DUE Prepare For The Upturn in IT Related Jobs With New Avenues Of Recruitment Ann Beheler, Ann Blackman 2006 Conference on Information Technology

Convergence Technology Center National Science Foundation Advanced Technical Education (ATE) Regional Center

Three partner community colleges working together in the North Texas area Convergence Technology Center

Convergence Technology brings IT together  Voice, video, data, image blended into one flexible network  The bringing together of products and capabilities of multiple vendors so that they provide the services the customer wants (interoperability)  Active in enterprise businesses and homes $2.469 million over 4 years Awarded August 1, 2004

Convergence Technology Center Focus  Build curriculum for Convergence Technician Training faculty case study/problem-based learning approach convergence technology content  Recruiting faculty and students from underserved areas  Sharing materials with others utilizing CCCCD’s partnership with National Center for Telecommunications Technology Regional Program

Enough about us……… Are IT jobs really coming back? Who do we need to recruit? How do we successfully recruit?

Over the past few years Dallas portion of the DFW Metroplex lost 100,000 jobs between 2000 and 2003 out of about 2.8 million jobs (Center for Economic Development and Research Report, 2003) Causes  9/11  Telecom layoffs  General economic downturn similar to entire nation

4 of the Top 10 Fastest Growing Occupations are in IT! OccupationEmploymentPercent Change ***Network systems and data communications analysts*** 106,000166,42057% Medical records and health Information Technicians 69,000101,43047% Computer software engineers, applications software 179,000261,34046% Computer software engineers, systems software 128,000185,60045% Source: US BLS Fastest Growing Occupations,

The Future Depends on our recognizing and leading

Leading change requires consciously leaving the comfort of how we’ve always done things in business, in our community, and in education….. and providing education and training for jobs that we’ve not yet defined.

Neomillennial Students Are digital natives who by high school have spent more time playing video games than reading books

Neomillennial Students Are digital natives who by high school have spent more time talking on cell phones than reading books

Neomillennial Students Are digital natives who by high school have spent four times more time watching TV than reading books

So we can’t teach (or reach) them just with books and other printed materials…. and we must take the time to make education relevant and engaging.

Workers growing up in the 21 st century will have 7 or more careers Therefore, RecruitingMUST be a multi-prong approach

Overall Recruitment Focus Underserved Populations  Women  Low Income  Under represented ethnic groups

Types of Prospective Students Recent High School Graduate Undeclared major Entry level technician Re-careering individual Post Baccalaureate

The BIG Picture Public Relations HHuman Interest Stories Online newsletters, “Lifestyle” magazines SService Clubs/ Chamber of Commerce Don’t forget the churches! KK-8 school events/ Math & Science Nights

The BIG Picture Public Relations CCommunity Events Dia de la Familia PPartnerships Urban League, Junior League Business Advisory Council

Information, Please! Customize SHORT, INFORMAL sessions  Java Jolts  Pizza Breaks  Lunch’n’Learns

Partner with other College Resources Recruiting Student Life Tech Prep Leadership Development Programs  CCCCD ACE program resulted in recruitment of undeclared majors through the Developmental Math Program.

Influence the Influencers Parents High School Staff & Faculty  June 1 day workshops  Field Trip opportunities Community College Colleagues  Lunch’n’Learns IT Employers  upcoming classes

Make it Hands On High School and College Faculty Workshops

Make it Hands On Girls are IT!

Make It Hands On Summer Institute Grades

Make It Hands On Developmental Math Convergence Fair

Bring It All Together

Don’t Underestimate the Impact Of One on one access to your faculty and dean.  Faculty web pages   Instant Messaging

Your Best Recruitment Tools are Your Students

Results to date IT/Telecommunications registrations up almost 40% over 2004 Companies that traditionally recruited only 4- year graduates are recruiting from us now (Nortel, Perot, for example)

Questions and Contacts Ann Beheler  Principal Investigator  Ann Blackman  Program Manager  This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation