IT hiring managers will have to be more receptive to candidates who have taken e-learning and noncollege technology courses, Gilbert says. They also need to work with other managers to identify rising stars throughout the company and provide them with cross-functional training. "You have to manage your own talent across the enterprise," he says, adding that such direction has to come from the top to ensure that companies identify and track such individuals and get them the training and education they need. "Companies need to be in touch with their employees," Gilbert says. "That's key to hanging on to them."

All welcome

Such strategies have worked for Donald Newsom, vice president of IT at Caraustar Industries Inc., an integrated manufacturer of recycled paperboard in Austell, Ga. Newsom started as a bookkeeper at Caraustar in 1974, before moving into what was then data processing. He now draws many of his own new IT workers from other fields. Some started as switchboard operators, receptionists and mill workers.

Newsom sends these workers for focused training or college degrees or pairs them with mentors. "I will take a person who gets along very well and works hard, and I can make them anything they want to be," he says.

Newsom says he can do this because of the culture he has established. Because he and other managers came to IT from other business disciplines, new hires from other fields know they're welcome. He invests in training and development. And he tracks employees' interests and progress, which allows him to know their strengths and talents.