US ‘Career Accelerator’ Comes To London

A US training organisation with a focus on startups has opened its doors in London, supported by TechCity UK and the TechStars accelerator. The organisation could be meeting a need, because research suggests that tech pros would prefer to work at a startup.

The Startup Institute will run intensive eight-week courses for people who want to find employment with young technology businesses. It offers four tracks: product and design, technical marketing, sales and account management, and web development. The full-time programmes will start on 2 June, but the application process has already begun.

“Startup Institute’s arrival in London is well timed. Tech and digital businesses are the new growth engine of the London economy generating 27 percent of the capital’s job growth. A healthy pipeline of talented, skilled individuals is essential to sustaining this. It’s very exciting news for Tech City and we welcome Startup Institute to the neighbourhood!” said Joanna Shields, CEO of Tech City UK and Business Ambassador for Digital Industries.

The launch comes days after job board CWjobs carried out research that found the vast majority (86 percent) of tech pros like the sound of working at a startup, and 58 percent would like to launch their own company.  The job firm surveyed 700 people – and only seven percent thought that enough was being done to help entrepreneurs get started. TechWeek‘s Tech Club drinking club networking events series found much the same on a visit to Tech City during 2013.

The Institute will also open a second European branch in Berlin.

Closing the gap

The Startup Institute (formerly Boston Startup School) was founded in Boston in 2012, and expanded into New York and Chicago in 2013. On Tuesday, it makes its international debut in London – a city with nearly 5,000 unfilled startup vacancies.

According to the Institute, advertising for startup jobs in the capital almost doubled since 2012. And a recent European Commission report predicted there might be up to 900,000 unfilled IT vacancies in Europe by 2015, as employers struggle to find staff with the required skills.

The Startup Institute aims to help close the skills gap by teaching recent graduates and young professionals the tricks they need to survive in the dynamic ‘early-stage’ environment. The graduates will then be presented to the Institute’s ‘hiring partners’. The organisation claims that nine out of ten students find a job within three months of finishing one of its programmes.

“London has an exceptional workforce, but there is a risk that the city’s dynamic startup ecosystem will not reach its potential due to the lack of the right skills. We’re going to help change that,” commented Aaron O’Hearn, co-founder and CEO of Startup Institute.

“Traditional workplace skills don’t always transition well into startup culture, but that doesn’t mean that talented people should dismiss job opportunities at startups. Startup Institute helps people develop the softer skills to help them make this cultural shift and become valuable startup employees.”

Peter Judge contributed to this story.

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