Acquiring Talent is the Leading Concern Among CIOs in Survey.

Companies Must Make Inroads With IT Professionals Who Aren't Otherwise Looking for a Job -- But How?

AUSTIN, Texas -- CIOs and other business executives from 112 companies cite attracting, developing and retaining tech talent as their biggest number one concern, according to the Society for Information Management's recently released annual survey.

Respondents to the survey identified a number of reasons for the problem, such as the retirement of baby boomers, who take with them years of technology expertise as well as the application of that expertise in terms of a specific company and its customers.

Unfortunately, IT companies are having a hard time identifying and hiring young IT professionals. SIM noted that this year alone in North America, colleges and universities are graduating fewer IT majors. This is not a one-time abnormality, but a trend that has existed for several years.

This trend comes as no surprise to the founders at itzbig, the interactive sourcing network, which has earned numerous accolades in the Human Resources industry for its unique approach to securing hidden anonymous talent for its customers.

"In the last six months, we have had numerous companies come to us because of the difficulty in finding highly qualified candidates in the existing IT labor pool," said itzbig CEO Jim McGovern. "They recognize our ability to give them real-time access to candidates, both internal and external, which gives them a long-term advantage over their competition."

Three-Pronged Solution Alleviates the Problem

Many recruiters would clearly change their hiring specifications if they knew the availability of talent for specific positions, according to McGovern.

"For example, let's say there is a tight supply of younger candidates with less than ten years of experience for many skill levels," he said. "More experienced candidates might be the best way to go, if only the recruiter had real-time access to the labor market. With the itzbig network, they do. Our first and only Progressive Profiling Targeting capability enables a recruiter to test network availability for certain skills and experience levels prior to incurring the costs and time lag of publishing a position online."

Second, itzbig provides recruiters with a picture of what types of candidate are available within the company for a specific position. The best candidate for a position may be someone already employed by the company. itzbig's clients are increasingly encouraging their own employees to fill out profiles, which can lead to finding the best match for the position. At the very least, such practices give the recruiter a basis point with which to compare external candidates.

Lastly, itzbig attracts the "quiet working professional," who ordinarily is entrenched with his or her existing employer.

Many times, these quiet working professionals fear being exposed that they are looking at other positions. These concerns are increasingly valid as traditional job boards require personal data, which then becomes accessible over the Internet.

"itzbig puts the quiet working professional at ease by offering an anonymous, and therefore secure, network that lets them identify a better opportunity," said McGovern. "With itzbig, they can enter a profile specific to that position and then see how they stack up against the other applicants. This is done all while preserving their anonymity. By emphasizing privacy and security, itzbig allows the quiet working professional to 'keep an eye out' for a better opportunity.

"In turn, this solution enables companies to obtain more highly qualified candidates, leaving their competitors to battle over the few candidates willing to make their contact data public, which are currently unemployed."

About itzbig

itzbig is the first interactive network that provides working professionals with a way to anonymously and securely explore other career opportunities. By focusing on quality and efficiency, the company's innovative approach rescues job seekers and employers from drowning in large quantities of poorly matched data.

For more information on itzbig, call 1-888-4itzbig, or email [e-mail].

Interested media should contact Holt Hackney at [e-mail], or [phone], Ext. 115.