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February 15, 1999

Educating The Masses

Businesses are investing in educational programs to help bolster the IT talent pool

By Marianne Kolbasuk McGee and Jennifer Mateyaschuk

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he quest for IT talent isn't expected to get easier anytime soon. The demand for IT skills continues to soar as more businesses look at technology as a competitive enabler. The good news is that many companies are investing in educational programs--from grade school through college--to spur an interest in IT among young people in hopes of bolstering the limited talent pool.

Businesses and IT vendors alike are trying to build new arsenals of young talent through school partnerships--even if that talent won't be available for full-time employment for years, and even if there are no guarantees that the talent will be theirs for the taking. Some of these companies, including Baltimore Gas and Electric, Federal Express, and General Electric, focus on college-level programs. These students can provide immediate relief for companies hungry for extra hands on a fast-paced IT project. Other companies, such as Booz Allen & Hamilton, Cisco Systems, IBM, and Prudential Insurance Co. of America, are working to improve computer literacy and technical know-how among students and teachers in grades kindergarten through 12. These programs include volunteerism, training, and internships.

Experts say the number of IT positions that need to be filled is likely to increase. The Information Technology Association of America estimated last year that there were nearly 350,000 unfilled programmer, systems analyst, and computer scientist positions in the United States. The number of openings would double if other IT jobs such as help-desk staffers and network administrators were included. The ITAA plans to release updated numbers on the IT skills shortage in April--and the numbers aren't expected to be much better.

Educating students early on about IT can help, says Lauren Brownstein, VP of work force development at the ITAA. "Companies are interested in ways to build up the IT work force, and they know they need to invest in the pipeline long-term to do that," she says. "Some are putting more money into recruitment efforts, and others are forming alliances with educators."

While hard numbers on how much U.S. companies are spending on educational programs related to IT don't exist, anecdotal evidence indicates that companies are increasing their activities and spending in this area, says John Sargent, senior policy analyst at the U.S. Department of Commerce's office of technology. The department estimates that by 2005, the country will require more than 1 million new IT workers in three core categories: systems analysts and engineers; programmers; and computer scientists.

Illustration by Hank Osuna

Multiple Fronts
General Electric is one company that's targeting education on several fronts. The company spends about $1 billion annually on education and training programs. GE executives and IT managers volunteer time to talk with students at many grade levels. They also brainstorm with college faculty to identify which IT skills should be part of school curriculums. But GE's paid college internships are among its strongest programs. GE recruits college students for all its business operations, says Carla Fischer, manager of GE's Information Management Leadership program, a two-year program that grooms new IT employees for management positions.

GE Lighting, for example, has alliances with schools in the Cleveland area, such as Case Western Reserve University. Every summer, GE Lighting hires up to 10 students in their sophomore and junior years for jobs in a variety of areas, including IT. "These interns do real work that's measurable and deliverable," Fischer says. "We treat them as entry-level workers, with performance reviews and mentors, so they get a good feel for what it's like to work for GE."

Erin Sluga, a senior at Ashland University in Ohio, has gotten a taste of what IT work at GE Lighting is like. Sluga has interned for the past two summers in the company's IT department. Her first internship as a sophomore involved working with the marketing and sales team to develop an electronic ordering guide built with Microsoft Access. In her second internship the following year, Sluga participated on a team that developed a Web-based program to track applications for GE's Six Sigma projects, its companywide quality-improvement program. "I had never been in that sort of corporate environment before," Sluga says. "I learned technical and business skills hands-on."

The experience with the internships has helped Sluga, a math major, focus her career decision. After she graduates from Ashland this spring, she'll join GE's Information Management Leadership program as a full-time employee. Had Sluga not been an IT intern, she would've likely pursued a career in actuarial work. "I'm more mathematical and had been hesitant about being in a more technical field," she says. "But now that I know what information management is about, I feel confident that I'll be able to succeed in the field."

Variety Of Benefits
Federal Express' involvement with schools is multifaceted, says Julie Yancey, FedEx's managing director of development services. "Building a relationship with the community is important. The benefits are direct and indirect," she says. For instance, FedEx's alliances with colleges have helped the company build a pipeline of future IT talent. They've also made the company more visible.

FedEx employees are encouraged to volunteer their time at colleges and universities near its facilities in Colorado, Tennessee, and Texas, to assist teachers in technical and other academic areas. FedEx also advises colleges on technology curriculum planning. This helps forge relationships with faculty, so professors act as "ambassadors" for FedEx, Yancey says. "Professors become familiar with the company and then talk about FedEx with students. You can't put a price on that." For instance, FedEx provides Texas A&M University in College Station with feedback on its technical curriculum, and also invites A&M professors for on-site visits at FedEx's Memphis, Tenn., facilities.

Over the next five years, FedEx plans to provide consultation, as well as $5 million in funding, to the Emerging Technology Center at the University of Memphis. The technical center for the university's school of business is being enhanced so professors and technology are kept up-to-date, Yancey says. Among the technologies to be highlighted is the Internet. "Computer science students understand the Internet, but marketing students also need to understand it," she says. "In the next century, most will be hard-pressed to name a career that hasn't been influenced by the Internet or technology overall."

continued...page 2, 3

Read sidebar story, "Lower-Income Communities Linked To IT's Future."

Illustrations by Hank Osuna
Photo of Erin Sluga by Roger Mastroianni