In the current environment, retaining the best IT talent goes beyond offering a competitive salary. Your retention and hiring strategy needs to offer other incentives to employees. Here are some ideas.

1.    Your Company Culture Should be a Selling Point
As companies offer more flexible and creative work environment, culture is growing in importance to job candidates. You need to tell them how your corporate culture can benefit them and add to the quality of their job. At the same time, you want to make certain that new hires are a good fit for your department and the company as a whole. Team interviews are one way to ensure a good fit and allow your candidates to experience the culture of your company before they are hired.

2.    Offer a Vision of the Future
IT professionals are typically independent workers and high achievers. You can appeal to them by giving them an idea of the projects you’d like to tackle once they are hired, and discussing the types of future opportunities they can expect. During interviews, integrate them into your plans for the future.

3.    Emphasize the Impact of IT on the Business
The recession brought layoffs and long hours and left many employees wondering how they make a difference. Treat each team member as a valued stakeholder to inspire and motivate them. Engage them in the business by letting them know how they impact the growth of the company, communicating corporate goals to them, and asking them for their ideas. Find ways to let them know they make a valuable contribution.

4.    Be a Manager Who Supports Your Team.
Now more than ever, CIOs and IT managers must strive to create a collaborative work culture that values the ideas and contributions of each team member. A sense of unity on your team will go a long way in helping you to reduce turnover and achieve your goals.

Source: “Reeling in top IT talent in a hot job market,” By Michael Kirven, July 5, 2011, Computerworld, http.blogs.computerworld.com