IT has become the engine room of today’s enterprise, powering virtually every aspect of organisational action. But as its strategic importance has increased, the need for highly skilled staff to deliver cutting-edge business improvements has also accelerated. And yet, for IT leaders, identifying the right candidate ­ – with the requisite technical knowledge and business savvy ­ – has become a monumental challenge.

Even as the financial sector is gripped by a pernicious tightening of credit, demand for IT skills has endured. Recruitment agency The IT Jobs Board recently reported that hedge funds and investment management groups have doubled the number of IT staff they have recruited in the past few months.

Moreover, IT chiefs face a tough challenge aligning the potential candidates, boasting a variety of qualifications, with the skills needed by the business. A recent study by IBM highlighted the disparity of skills in the workforce and those needed by the business as one of the most pressing staffing problems for global organisations.

So how can business leaders identify which qualifications will have equipped candidates with the necessary tools? What are the most effective methods of securing the IT skills demanded by the business? Our panel of experts give their thoughts.

Peter Hambling, chief information officer, Lloyd’s of London

People have numerous skills on paper but I still interview and test them. The value of the piece of paper is as a pre-screening tool.

Lloyd’s is proud to be a people place and we are also very proud of our status as an excellent place to work. Consequently, how you do something is as important as what you do. And while technical qualifications will accredit you for doing something, they cannot tell me how you do it, how your colleagues feel about it or how well someone will fit into a team.

When I tell the human resources (HR) department that we are looking for specific skill sets, there is never a shortage of qualifications that they can look for. My HR colleagues have come back and said: “You asked for this qualification, but one candidate has this one, is that better?”

For example, if a candidate has a PhD in computer science, does that negate the fact that he has to be a Microsoft engineer? It all comes back to what you want them to do.

Our interviews have two parts. First, a criteria and competency-based section which is all about how well the candidate can do the job. The second part concerns capabilities. We validate the technical qualifications and then we seek to understand what the other skills are.

Ollie Ross, director of research, the Corporate IT Forum

We are seeing companies move to a more formalised sourcing strategy, designed to align business and IT goals, so that companies are not put in the situation of having to search for someone with the necessary skills. This involves taking as much as a five-year view of where the company intends to grow and how IT will support that. That informs which IT skills will be needed.

We have seen, as a relatively recent phenomenon, firms adopting a talent management and assessment programme internally ­ – although the process is not always formalised. One consequence is that we now tend to hear more about the need for talent management where we used to hear a lot about skills shortages.

Internal assessment allows the business to benchmark the skills staff have, and allows them to work out whether internal staff should be developed, or whether the business should look at an external source – ­ either through an outsourcing partner or via recruitment. There is a balance to be struck here over which skills are regarded as commodities and the cost-value calculations that need to be attached.

Firms are becoming more aware that they need internal assessment centres so that interviews are not just about qualifications. Successful recruiters are able to assess behaviours, achievements and whether candidates are a good fit.

Diane Morrelo, vice president and Gartner fellow, Gartner

I receive about 10 calls a day from chief information officers asking how to prepare their business for the skills they will need in future. You need a long-term view of where the business is going, what the workforce will look like and what skills will be needed.

But the thinking around those skills is changing. There has been a move away from traditional application skills and towards skills such as information design and business process expertise. This also entails a more mature approach to workforce planning.

Companies that are effective in workforce planning have typically adopted competency-based models. These assess people’s know-how, skills and prowess against a set of pre-defined job families.

The most successful ones we see are those that have taken a strategic perspective and are willing to consider alternative approaches. Successful companies are taking a more diversified approach to their workforce portfolios ­ – and that includes making better use of external skills.

Businesses today face unprecedented pressures to be more imaginative with their talent sourcing options, whether that is through the use of recruitment, contractors or outsourcing. And it is only those that make a strong commitment to workforce planning that can hope to attract and retain the most talented staff.

In managing the mix, companies have to hold on to those skills that feed and nurture sustained competitive advantage.

IT Advisor produced in association with Intel