Talent Wars: Now this I can appreciate!

Now comes the return on long, long hours, short-staffing, lean-and-mean dues-paying: you are suddenly valuable. Very valuable. Surprise.

Computerworld – Dan Herrington says his first inkling of a brewing IT talent war came early this spring, when he noticed that “college kids weren’t accepting our offers on the spot.”

This was a first for Herrington, who is executive sponsor of college recruiting for IT at USAA, a San Antonio-based Fortune 200 insurer and financial services company that has been No. 1 on Computerworld’s Best Places to Work in IT list for two years in a row.

Herrington adds that another disturbing new trend is a “marked increase” in the number of college hires who accept job offers but then later change their minds. “We’ve seen college students reneging on internships as well,” he notes.

We have known for a long time that IT is critical to business. Like the engineers on a steamship, we have to be both highly skilled and resourceful. Those of us who survive know just how hard it is to maintain the technical chops to do our jobs, and keep them. Not everyone can do it. Those of us who can are finally being appreciated in the best way: money.

See the article at http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/357513/Talent_Wars .