Solving a talent crisis - sometimes the right idea comes out of the blue

While Canada 's technology and telecommunications companies are poised for takeoff thanks to the unprecedented growth opportunities before them, an equally unprecedented talent crisis threatens to abort that acceleration.

That's the assessment of a new report from consulting firm Deloitte , which surveyed 60 of the country's technology and telecommunications firms and found that developing and retaining talent is the top people issue that they face. (See 16-page report at: http://www.deloitte.com/dtt/cda/doc/content/ca_consulting_HC_TechTalent.en.June2007.pdf )

Respondents said the people shortage will be most dire at the top, as the departure of the Boomer generation leaves gaping holes in the ranks of k nowledge workers, "those who

hold a disproportionate share of leadership positions and house a disproportionate share of the organization's knowledge base," Deloitte concluded.

At the other end of the age spectrum, Canada 's tech companies are finding that there are plenty of entry level workers, just not enough with the right skill sets. Survey participants declared that "research and development skills" are the most difficult to find in the marketplace today. In addition, more than 60% expect to face a high or moderate shortage of innovative/creative talent and that 90% will be challenged to find technically-skilled talent over the next three to five years.

In an effort to ensure that it doesn't fall victim to a shortage of skilled workers, one of the largest tech companies in Canada with more than 19,000 workers, IBM Canada, has relied on a series of innovative internship programs to attract, identify and retain talent.

Perhaps the most cutting-edge of its programs, dubbed Extreme Blue , doesn't just bring students in temporarily to see if they have the right stuff to work at Big Blue, it presents them with real corporate challenges with real-life profit and loss consequences.

This summer, 24 students from universities across Canada have been divided up into teams of four. The six teams of students are located at IBM's software labs in Toronto , Ottawa and Montreal , developing software that will impact IBM's business strategy and product lines. Each team of four, typically three technical students and an MBA student, is given 14 weeks to find a solution to a problem or task that has been put forward by one of the company's business units.

"Every year we will go to the various business executives and we will say, `What are the things that are keeping you up at night? What are the major things you would like to have this team try and solve?'" said Dave Scott, campus programs manager at IBM Canada.

"They basically boil it down to a project that can be evaluated or a solution developed within the time from of 14 weeks," he said. "Not huge problems but very impact-full for the business."

To support its Extreme Blue teams, IBM provides each with technical and business mentors who offer support and guidance throughout the term of their assignment. At the end of the program, IBM global executives at the company's Armonk , New York headquarters gather for presentations from Extreme teams around the world. Last year, IBM's president Samuel Palmisano was one of those executives in attendance.

" The benefit is we get a group of extremely high performing people," said Scott. "Our goal is to bring them all into the business as full-time hires when