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Winning the War for IT Talent: Strategies for developing and retaining Middle Tennessee’s best and brightest

IT professionals have some of the lowest unemployment rates – with some specialties at virtually 0% unemployment.

Hiring is picking up, IT turnover is relatively high, and unemployment is extremely low.  These realities make IT talent management a daunting challenge for your Middle Tennessee company.

To win the war, you must put your creative thinking cap on and find new ways to develop and retain the great employees you already have.  Here are a few ideas from Wood Personnel to get you started:

  • Diversify your IT staff.  IT workers fear becoming stagnant, irrelevant or obsolete.  Cross-train your high performers, assigning them to projects that help them broaden their skills and provide the ongoing challenges they crave.  In addition to keeping them interested in working for you, this strategy yields more versatile employees.
  • Provide training that extends beyond technology.  Strengthen IT’s ties to other departments by offering instruction that helps knowledge workers understand other aspects of your business.  When technical employees better understand the real-world, bottom-line impact of their efforts, they feel more connected and invested.
  • Set long-term development objectives.  Work with each key technology worker to create a 3- to 5-year career growth plan that aligns with your IT organization’s goals.
  • Make work / life balance a priority.  Give IT employees a say in when and how they work.  Set up a flexible vacation policy; facilitate telecommuting; allow your IT staff to decide how to achieve measurable goals once they’re set.
  • Listen to their ideas.  Knowledge workers tend to be intelligent innovators who are naturally curious and full of new ideas.  Maintain an open door policy, encouraging them to bring their best concepts to you.  Listen to them – and implement their ideas when they make sense.
  • Offer competitive compensation.  Money isn’t everything to IT professionals, but it is important.  To keep the best in the fold, provide a comprehensive package (salary, benefits, performance bonuses) that’s at or above industry standards.

Once you’ve improved your employee development and retention strategies, attracting them will be much easier.  Your IT organization will become known as a best-in-class organization that puts its employees first.  This reputation will help you win the war for talent.

Struggling to find top IT professionals in Middle TennesseeGive Wood Personnel a call.  With 41 years combined IT experience and more than 20 years in IT staffing, the IT Placement & Contract Services group at WPS understands Middle Tennessee’s IT community.  We’ll connect you to the right tech talent, creating better matches that ensure long-term retention.

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