HIRING AND RETAINING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY STAFF

1
HIRING AND RETAINING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY STAFF

• Presenters
• Bonnie C. Joerschke, Financial Aid Director
• University of Georgia
• Lawrence P. Matthews, Financial Aid Director
• Bluffton University

Session 31
2
AGENDA

• Background Information
• The Information Technology Staffing Crisis
• Information Technology Jobs in Higher Ed
• Tips for Recruiting and Retaining IT Staff

3
BACKGROUND INFORMATION

• Vacant positions in financial aid office
• Unfilled for more than a year
• Unable to attract qualified candidates
• Increased workload on remaining staff
• Vacancies at other institutions
• Comparable jobs?
• Comparable salaries?

4
THE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY STAFFING CRISIS

• Two reports discuss the problem
• The Information Technology Staff Crisis Plan
  for It! (1998, Ann West)
• Recruiting and Retaining Information Technology
  Staff in Higher Education (2000, EDUCAUSE
  Executive Briefing)
• Findings
• began in the mid-1990s
• Campus-wide problem potential to affect daily
  operations in higher education institutions.

5
THE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY STAFFING CRISIS

• 2005 CNET News Report (Ed Frauenheim)
• Predicted crises had reached the bottom of the
  trough, and
• Was turning around with only 25,300 positions
  lost in 2004

6
THE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY STAFFING CRISIS

• 2007-08 Occupational Outlook Handbook (U.S.
  Bureau of Labor Statistics)
• Employment of IT workers is expected to grow much
  faster than average through 2016
• Includes jobs for computer support specialists,
  system administrators, computer scientists,
  database administrators, and computer systems
  analysts
• Job prospects for computer programmers is
  expected to decline by 4 through 2016.

7
THE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY STAFFING CRISIS

• What happened?
• High technology manufacturing and outsourcing of
  services to foreign countries
• Only recently began recovering from all time low
  in 2002 when 612,000 were eliminated in U.S.

8
THE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY STAFFING CRISIS

• CIO Insight (Sept. 2006) Hiring and retaining IT
  staff will become increasingly difficult and in
  combination the following will place significant
  strain on employers competing to hire from
  shrinking, highly sought after pool of IT
  professionals
• Experienced baby boomers retire
• Trend continues for fewer students to graduate
  with degrees in computer science
• Demand for corporate IT staff exceeds available
  workforce
• Growing trend for corporate IT to increase or
  maintain current level of their IT staff

9
THE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY STAFFING CRISIS

• Competitive job market forced corporate leaders
  to explore innovative employee benefits
• Salary
• Lucrative signing bonuses
• Project completion bonuses
• Involvement in IT projects that build experience
  and skills
• Training opportunities
• Flexible work schedules
• Telecommuting opportunities

10
THE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY STAFFING CRISIS
SOURCE 2007-08 Occupational Outlook Handbook,
U.S. Dept. of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics
11
IT JOBS IN HIGHER EDUCATION

• Reasons for crisis in higher education differ
  among institutions but there are several
  predominant causes
• Inability to offer salaries competitive with
  those in private industry
• Illegality of signing bonuses
• Personnels resistance to change (e.g., adopting
  new technologies or processes and adhering to
  traditional work-week schedules without
  telecommuting opportunities)
• Lack of training opportunities for IT staff

12
IT JOBS IN HIGHER EDUCATION

• Consequences of inability to recruit and retain
  IT staff in higher education-
• Institutions forced to forego
• completing new projects,
• implementing technological advancements to
  operational processes
• providing adequate facilities and staffing for
  computer-related learning opportunities on campus

13
IT JOBS IN HIGHER EDUCATION

• Most serious consequence is potential
  non-compliance with minimum automation standards
  to administer Title IV programs
• Minimum software and hardware standards to
  community with ED (submit reports, draw down
  funds, receive and process ISIRs, etc.)
• Maintenance of computer applications to run these
  and other crucial processes requires a staff of
  computer programmers/analysts located within
  financial aid office or in main IT department on
  campus.

14
IT STAFF IN FINANCIAL AID OFFICE

• Many received on-the job training as automated
  processes evolved on campuses over the past 20
  years.
• Others took IT courses for job advancement
• For the most part, most do not have degree in
  IT-related field, but possess technical expertise
  and knowledge of internal operations to maintain
  automated functions of financial aid management
  system.

15
IT STAFF IN FINANCIAL AID OFFICE

• Other electronic responsibilities in aid office
• Local area networks
• Web design and maintenance
• Intranet systems
• Development, testing and coordination of large
  database management systems
• Specialized skills and knowledge related to these
  functions force aid offices to seek individuals
  with IT-related degrees.

16
IT STAFF IN FINANCIAL AID OFFICE

• Challenge of hiring and retaining individuals
  with IT-related degrees
• Typically move to higher paying jobs (on and off
  campus) within 2-3 years
• Usually takes 6 months or longer to fill IT
  positions on campus which causes a revolving door
  operation where a job is almost continually open
  or recently filled by an individual who is not
  fully trained.

17
IT STAFF IN FINANCIAL AID OFFICE

• Challenge of hiring and retaining individuals
  with IT-related degrees
• Training program typically spans a year due to
  cyclical nature of financial aid delivery process
• Other IT staff in office or across campus must
  assume responsibilities associated with vacant or
  newly filled position.

18
TIPS FOR RECRUITING RETAINING IT STAFF

• WORDS OF CAUTION
• Higher education institutions must comply with
  state hiring laws and regulations
• Limit starting salaries, bonuses, and other
  benefits at hiring
• No sure way to gain a competitive advantage best
  approach is through a combination of
  strategieseach institution and each employee is
  different.

19
TIPS FOR RECRUITING RETAINING IT STAFF

• Offer salary competitive with private industry
• Offer flexible work schedules or telecommuting
  opportunities
• Provide training opportunities from both internal
  and external sources
• Seek input from alumni office, computer science
  or other IT departments, and job placement office
  or career center regarding recent graduates or
  current students seeking IT jobs

20
TIPS FOR RECRUITING RETAINING IT STAFF

• Consider job sharing
• Consider advertising your IT job openings on
  select, on-line job sites
• Many are free and attract job seekers from IT
  community at large
• Be prepared to receive applications from across
  the nation and from foreign countries
• 7. Reevaluate your job requirements private
  industry is increasingly hiring individuals with
  on-the-job training or who have 2-yr certificates.

21
FLEXIBILITY IS THE KEY

• Competitive salaries in higher education are
  unlikely to exist or be permitted creative
  work-related benefits can make up for lower
  salaries.
• Skilled individuals will be recruited away from
  financial aid by private industry to other
  departments on campus

22
FLEXIBILITY IS THE KEY

• Bargaining advantage in the financial aid office
  may be in opportunities for staff
• To work in remote locations
• Have a flexible work schedule
• Work part-time
• Enjoy training opportunities to build their skill
  base
• Meet different minimum level of education for
  their particular IT position

23
FLEXIBILITY IS THE KEY

• IT staff are valuable to the operations of a
  financial aid office
• Every effort should be made to recruit and retain
  them
• Employment in aid office will be seen as more
  favorable if it creates a learning environment
  that meets their professional needs and provides
  a flexible work arrangement that meets their
  personal needs.

24
HIRING AND RETAINING IT TALENT

• Consider intangibles
• Relationships
• Quality of life
• The right fit
• Growth
• Motivation and Passion
• Mission

25

• Comments Questions

26
(No Transcript)