IBM says job seekers around the world want to pursue roles related to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Although their skills would be warmly welcomed in this industry and others, a significant number say they don’t know where to begin developing their skills.

After interviewing more than 14,000 students, job seekers and career changers across 13 countries, including Canada, they also found that 61 per cent think they are not qualified to work in STEM jobs because they don’t have the right academic degrees, while 40 per cent say their greatest barrier to skill development is that they don’t know where to start obtaining an appropriate education. Not surprisingly, being able to continue to work while earning a credential was particularly important to career changers. Many also believed that STEM training was too expensive, with 60 per cent expressing concern about digital credentials being costly to obtain.

Of those surveyed, 61 per cent said they were actively looking for a new job or planned to look for a new job within the next year. More than 80 per cent have plans to build their skills within the next two years and 90 per cent were confident their skills could be developed through online training.