last few years we’ve made a much more conscious effort to bring in graduates into the organisation.

“We’ve forged some quite strong links with the local university in particular. We go out we do coding evenings, where we do coding competitions with the students. We talk to them about the industry.”

The BJSS Academy is looking to recruit around 40 graduates this year. Mr Robinson added that “a very high percentage” of the graduates who enter the academy stay on with BJSS.

But the remit of the academy has now been extended beyond just graduates with established employees also using it to enhance and learn new skills.

When hiring new staff Mr Robinson says the business looks for people with technical skill but also a passion and drive.

“It’s hard to interview for that but you’d rather have people who have a spark about them, who have some level of energy,” he added.

BJSS has developed the NHS Spine messaging system, saving the health service £21m a year. It worked closely in collaboration with HSCIC. In fact, Mr Robinson sees collaboration as a key factor for BJSS. It has also worked in collaboration to launch a new MOT system for the DVSA and helped bring Apple Pay to the UK for a major bank.

While 2015 has been a successful year the firm is aiming for sustainable growth.

“We want to have continued sustainable growth which allows us to maintain the quality of our deliver.”

Start STEM talks early

Glynn Robinson would like to see more people, from within the digital industry, going into schools to talk to students, at an early age, about the careers that taking STEM subjects can lead to. “There’s no point waiting until someone gets to 23. It’s hard to back-train,” he said. More young people from the industry should talk to schoolchildren about opportunities as well.