Slim Pickings

When the world entered the new millennium, technology was riding high. So, the idea there would be a shortage of college graduates with technology degrees before the first decade of the 21st century had passed seemed ridiculous. But in 2008, that's the reality facing IT leaders. The number of college students majoring in technology-related fields is dwindling, and insurance IT leaders are worried about the future.

"I'm concerned," says Darby O'Neill, vice president of IT for Princeton Insurance. "I see the number of [technology] students going down, and I see [students] thinking IT is not a viable career for them. They give me the impression it's a hard job--too many hours and not enough pay. I also see them frightened of outsourcing."

A decade ago, O'Neill points out, computer science majors could name their price as they entered the job market. She contends there are many good jobs in the market today, but the fear of issues such as outsourcing, consolidation, and changing technology have caused young people to consider other options when they choose their college majors.

Statistics from the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California at Los Angeles back this up. In 1999 and 2000, the percentage of incoming college freshmen listing computer science or computer engineering as their probable major was 3.75 percent, but since then, the number has dipped annually to the point where it bottomed out at 1.0 percent in 2005 and stayed there for 2006.

GOOD RATINGS

The good news is those students who are making it through college are well qualified for the positions they are hired for, according to George Royce, vice president of strategic technology development for Mutual of Omaha. "The students we get from the local colleges are very competent and able to drop in and work with the Java and .NET skill sets they have," he says.

One reason for that is Mutual of Omaha participates in structuring the educational programs at area colleges. Royce recalls a recent meeting with a local university where both sides discussed replacing one of the classes focusing on C++ with a course that focused on Java. "The colleges are beginning to decide that should be their basis, which we are excited about because we use a lot of Java," notes Royce. "By actively participating with the colleges, we get to influence what's being taught to the students, which helps us because they will be better prepared as a result."

At Mercer County Community College in New Jersey, O'Neill has served on an information technology advisory commission for the past 15 years. The school tries to align its curriculum with the business needs of the community, she explains, and it opens a dialogue with IT people in different industries to determine what the businesses are looking for. "[The program] attracts people like me who have a hard time getting new technology people coming in," she says.

Royce indicates he is delighted to see other Omaha-area businesses working closely with the Nebraska educational community. "We get a better crop of students--ones who meet our needs," he says. "Most of us have similar needs for the IT professionals we are looking for."

Genworth Financial also has established partnerships with local colleges, according to Christina Hollingsworth, corporate IT director for Genworth. With her office in Richmond, Va., Hollingsworth works specifically with Virginia Tech and Virginia Commonwealth University. "It's an equal partnership," she says. "There is a very good exchange between the leadership here at Genworth and the professors and executive leaders from the colleges." The two sides partner on curriculum as well as on specific projects. "Genworth's strategy is for growth aligned with what will meet the needs of that particular classroom objective," says Hollingsworth.

Graduates are joining the work force with good skills, but O'Neill believes it is a big adjustment for young people. "They come with a lot of knowledge and don't understand why they can't apply it all in one place," she says. "Instead of new development, which is what they have been used to in school, they are forced to learn somebody else's code." Those coming from college also still have to learn about the environment in which they are working. "They have to marry the technical side with the business side," she says.

INTERN PROJECTS

Genworth has been working to attract talent to the organization through a leadership development program it offers. There are business-related internships and an IT-dedicated track, according to Hollingsworth. It is an early career program, and the IT track focuses on core technical capabilities, such as Java or any number of topics the business might need, she explains. This is a two-year program with four six-month rotations. "We spread those people into different areas of the business depending on what our strategies are for that year," she says.

The competition to get into the program is intense, Hollingsworth continues, with only 14 people taking part over the two-year period. It is open to recent college graduates who have been out of school three years or less. There are several different college majors among the applicants, but the company accepts only those with some type of technology degree.

Mutual of Omaha provides intern opportunities, as well, bringing in students to participate in a project. "It's typically a contemporary project, and often it's Web based," says Royce. "It helps them understand we are moving forward with contemporary technologies they are interested in working with. I think they like the discipline we have in project management and how we run projects. It ties with what they are being taught in the colleges."

What makes the Mutual of Omaha intern projects stick out, Royce believes, is the carrier has the students engage in real work that's meaningful. "So often you hear these stories about interns who are given day-to-day tasks that aren't that meaningful for them," he says. "We really have changed our ways."

Royce spends quite a bit of his time working with the colleges to come up with ways to encourage students to consider Mutual of Omaha for their internships. The carrier usually has six to nine interns at a given time. "We've had larger numbers in the past, but we prefer this hands-on approach that is more project-oriented," he says. "It takes a little more time for us, but we find it tends to be a more successful approach for students who really work with us and finally hire on as opposed to having an intern doing some routine work."

Mutual of Omaha revamped the intern program four or five years ago, Royce indicates, to be more focused on project work that engages the young people. "I think that's part of our success," he says, adding that success has been measured by the carrier's ability to attract some of those interns to full-time job opportunities following graduation.

GETTING YOUNGER

Hollingsworth is proud of the development of young talent at Genworth, and she points out the company is attracting even younger students to the profession. Along with a dozen other Richmond-area companies, Genworth offers paid internships in which current high-school juniors and seniors work for the company in a three-month internship.

Students have to be nominated for the program, and they are paid a competitive salary. "One of the reasons we did this was to address the trend we saw in the lower number of students entering technology careers," says Hollingsworth. "What we found was a lot of companies have been focusing on offering college internships, but that was after the college students already have decided what their major was. We decided to reach out earlier."

Hollingsworth believes high-school students are comfortable with technology and are eager to learn. "We can reach out to them before they go to college and decide what they want to major in and get them thinking about a technology career."

She has used the high-school talent to help implement a global ERP for financials. "This is a huge multimillion-dollar project," she says. "We are consolidating all our ledgers on shared services. We've had the high-school interns working on things such as SQL queries and Oracle financial coding. It could be anything. I've even had people work on the network team with in-depth application work. These folks are so hungry to learn and are so excited."

The high-school intern program has been under way at Genworth for two years, and Hollingsworth reports two graduates of the program currently are in college studying technology and have expressed an interest in coming back to work in the summer.

She contends Genworth has been successful in attracting young talent from the millennial generation because the young people are attracted to Genworth's values. "I've done some research, and our values on integrity, clarity, and heart really touch that generation," she says. "[Millenials] are interested in aligning their career with a company they feel aligns with their interests."

Like Genworth, MetLife has programs that dip into high schools with the hope of attracting those students to insurance IT as a career choice. The carrier has a commitment to diversity in its work force and its marketplace, acknowledges Cynthia Smith, vice president for the multichannel service group, so the carrier partners with different organizations for its recruitment strategies. "After college, many of [the students] become part of the MetLife program," she says.

SIMILAR NEEDS

After speaking with technology leaders from different industries, Smith is convinced most have the same type of needs as insurance carriers. The only difference she sees involves the targeted customer segment and how consumers want to be engaged.

As far as new talent in the insurance industry, Smith asserts there is an acute awareness of how emerging technologies can turn an operational environment. "But the talent itself probably has not had as much exposure to legacy systems that continue to power some of our business channels," she says. "We are looking to hire individuals with the ability to understand not just the current technologies but also a sense of how they can improve our operational processes," she says. "That seems to transcend industries."

Richard Hoehne, director of IBM insurance business solutions, maintains recruitment to the insurance industry is not solely an IT problem. He cites the lower number of applicants for the respected industry designation of CPCU as a sign the entire industry needs to take notice. "Insurance isn't the most glamorous thing to get into from a career perspective," he says.

He blames part of that on the old technology and practices. "If you really look at how our companies operate, it can't be that exciting if you have to come and work in an environment that is all paper driven and populated with green-screen terminals," says Hoehne. "I don't know whether that in itself is reason not to move into insurance, but if you look at the industry, it is falling behind in terms of adopting the technology the emerging work force has been trained on and is comfortable using."

LEGACY ISSUES

Mutual of Omaha operates some legacy applications, but Royce states his company's interns and other new hires are focused on service-oriented architecture and surrounding areas. "We put them where we are creating new Web services and user interfaces in Java and the technology surrounding Java as opposed to using them for COBOL development. COBOL is decreasing over time, and we are using our current resources for COBOL," he says. "We have a number of folks there and an adequate supply--at least right now--for that."

Mutual of Omaha is in good shape to deal with older technology, Royce continues. "We believe the systems that require COBOL will diminish," he says. "We're in the process of looking at replacement alternatives. That's one of our tactics."

Smith believes recruitment and retention strategy have a lot in common as far as the need to provide employees with career growth and training. "The talent has to have an appetite for and understand the current technology," she says. "We invest a significant amount of time and resources around making sure we can train and educate our talent about our business needs so that provides growth opportunity for them."

Smith doesn't view the issue of an aging IT work force as a problem, because MetLife believes it is going to have the right support for any talent that is brought in. "It's just a matter of making sure we get new talent in that understands these technologies we know can transform the business processes," she says.

The issue is a risk the industry needs to be concerned with, according to Hoehne. "I don't see the point where COBOL is going away any time soon, but the [older] work force is," he says. Hoehne compares the problem to Y2K, with the only difference being Y2K people knew the date that event was going to occur. "I don't know whether [an expiration date] is as obvious in a situation [such as COBOL]," he says. "You're going to wake up one day and find you don't have the talent."

Countries such as India or China will see this as an opportunity, adds Hoehne, and they will build up skills in the older languages. At that point, he feels it will be a significant problem for the industry. "It's not just COBOL," he says. "I still hear discussions about Assembler. It will be interesting to see how this plays out."

There is one surefire solution, though. "If you replace your system and modernize, you won't have that problem," says Hoehne. "But we're not necessarily seeing companies completely transforming to the point where they have turned off the old system and now implement a new one online. You have to maintain [old systems] and have the employees with those skills," he says. "If they are not coming out of the schools, where are they coming from?"

WHERE TO TURN?

O'Neill doesn't believe college students comprehend what working in today's IT department is all about. "They don't understand what a career in IT means anymore because it is so diverse," she says. "They are confused as to what direction to take."

While some insurance people think of their industry as less than exciting, MetLife's Smith disagrees. "With the opportunity we have with new technology, I think it is an exciting challenge for people coming into this industry," she concludes. "We are at a place where we are transforming things."