I've Got Talent on my Mind

I’m curious as to how CIO’s are dealing with the talent war that is now reached a point where most of us can clearly ‘feel it”. We do! After months of pontificating and forecasting - this talent shortage is more than real. While we do lots of executive level engagements, we do have clients that ask us to find candidates at the director level (everybody today needs a cadre of doers). For many of you that (actually) had a strategy and a plan – I hope your team IS deliverING the goods. For those that still have talent needs at or below the director level – I wish you the very best.

I have been saying for months that this shortage is real (ok – for years). In my opinion, the government stimulus is probably just a down payment on the investments that will be made in this marketplace for the next 10-20 years. So... this business issue will continue to be challenging for those who wait or don’t adapt new strategies. I talked to a candidate that manages an implementation team a few weeks ago and she told me she now receives 2-3 calls a week from organizations and recruiters that espouse greener pastures for the skills she brings to the party. I believe her. I also believe that by simple supply and demand the salary bands for people with her skills will soar over the next few years until this industry has more people that understand HCIT. In other words, we will all need more doers for the foreseeable future. Some candidates claim they have multiple offers and they are in a great spot to start a bidding game to see who wants to really pay up for their talent. OUCH!

So what are you doing and how are you faring in this war for HCIT talent. I can tell you that if you have open job requisition(s) that have been open for a while, you are not alone. And in all likelihood those req’s may be open a bit longer. There are lots of openings and there will be for a (very) long time! You can count on that! Welcome to the HCIT talent wars of 2011 and beyond! I, for one, love to solve problems like this one far more than the challenges we had in late 2008 and all of 2009 – but let’s not go there. Nope, I’d rather not! It was not pretty.

Onward and upward!