InformationWeek

Colleges students are one source of IT talent--but not the only one, and in some instances not the most desirable. The hardest finds are "experienced people who have had four or five years" working with particular technologies, says Jim Giancola, workforce planning manager at United Parcel Service of America Inc. in Atlanta. Those include people with skills as Oracle database administrators, Unix systems operators, or working with system-management software.

Experienced IT staffers--especially those with families--are focused on working and living in communities known for good schools and safe streets. More-experienced workers--again, especially those with kids--are also less likely to risk a new job at a pre-IPO company that offers potentially generous stock options in lieu of a more competitive salary, says Kurt Wilkinson, president of IT job recruitment firm Wilkinson SoftSearch. "I placed a few people recently who were worth a lot on paper before the company's stock dropped," says Wilkinson. "This may not be so bad for a younger person, but for many more experienced people, brick-and-mortar companies seem a lot more stable."

When companies can't find IT talent in their own neighborhood, they often expand their search outside their immediate geography. That means relocation.

Generally, companies first try to look for talent locally to avoid relocation costs, says Wilkinson. Also, companies such as Mony and Federal Express say they pay IT workers in the same job but working in different cities different salary ranges based on the local cost of living. Key considerations for relocating employees are compensation and local standard of living: Obviously, a systems analyst living and working in St. Louis, Mo. won't live as comfortably on the same salary if relocating to Silicon Valley, says Wilkinson.

Another solution companies use to address geographic IT issues is opening satellite offices in regions where the competition for IT talent isn't as intense or the supply of IT people is more plentiful. For instance, clothing retailer The Limited Inc., which struggles to find technology talent near its Columbus, Ohio, headquarters, has small satellite IT offices in Boston, New York, and Hong Kong to relieve some of the pressure on its Midwest IT staff (see story, "Demand For Talent Grows In The Midwest").

GE Power Systems, an Atlanta company that makes energy products ranging from home generators to nuclear power plant systems, is finding success with opening satellite offices in other cities. But GE Power's tactics are somewhat different than other companies with regional IT offices, says Alan Boehme, the company's CIO of E-business. "In this day and age, there's no reason for IT people to have to move for jobs," he says. "We need the same kind of high-skilled people that the Suns and the Oracles in Silicon Valley have." But those people won't move to Atlanta, he says. So, if GE Power finds someone it wants to hire, the company also looks to hire four or five of that person's friends. "We'll open an office where they are," says Boehme.

Some companies also fill IT positions with supplemental staff from third parties. Tom McFadden, The Limited's group VP of services and operations, says his company has 100 temporary workers supplementing the IT staff at any given time.

IT staffing firms face the same location issues as their customers, and many rely on foreign workers who obtain H-1B visas to work temporarily in the United States. Comsys, for example, has contractors from India and other countries who are assigned to its clients wherever specific talent is needed, says Caress Kennedy, senior VP of marketing. Most foreign workers are willing to work in any U.S. city, in part because the work is temporary and the relocation not permanent.

For some larger IT services firms, the impact of the talent shortage isn't as bad as it is for smaller IT organizations, according to Chris Ryan, director of human resources, Southwest region, for EDS, which has a presence in every state within the United States, as well as many foreign countries. "With a global presence such as we have, the battle for IT talent becomes easier," Ryan says.

The Upshot

Geographic location increasingly figures into the mix when IT professionals choose jobs and when companies seek to recruit and retain IT talent Every geographic region--even the hottest ones--have their own assortment of challenges in the IT talent war Young IT workers prefer to work in locations that have lifestyle amenities--but that doesn't rule out companies in less-favored regions from attracting younger talent Companies in less-desirable locations reach outside their regions to obtain talent, whether it's importing people from other areas, supplementing staff with contractors, or opening satellite IT offices Universities and colleges are treasure troves for hiring and developing new IT talent

For EDS, the primary challenges to retaining talent--keeping workers interested in their jobs and making sure they're comfortable with their economic situation--are handled through relocation, travel, and telecommuting. When relocating employees, EDS is sensitive to a worker's financial needs given the local economy, according to Ryan. But ultimately, a move comes down to career opportunities, and EDS has been successful selling its employees on this, Ryan says.

GE Power's Boehme says people are looking for three key things from their jobs: Fair compensation, technology challenges, and "to work with their friends, people they can get along well with." For many IT workers, this means job location plays a prominent role. So be it, says Boehme. "Corporate America has to adjust and understand that there are new motivators for employees," he says. "There's no reason for most companies to insist on keeping their people within earshot and eyeshot. People will work where they prefer to live."

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Illustration by Jim Dandy
Photo of Oueida by Stephen Sherman