Delaware CIO Greg Lane cited a 2022 survey of his workforce that found that 44 percent of the employees in central IT would be eligible for retirement within five years.
“We’re getting better at bringing in lesser experienced talent and training and growing them, and doing what we can to retain the talent,” Lane said.
But even for those leaders facing less sobering retirement numbers, finding and keeping talent remains a priority. Many have turned to creative partnerships with local universities and community colleges to populate the pipeline with fresh faces. Others have developed programs to reskill local talent from non-technical fields for rewarding careers in IT. Still others have filled the gaps with managed services — a practice more CIOs have turned to in recent years.
At last week’s NASCIO Midyear conference, GT asked technology leaders about the state of hiring for IT jobs in their jurisdictions. While responses included the traditional stumbling blocks of salary competition and degree and experience requirements, many CIOs struck a slightly more optimistic note in 2024.
Colorado CIO David Edinger projected confidence about the lure of working in government, where employees are drawn to the impact of public service.
“There are plenty of people in technology that want to do something more than move the stock price at their private company, and we have to find those folks that really want to be part of the public sector and all the good that we’re doing,” Edinger said.
One selling point he uses is the fact that Colorado IT is fully remote, which allows people to do meaningful work from anywhere in the state.
