IT Engineer Ena (55) not getting a job

– I go to the basement every time I find a perfect job, and then I don’t get the job, says Inna Osei (55).

For many years she has succeeded in several IT jobs since graduating from engineering studies in Trondheim in the early 1990s.

Everything from various project jobs to a permanent job for over ten years.

But then things turned around a few years ago.

After downsizing the previous workplace two years ago, it has stopped altogether.

By that time, she was over 50, and noticed that she was now denied the job she was applying for.

Too many qualifications and too expensive

She was told she was overqualified, too expensive or had the wrong experience.

It seems as if they want younger, newly educated people, that experience is less important than new education, says Osei.

Last week, NRK wrote about IT student Jonas (23) who nearly landed a job before he finished, and that the industry needs 40,000 new employees in a few years.

And as recently as today, NRK was able to report that the NHO predicted record strong growth in the Norwegian economy. Finn.no has reported an increase in job advertisements of up to 50 percent so far this year compared to last year. These are particularly good times in industry and information technology.

Replacing employees

The Electricity and Information Technology Association points out that when a new generation with new expertise arrives, there will be a rapid replacement of employees with the most experience with old systems.

– Union leader Jan Olaf Andersen says he worries us.

He believes that this is a consequence of the fact that the industry has not provided employees with regular professional renewal.

The union says the goal is to create a scheme with more revamping of competencies, which means employees can stay in working life for a long time.

In addition, it indicates that The IT industry as a whole needs more workers in the futureThe solution, he says, may be to create more study places.

But it is not enough for the industry to continue wasting labor in this way.

– Don `t give up

Nav also sees a large number of older employees struggling to get a job.

– It calls for fighting with young people with a new education, but those who have the motivation and hard work, eventually succeed, says Nav Kinn’s labor specialist, Per-Øyvind Sørbø.

He says it’s about talking about yourself, showing that you have a lot to contribute, not giving up when you get your “no” and showing you want to work.

He also believes that growing IT companies often have young tenants every day, and this results in them being largely interested in people their own age.

However, he emphasizes that it is important to have older and younger employees in the workplace.

work on solving

The NHO’s National Association for Knowledge and Technology Activities, Abelia, is aware of the problem.

Kjetil Thorvik Brun, tech and digital tenant at Abelia, says the need for professional renewal in IT companies is great, but small and medium-sized businesses do not always have the financial resources to do so.

– He says skill development is expensive and resource-intensive.

Therefore, Abelia is urging small and medium-sized companies to invest more in skills development.

Education and Research Committee in Parliament submitted a proposal to the government About this in the spring of 2020.

“We see an evolution that there will be more skill development and less final packages, but that doesn’t mean the problem goes away for that reason,” he said.

Ena Ause hasn’t given up on getting a job just yet.

I have studied additional subjects, and have benefited from courses and offers from Nav and the Norwegian Organization for Engineering and Technology.

All this to make themselves more attractive in the market and get new entries in the resume.