Solving IT's talent shortage: Tips for recruitment and retention

1. Perform a temperature check

CIOs might think that their top performers are satisfied, especially if these individuals have been with the organization for many years, but it's still best practice not to presume anything.

As CIO, I performed a temperature check of my own organization several years ago. I did this by managing while walking around and visiting person to person with staff members at all levels. During this exercise, I found that most of my long-term top performers were happy with their jobs, but there were some who weren't.

The major sources of discontent were feelings of being overworked and frustration that the more advanced technology initiatives that individuals had championed had been delayed or denied in budget meetings. By walking around and having informal conversations, I was able to identify and understand these concerns, which enabled me to do something about them.

2. Develop from within

When IT is pressured with project backlogs and impatient users, it's tempting to acquire the talent needed by either bringing in an outside contractor or trying to hire instant expertise.

There are numerous cases where this approach is necessary, but there are also opportunities to develop less experienced staff with the skills that IT will need in three months, six months or even years from now.

In one case, an IT manager placed a junior applications programmer with limited experience in database administration on a project that involved performing schema QA and developing new schemas for relational databases. This wasn't mission-critical work. In fact, it was in the applications database testing area. Nevertheless, the programmer had already demonstrated a natural aptitude for data work, and her new assignment let her sink her teeth into actual IT projects. She is now a full-time database analyst in data administration.

Could this have happened in a vacuum, or was it simply a matter of someone taking a course on SQL databases?

No. This involved a combination of coursework, collaboration between applications and data administration, hands-on mentoring by the database administration staff and a commitment from the trainee to complete the work.

The takeaway for the IT manager was that new talent had been successfully developed from within. Staff morale was also positively affected because staff members saw that the organization was willing to invest in them and their careers in the long term.

3. Don't limit yourself to IT

Some CIOs believe that citizen IT is the bane of their existence. Employees develop their own no-code apps and then discover that they can't access all the information they want without contacting IT for integration into other systems.

Despite the frustration that can result, there is also a silver lining to citizen IT, and it involves acquiring fresh IT talent from user departments.

Such departments will deploy their most IT-savvy staff members to write no-code applications. These individuals have a natural inclination for IT work, and they already understand the underlying business issues. Is there a better place to recruit the business acumen that your business analysts lack?

Internal recruitment, of course, depends on the CIO fostering collaborative relationships with end-user business managers, and it also includes an open-door policy for IT workers who might want to transition to end-user departments. In either case, employees receive growth opportunities from within, and the company benefits.

4. Put new skills into immediate practice

Learning a new IT skill set is like learning any other skill: You use it or you lose it.

That's why it's critical to engage employees who are newly skilled in actual project work that uses these skills as soon as possible. In this way, employees gain immediate on-the-job experience and develop their confidence in the new skill set.

Finding ways to plug new skills into project work can be challenging because it isn't always easy to align work assignments with the need for employees to exercise new skills. However, CIOs and project managers can improve the odds of aligning new skills development and readiness with project work by making a conscious effort to incorporate newly acquired staff skills in upcoming projects and then timing the development of these new skills so that training concludes just before the new project using these skills begins.

5. Develop a farm system

Universities and trade schools struggle to make their IT curricula relevant because many professors and instructors have been removed from the corporate IT world. Consequently, educators don't have a firm grasp on the specific skill sets that company IT departments require.

Academic programs are evaluated annually to determine the percentage of their graduating students who secure permanent, full-time employment. The pressure on computer science and IT departments to show employment placement results is immense -- and it has prompted these departments to reach out to corporate IT executives for help.

A company's IT department can help academia by developing curricula for students that are relevant to business needs. Many company IT organizations also enter active partnerships with local universities and trade schools, providing staff for guest classroom lectures and offering three- to six-week internships for students in their IT departments, for which the students receive academic credit.

These on-site internships in IT typically involve students working on real-world IT projects, with IT mentors providing guidance and supervision. Providing student internships is a great way to get to know the individual students and to recognize and recruit new talent. As CIO, I got my department engaged with a local university, and several of the best and brightest interns became permanent IT staff members.

Conclusion

Major skills shortages in IT exist today in areas such as AI, data management, advanced networking and infrastructure, security and business analyst hybrid skill sets that combine IT know-how with business acumen.

In some cases, companies must go outside to secure these skills. They can do so by working with local educational institutions and actively recruiting on the open market.

Equally important is recognizing the known -- and sometimes hidden -- talents that CIOs might already have on staff or that could be available in other areas of the company.

By actively working to retain valued employees, investing in them, helping them go where they want to go and aligning them with what IT needs, CIOs can create a positive working environment that employees won't want to leave.

Mary E. Shacklett is president of Transworld Data, a technology analytics, market research and consulting firm.