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Forrester: Search blogs for tech talent
Skills crisis calls for unorthodox solutions...

By Tom Espiner

Published: Friday 27 July 2007

Poaching IT staff from other organisations is a short-term solution to skills shortages, warned research company Forrester in a report published this week, instead advising CIOs to search more widely in the rapidly narrowing IT talent pool to capture those with scarce skills.

Among the sources that companies should tap into for IT staff, says Forrester in its research report, Recruiting IT Talent: Adjusting To A Hot Market, are academia, MBAs and super-users within an organisation and even blogs and social networks.

CIOs should consider putting in place structured internships to attract more college graduates and foster greater relationships with college staff to access both the student and staff skills, Forrester said.

Cultivating closer relationships with colleges not only increases the chances of getting fresh blood in the form of college students - it can also mean that academic staff may be enticed to lead short IT projects. They could also be persuaded take sabbaticals to refresh knowledge of IT in business by working on longer projects.

Forrester analyst Sam Bright said: "Academics are really an overlooked talent. One of the side benefits of building partnerships with colleges to identify potential leads in students is that academics also come to understand what IT has to offer."

Another under-utilised pool of talent is that of business professionals on rotation in the company, according to Bright. MBA graduates rotate into different functions within organisations but IT is not often one of their stops, said the analyst.

Other members of the organisation with both business and IT skills - so-called 'super-users' - should be encouraged into IT through training opportunities, the research firm advised.

The analyst also recommended monitoring professional and social networking sites and blogs to find out about a potential candidate's interests and interpersonal skills.

Tom Espiner writes for ZDNet UK