Attracting & Developing Talent into IT

With students turning away from careers in IT, how do we identify and attract talent?  With degree pass grades as low as 40% are students leaving education with the skills necessary to make productive contributions to business challenges?  Perhaps more importantly how do we incentivise and retain the capable few?

Some organisations have a very well structured corporate graduate recruitment programme whereas some have no IT graduate recruitment programme at all.  An IT graduate programme can be part of a wider corporate programme; many delegate organisations follow a broadly similar 14-step recruitment process.  A number of organisations have a formal programme covering a number of years e.g. 18 months to 2 years, with a rotation of roles.  Targeting only IT graduates has been found to result in fewer candidates so it's best to consider other types of degrees as well.  One organisation looks for three things: Competency, Character, Fit. Character and Fit are what make candidates stand out.  "We do not necessarily require an IT degree: an IT module or IT related degree is sufficient".  "I targeted a local college for IT people only: it would have been better leaving application to anybody at the college".  "Graduates on our programme go back to the University and get other students to work on projects for free".

This workshop offered 22 delegates from 16 organisations representing Education, Distribution, Energy, Finance, Manufacturing, Government and Transport, the opportunity to compare best practice in recruitment and development programmes for graduates, and examine ways in which Higher Education Institutions can help in providing recruits who are more compatible with business needs.  Delegate stats: Total employees represented : 77,000 Total annual spend on IT : £621million.