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HIRING AND RETAINING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY STAFF

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Title: 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
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