(Lexington, KY) - The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) is pleased to announce the release of its new issue brief "The Workforce Evolution: Recruiting and Retaining State IT Employees." The brief, a product of NASCIO's State IT Workforce Working Group may be found online at www.nascio.org/publications. NASCIO's 2007 national survey, "State IT Workforce: Here Today, Gone Tomorrow?" was the first survey to gauge the likelihood and impact of a potential future IT worker shortage from the view of the state CIO. This brief, which focuses on recruitment and retention tactics for state CIOs, serves as a follow-up to the survey in which over 80% of respondents indicated that they were experiencing difficulty filling vacant IT positions.
"A looming shortage of state IT employees appears to be a nationwide trend," said Missouri CIO Dan Ross, co-chair of NASCIO's State IT Workforce Working Group. "State CIOs who begin to explore innovative recruitment and retention strategies, and work to change policies that may hinder certain efforts, will have a distinct advantage if their state happens to be hit with an IT worker shortage."
This brief features a number of state best practices for recruitment and retention initiatives in a variety of areas. It examines both traditional recruitment tactics for state CIOs for enticing new state employees, such as internship and co-op programs, and also innovative recruitment strategies such as utilizing web 2.0 and social networking online websites. An emphasis on work-life balance and the benefits package are among the incentives mentioned for state IT employment.
"The next generation of workers will likely have different expectations from the workplace," said Kansas CIO Denise Moore, co-chair of NASCIO's State IT Workforce Working Group. "In reaching out to these young workers, as well as to seasoned veterans from other sectors, it is important that State CIOs consider alternative incentives and drivers, as well as promoting existing ones, in order to attract and retain top IT talent."
NASCIO is the premier network and resource for state CIOs and an effective advocate for technology policies at all levels of government. State members are senior officials from any of the three branches of state government who have executive-level and statewide responsibility for information resource management. Representatives from federal, municipal, and international governments and other state officials participate in the organization as associate members. Private-sector firms and non-profit organizations may join as corporate members.
# # # #
Please contact Stephanie Jamison, NASCIO Issues Coordinator, at (859) 514-9148 or sjamison@amrms.com, or contact Shawn Karrick, NASCIO Membership and Communications Coordinator, at (859) 514-9156 or skarrick@amrms.com. AMR Management Services provides NASCIO's executive staff. For more information about AMR visit www.AMRms.com/.
