NCWE / NCCET 2011 Joint Summit
Preparing 21st Century IT Students
Courtney DeOreo, RITE Board Project Administrator, Lorain County
Community College
Denise Vinton, Manager, IT Early Talent Programs, Eaton Corporation
Annette McIver, Director, University System of Ohio Talent Development
Network Resource Center, Lorain County Community College
1
Demand Exceeds Supply
• In NEO alone, between 1,000 and 5,000 jobs
openings sit unfilled
• Baby boomers are starting to retire
• The college pipeline is low relative the number
of job openings
• Businesses need HELP!
Enter the…
Regional Information Technology Engagement (RITE) Board
RITE Aims:
Mission: Eliminate the gap between supply and demand for IT
workers in Northeast Ohio.
Foundational Goals:
• Industry/Educator Collaboration
• Talent Development
• Promotion, Awareness and Advocacy
Vision: NEO IT talent pool is a highly skilled, industry-responsive
workforce and an economic driver to business growth, retention and
attraction for IT companies, including those that produce, consume, and
provide IT products and services.
3
Who is RITE?
•Sam Babic, Associate VP, Development, Hyland Software
Bill Blausey, SVP and CIO, Eaton Corporation
•Ralph Cagna, MBA, CPHIMS, Director IT Operations,
Cleveland Clinic
•James Cookinham, Owner, Cookinham Consulting, and
Founder, Northeast Ohio Software Association
•Diane Gormley, Resource Manager, American Greetings
•Mary Beth Kush, Senior Director, Technology Center,
Acumen Solutions, Inc.
•Joe LaMantia, CFPIM, CIRM, CPA, Managing Partner,
e-Ventus Corporation
•Thomas J. Lucas, CIO, The Sherwin-William Company
•Denis D. Martini, VP IT, Diebold
•Jim McKinnon, VP & CIO, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber
Company
•Brad Nellis, Director, Northeast Ohio Software Association
•Dr. Sasi K. Pillay. Chief Technology Officer for IT
John H Glenn NASA Research Center
•Andy Platt, VP, Information Services and CIO, The J.M.
Smucker Company
Plus nearly 90 others including
company recruiters and HR
personnel and individuals from
higher education and talent
development including career
services, internship
coordinators, faculty from
Engineering Technologies,
Business and Arts and
Humanities, administrators,
workforce development
professionals, institutional
research, One-Stop personnel,
and state officials.
•Jim Sage, CIO, The University of Akron
4
2009-2011
A Snapshot
August
2009
Fall 2009
Spring/Summer
2010
Fall 2010
RITE Board
Forms
Winter/Spring
Summer
2011
2011
Job Profiling
RITE pilots the
Balanced Scorecard
Student
Assessments
6
Developing a Focused Discussion on
Alignment Needs
The Balanced Scorecard Instrument - Pilot
• Creating direct alignment of outcomes between education and employers
• Instrument developed by Eaton Corporation for internal use with target
schools throughout Midwest
• Adapted for RITE Board in April 2010
• Relates degree programs to blended competency model that emphasizes
non-technical skills
 Business Process Knowledge
 Project Delivery & Management
 Relational and Leadership Skills


Solution Design & Development
Service Support
• Review BSC instrument
• Feedback from Engagement Teams
7
Skills Framework for the Information Age
• Most widely accepted description of IT and IT-related skills
 SFIA was produced by the industry for the industry
• SFIA is open source, free to use and owned and maintained by The SFIA
Foundation, a not-for-profit organization
 Accessed by over 15,000 organizations from more than 100 countries
• SFIA provides a common language for professional bodies, public sector
organizations, employers, educators and recruiters
• Used to describe IT roles and determine the skills and proficiency levels
required for each role
 The skills are simple to understand, well defined, well scoped and designed for easy
application
• A simple and logical two-dimensional framework consisting of areas of work
or skills on one axis and levels of responsibility/proficiency on the other 8
Skills Framework for the Information Age
SIX main categories of work
SEVEN levels of responsibility
1. Strategy and architecture
2. Business change
3. Solution development and
implementation
4. Service management
5. Procurement and management
support
6. Client interface
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
• Categories are sub-categorized and
divided into 86 specific skills
• A skill at a level is called a task
• There are 290 tasks
SFIA Chart
Follow
Assist
Apply
Enable
Ensure, advise
Initiate, influence
Set strategy, inspire, mobilize
• Four key dimensions at each level:
 Autonomy
 Influence
 Complexity
 Business skills
9
Skill
Code
Level
by
Levels of responsibility
1. Follow
2. Assist
3. Apply
4. Enable
Description
Levels of responsibility
described for each skill
expressed in terms of
autonomy, influence,
complexity, business skills
10
Benefits of Adopting
The overall purpose of SFIA is to assist organizations employing
(and educating) IT professionals to…
Assess skills gaps  Provide career development  Make recruitment effective
 Enhance the professionalism and effectiveness of the IT function
This is accomplished by developing the right skills, by deploying them
effectively and by providing appropriate development
and career paths for IT professionals.
Right people, Right skills
Right place, Right time
11
What is society’s stereotype of IT
professionals?
12
What are companies looking for in IT
professionals?
13
Where are the disconnects?
• Typical IT Stereotype
• Variety of jobs, not just Help Desk, Break and Fix, and Programming
• Companies have different job titles for similar jobs
• Lack of solid understanding of job requirements
• Students lack….soft skills, soft skills, soft skills
• Students awareness of the importance of soft skills
• Need to get to competency level of jobs to better connect employer
demands with student talents
14
How did we address the issues?
1. Gathered information from RITE Companies
• Reviewed IT jobs and current job descriptions
– Identified IT “job buckets”
 Infrastructure, Software Development/Engineering, Internet
Services, Software Testing and Consulting
– Identified one critical entry level job from each “bucket”
 IT Services, Software Developer, Web Designer/Developer, Quality
Assurance Analyst and IT Business Analyst
 Conducted job profiles on the 5 jobs using subject matter experts
across multiple companies to better understand the job and
requirements
2. Assessed current students against the identified attributes
3. Provided feedback to students and connected them with
Campus Career Services Dept. & IT Academic Dept.
4. Analyzed results and shared with stakeholders
15
Solution
16
Job Profiling
•
•
Utilized Subject Matter Experts from a variety of RITE companies
At least 5 Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) {people who do the job or
supervise the job} participated in a 4 hour focus group session for each job
and came to consensus on:






The main purpose of the job & job objectives
Sorting deck of 32 task category cards and choose the top 8-10 that best
describe the job
Rating the tasks in terms of how much time is spent on each task and how
important those tasks are in accomplishing the job objectives
Ranking the tasks in order of importance
Providing job context (i.e., education, experience, physical requirements,
working hours, etc.)
Identifying additional requirements- knowledge, skills, etc.
17
What we discovered
Work Activities
The following work activities were determined essential to all five positions
(includes a few examples of each):
• Collecting Information
– Asking questions to establish information required
– Listening to verbal instructions
• Analyzing / Integrating / Interpreting
– Summarizing verbal information
– Breaking down a procedure into logical steps
• Deciding
– Deciding a course of action in conjunction with others
– Making quick decisions under time pressure
• Relationships / Representing / Inquiries
– Working closely with a group or team
– Establishing a network of contacts
– Dealing with complaints
18
What we discovered
Numerous attributes were common across all 5 jobs
19
What we discovered
Numerous attributes were common across all 5 jobs at a
variety of importance levels
Persuasive (high)
Adaptable (high)
Independent Minded (mid and high)
Detail Conscious (high)
Affiliative (high)
Relaxed (mid and high)
Socially Confident (high)
Worrying (low)
Democratic (high)
Tough Minded (high)
Data Rational (high)
Optimistic (high)
Evaluative (high)
Trusting (high)
Behavioral (high)
Emotionally Controlled (high)
20
What we discovered
Key Competencies
• Competencies are rated as essential, desirable,
less relevant and not relevant
• Each job had some essential competencies but
there were no commonalties across all 5 jobs.
• However, several competencies were common
as either essential or desirable across all 5 jobs:




Relating and Networking
Presenting and Communicating Information
Writing and Reporting
Coping with Pressures and Setbacks
21
What we learned from job profiling
• Subject matter experts were very willing to share
information even though they were from different
companies
• Consensus took longer for some sessions than others
• Infrastructure – IT Services was the most difficult
–
–
SMEs were from diverse jobs
Difficult to get consensus on job title as well as job duties
22
Connecting with students
Students are usually here
23
Connecting with students
But in the summer, they’re here
24
Student Assessment
• Each college recruited students differently to complete an online behavioral
assessment that measured three domains: thinking style, relationships with
people & feelings/emotions to identify gaps
• Students were able to choose up to 3 jobs for their assessment results to be
compared to
• Student Demographics
– 61 total students from across the 5 colleges
– 26% female & 73% male
– 49% completed < 2 years IT coursework; 51% completed >=2 years IT
coursework
• Created a development plan for students and/or assisted with career
exploration via feedback sessions
• Utilizing aggregate data to guide student learning in the classroom and
beyond (need more data)
25
Student Assessment
Sample MAXXattain Report for Software Developer
26
How to use the MAXXattain Report
• Person /Job Match Report
–Overall Match Score
Essential Match Score
Important Score
Other Relevant Score
It is a tool to help students, Career Services staff, and employers.
It identifies development gaps and assists in creating a “road
map” to close those gaps.
It should NEVER be used as the only tool for career decision
making, internship placement or job placement.
27
What we discovered
• 44% satisfactorily or very strongly matched to their first job choice
• 56% have some significant gaps when compared to first job choice
• 46% matched more closely to the second choice than their first
28
What we discovered
• Student assessment results reveal the following attributes were identified
as needing the most development
Persuasive (high)
Data Rational (high)
Independent Minded (mid and high)
Adaptable (high)
Affiliative (high)
Trusting (high)
Democratic (high)
29
What we learned from the student
assessments
• Colleges that incorporated the assessment into professional
development workshops had the highest completion rate
• Students need more than a job title to make the best choice that
reflects their interest in a job
Student Survey Results
• 75.9% of the students are currently looking for an internship
– 90% of students had an interest in learning more about
internships through RITE Board Members.
• 77.8% of the students have an interest in working with a
representative from their school as a follow-up to discuss a
development plan
• 68.9% strongly agreed/agreed that the behavioral assessment
increased their insight and self-awareness
30
Where to from here?
•
RITE awarded $50K grant from regional
philanthropy consortium to strengthen
collaboration and drive continued action
•
Matched 1:1 by RITE Dues from Companies
•
Developed submissions for NSF and H-1B based on
2011-2012 Action Plan
The Roadmap
32
For more information,
visit www.OhioRITE.com
33