ATREVIA, a global Communication and Corporate Affairs company, launches a pioneering Employer Branding 5.0 methodology to help Spanish companies attract STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) talent and cover the increasingly high demand for technological profiles in the market.
The development of this tool, aimed at Human Resources and Digital Transformation and Innovation managers, was presented at The Bridge and fulfilled a dual objective. It responds to the shortage of unfilled profiles, which stands at around 109,000 job vacancies today. Currently, companies cannot find professionals with specific training in mathematics, technology, or engineering among the young unemployed (60% of the population), resulting in a gap between the youth unemployment rate and the number of positions linked to these disciplines. According to several studies, such as that of Randstad, this gap will continue to expand, which estimates that 28% of jobs in the coming years will be related to technology, as opposed to the current 16%.
On the other hand, this initiative also serves a social purpose as it aims to offer professionals new opportunities to enter the labor market. It is a way to retain talent by ensuring that professionals aspire for positions with better salaries and working conditions.
According to Asunción Soriano, CEO of the consulting firm and responsible for the opening remarks at the presentation ceremony, “There is a tremendous challenge in our country in terms of young talent. Moreover, we must not forget that it is not only about attracting digital talent but also about retaining it and ensuring loyalty.”
Based on this Employer Branding 5.0 methodology, ATREVIA aims to build a platform where companies, professionals, and students seeking to expand their STEM fields can come together to gain social awareness about the importance of acquiring this type of knowledge and have the possibility to network. Each member within this community will be able to connect with other people and organizations, as well as have access to more professional and development opportunities.
Fernando Carruesco, director of the Social Mobilization department and one of the leaders behind this methodology, says: “The project was born out of the need to bridge an ever-widening gap between the supply and demand of STEM profiles. There is a missing link between what companies are looking for, what candidates are looking for, and what the market is looking for. We needed an operator or platform to align the interests of each party and work in the same direction.”
This project is based on three pillars:
1) Intensive Bootcamp training to become masters of specific technologies. This innovative educational format has already become the benchmark for training and hiring in the United States in areas such as software development, data science, and user experience design. These are high-performance three-month programs focused on providing training regarding skills that companies require and that are developed through a platform where the user can acquire STEM skills through gamified challenges.
2) Building an expansive network by thematic areas. Several types of research highlights that contact between people with the same concerns and interests is vital to generate a wide range of activities and initiate a process of empowerment. Therefore, the platform created by ATREVIA serves as an extensive knowledge network that can be accessed by anyone interested in the world of technology and STEM. This network is organized by regional nodes that will be managed by the consulting team and the community members themselves.
Networks face various challenges in terms of selecting professionals. Non-university training can produce highly competent specialized professionals in STEM disciplines. As Angélica Gómez, director of Culture and People at ATREVIA and a promoter of this project, points out, “It is a myth that we have always been told that you have to obtain a degree to work. However, nothing could be further from the truth. We believe and defend that, in the STEM work, it is possible to do so after having received specific training and without having to go to a University.”
