Government Technology - January 2009 - (Page 20)

programs while working to earn school credit, so they get a taste of what it’s like to be full-time employees. And if they complete a twoyear fellowship, they’re eligible for full-fledged state employment. “I’m going to guess, at Hank Batty works for any given time, we probOklahoma’s Ofﬁce of Personnel Management, ably have 75 applicants and 40 to 50 interns working in which runs the Carl Albert Public Internship state agencies,” said Hank Batty, deputy administrator Program (CAPIP). for programs at the Office of Personnel Management. He estimated CAPIP has had that number of participants consistently for at least the past few years. “I’d say 90 or 95 percent convert to be regular state employees,” said Denae Edwards, CAPIP’s program coordinator. In addition, upon completing the executive fellowship, all that information ready for them, so we’re able to fulfill their needs whenever they need a certain type of student.” CAPIP has participating students from various fields of study, including IT. Enrollees come from 11 universities, some local and others out of state. The program is a sterling example of a college recruitment effort that works. Meanwhile, Ross and his colleagues in Missouri’s Information Technology Services Division (ITSD) have taken a high-tech approach to attracting Millennial employees to technology careers. In their efforts to attract young people who are well versed in the Internet’s social networking power — exemplified by household names, such as Facebook and MySpace — the ITSD has held Second Life job fairs. Second Life is a popular three-dimensional, online virtual world created by Linden Lab. Residents, as Second Life users Is the shortage of candidates hindering strategic IT initiatives? No 45.7% Yes 54.3% Source: IT Workforce: Here Today, Gone Tomorrow? talent pool with fresh, new, technologically savvy undergraduates and executive fellows, they come straight to CAPIP.” Denae Edwards, program coordinator, Oklahoma Carl Albert Public Internship Program “[When] agencies currently want to fill their many of the interns join state service with are called, create avatars and live vicaria promotion. “We have several within our ously through their digital representatives. agency who were executive fellows at one Missouri hosted a virtual job fair in February 2008, which was popular time and now are managers enough to warrant a second and directors of departments, one held on June 24, 2008. In so it’s a really good program September 2008, Missouri hired to cultivate your future agency its first employee from Second personnel.” Life. The applicant, a computerEdwards joined the Office engineering graduate, was hired of Personnel Management in into the Department of Natural 2007, and has since, watched Resources as a developer. He the program and its participants attended the virtual job fair as a thrive. tiny cat with a red bow tie. “[When] agencies currently “We considered it a success. want to fill their talent pool Our site was in good shape, and with fresh, new, technologiwe had visitors and inquiries cally savvy undergraduates and As program coordinator about jobs,” Ross said of the executive fellows, they come for CAPIP, Denae February event. He said the state straight to CAPIP,” she said. Edwards educates leased land in the virtual world “We often have them request college students on how certain types of degrees and the program may get them for $100 and spent $6 more to purchase features to enhance its course backgrounds. We have into public service. JAN_09 presence there. “If I just recruit one, just hire one person from there, the payback is immediate.” Some CIOs are luckier than others when it comes to recruiting new talent. Santa Clara County’s Wing said her jurisdiction — home to the Silicon Valley — is a destination spot for IT talent, especially when the economy is down. “Usually when the economy is doing really well, that’s when we kind of hurt a little in trying to compete with the outside [firms], but because the economy’s not doing as best as it could, we have a lot of talent that we’ve been able to bring in,” she said. According to Wing, younger IT professionals may seek government work for the stability, especially if they’ve been laid off from private companies. When she can, Wing has experienced workers mentor newer co-workers in a practice she calls “paralleling” — matching key subject-matter experts with younger individuals so knowledge can be passed down. She also thinks CIOs should consider letting employees work remotely to make positions more attractive to next-generation applicants. “They might start looking at telecommuting if some of these young people live in other areas — giving them the option to work from home,” she said. Wing added that people can work off-site in order to spend less time driving, to avoid paying expensive gas prices and reduce pollution. 18 http://www.govtech.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Government Technology - January 2009

Government Technology - January 2009 Contents Point of View On the Scene Big Picture Four Questions for... Stemming the Retirement Tide Getting the Picture Fact of Matter Money Trail Rays the Roof Trick or Tweet? The Modern Way to Vote Products signal:noise

Government Technology - January 2009

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