InformationWeek

As an employer of budding IT professionals, what can you do to ensure your new hires' success and longevity at your company? Recruiters, IT managers, and college professors share their best tips on keeping young talent happy:

• School them specifically in your company's business and the industry in general.
• Give them tools to learn the job by offering proper coaching, ample opportunities for classroom training (such as courses in Java or Web development), and on-the-job training in business and communication skills.
• Exercise flexibility and an open attitude about work schedules, benefits, and workplace rules.
• Set them up with a mentor and work buddies to help them bond with colleagues and the company. And make sure that a new employee who might feel isolated because he or she is a minority in the work environment--such as a woman, African-American, or Latino--feels part of the IT department and the company.
• Assign them challenging, meaningful projects.
• Provide them with a list of job objectives and offer regular feedback.
• Overall, make sure they know what's expected. Floren says employers should establish expectations immediately, yet many fail to do so.