Mentorship Musings

HEATHER CLANCY

Can be reached via e-mail at [email protected].

I know this task of finding and keeping the right people to grow with your company puzzles you, too. During the most recent CRN Editorial Cabinet meeting, several of your peers mentioned that the third quarter was enormously busy and their toughest problems was finding enough good people to get the job done. In my opinion, the entire channel needs to pay more attention to finding talent early on, right out of school, and nurturing it progressively.

Atrion Networking, Warwick, R.I., is one solution provider that has taken this philosophy to heart. Atrion CTO Tim Hebert is working actively with a community group called the Tech Collective that is developing IT curricula within local high schools. The program enables high-school juniors and seniors to become involved with a program that (in theory) would provide them with the skills to earn a Cisco CCNA certification. The program has sponsorship from local businesses such as Atrion.

It's still tough to place high-school students in internships, even though their skills may eclipse those of young adults just a few years older, said Katherine O'Dea, executive director of the Tech Collective. "Most kids know more about technology than even their parents do." Precollege exposure is critical because it helps kids decide what paths they don't want to take, she said.

Josh King, a 23-year-old who is one of Atrion's top call center engineers, came to the solution provider through this program and worked his way through college. More recently, he earned his Cisco security designation and now is working his way up to Cisco CCIE. "You can't be just a great engineer, you have to be great about working with customers. This is the next logical step in my professional growth," he said.

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