I find it ironic that companies, while they have come to terms with the importance of technology in their businesses, still haven't figured out how to hire the best talent to use and maintain that technology.

Here's what's wrong with the picture: Company A wants to build out their technology solutions to keep pace with their competitors. They hear about virtualization, the cloud, and mobile technology so they look for people who know about them.

How It's Usually Done

Step #1 is to identify the terms used in those technologies and build a job description around them. They buy expensive resume-scanning software at the behest of HR because HR doesn't know much about what kind of hires need to be made in IT.

This resume-scanning software looks for apt terms like Openstack or Software as a Service in all the resumes they receive. If they can find one that is dotted with some of those terms, they feel like they've hit the jackpot. This is not good.

Why It's Bad

For one thing, it's pretty easy for anyone--most especially IT pros--to litter their resumes with terms they know will catch the attention of these programs. But,  there's another problem with this way of doing things: By over-focusing on an algorithm of keyword percentages, you are likely to miss out on the more valuable employee--one who has an aptitude for tech and can pick up any type of tech, not just the one you're looking for.

Successful companies hire technology employees who stay on the cutting edge and who are flexible enough to learn about any new tech that comes along. Let's take an example from another field, music. Let's say you're the leader of a band that plays country-western music. You're looking to hire a new guitarist and you find someone with years of experience playing country music. He knows his country-western standards backwards and forwards and has played with country-western bands only. He seems like a perfect match.

But then you have a guy who plays all music genres but doesn't have years of experience with just country-western. If you hire the first guy based on what you need right now, you could be out of luck when later on, your band takes on a more rock-and-roll feel because you want to broaden your audience and make more money. That's when you want the guy who could easily adapt.

The same is true with tech. Needs can change rapidly and for reasons you'd never even think of. And this holds true for programming languages than anything else. For example, people have been predicting the demise of Java in traditional settings for a while. Companies may have discounted expertise with the language because of that. But, probably due to the popularity of Android, Java is still out there going strong.

Perl was once a popular language, but because of its declining role in open-source communities, you're seeing fewer and fewer job ads asking for expertise in that particular language.

Another example is the cloud. The cloud is really in its infancy in the corporate world. If you may find someone who has experience handling the cloud for a company, but wouldn't it be better to have someone already on staff who can easily -- and happily -- learn about the new technology as it happens?

The Problem with Changing

It's easy for me to make these suggestions for corporations looking for IT talent. What isn't easy is finding a way to hire people with aptitude. It's not something that you can easily spot in an interview or on a resume unless you probe deeper. But you must.

You can also train existing personnel to take up the mantle of tech for your company. The days of just keeping the corporate head above water are ending and you have to figure out how to innovate, sometimes using the resources you currently have.

Training has fallen out of favor over the last few years and it may seem expensive to some. But compare that expense to long drawn-out hiring experiences (and, alas, expensive bad personnel decisions) and you'll see that it's something you should invest in.

There is a war on IT talent right now. Don 't fall into the trap of thinking you have to find someone who matches exactly what you need right now. For one, "right now" changes. Secondly, if you have the right IT people in place already, they could be leading the change.

About the author: Nicholas H. Parker is a business coach and marketing manager with huge experience. He writes articles at Buy Essay Club to share his knowledge with others. He is highly interested in the web design sphere.