Recruiting IT Students?

spacemonk asks: "I teach at a community college and our enrollment numbers are down in our IT programs. We have found that many have the perception that there are few IT jobs. We feel this is causing many students, who might be interested in IT, to enroll in other programs. There is obviously a lot of conflicting information regarding the impact of off-shoring, and so forth, but much of what we have found indicates that the IT job market is improving, and IT is still a career that can offer job opportunities to students. For example, we have had internship opportunities that we have not been able to send candidates to, simply because we don't have the students. Needless to say, this is very frustrating. How would you honestly describe the IT job market to students considering this major? What can be done to recruit more students into IT programs?"

How would I describe the market?

[Angst Badger]

If it was me, I'd tell prospective students that prospects are really bleak, like north of England bleak. That way, they'd pick another field, the shortage of new recruits would continue, and wages might start to go up again.

Since geeks have gone mainstream recently, ...

[Harry Balls]

...as documented here http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/11/19/02 28214&tid=149&tid=129&tid=4 [slashdot.org], exploit that trend to your advantage.
Suggested dress code: Clip-on tie, pocket protector, white shirt, lab coat, horn-rimmed glasses.

Time to downsize some CS departments

[hivemind_mvgc]

Boy that's a good point.

Maybe it's time for some colleges to shitcan their CS/CIS programs. There's plenty of colleges with, shall we say, less-than-stellar programs, facilities and instructors. Maybe those schools should go back to what they're good at.

Like, say... philosophy.

Re:Noooo kidding.

[Anonymous Coward]

as a windows guy with some bsd experience.

1. ssh is secured, no plain text (good for passwords)
2. to recover the root pw, reboot and go into single user mode.

i want six figures and moving expenses. i speak english and am a citizen.

Re:Well...

[ObsessiveMathsFreak]

I'm a little bit frustrated, but there are a few... a very few companies who are just looking for a good 'ol UNIX systems administrator.

This is kind of a no brainer, seeing as how there are very, very few companies that are actually using UNIX systems. Most use Windows. For SMEs I'd guess that close to 95% use Windows.

Ergo, they are not looking for a UNIX admin. They need a windows admin to run their ADS, exchange server, and whatever other rubbish they need. Outlook calendar expierience required. You'll also need to know how to set up wireless routers, but security training, or indeed giving a danm about security is not required.

This isn't very hard. A lot of SME windows admins are the company accountant.

Re:Time to let go

[fembots]

Depends if it's "Hiring Frenzy" or "PhD Hiring Frenzy".

Re:Noooo kidding.

[Dr_LHA]

I presume after booting into single user mode, he was going to crack the root password in /etc/shadow and recover it that way. A little unorthodox sure, but employers like people who think outside the box, right?

Tell him to stick it!

[xtermin8]

Been there. Done that. Didn't work out. I'm going to teach English as a Second language and outsource myself! Seriously, if I'm going to be broke I might as well be broke in new and exotic lands! Bon Voyage!

Tips for hiring new IT workers

[elainerd]

Tell them some big picture mumbojumbo about the future and how the company is really going places. Believe me, they will be in such shock when they actually find out what they do on a daily basis that things will fall into place right away. Every thing will turn out great, just watch them the first month and if they exhibit that scared/stressed tremor in the lower lip on a continual basis or even better the bored plodding expression (a little drool drippping off bottom of chin) KEEP them. But watch out, anyone who starts askings questions, fire them right off.
Hope this helps.

Re:Bit of advice.

[HermanAB]

In my experience, the most important thing is to be 28 to 36 years old. Start from there and adjust all dates accordingly. If you are over forty - dye your hair and exercise so you look a bit younger. During an inerview, try not to talk about something that happened before the interviewer was born...