Hiring local residents, cultivating talent, and more discussed at the IT LT meeting

December 8, 2022

The IT Leadership Team met on Wednesday, November 30 to discuss the following highlights and initiatives:

New Haven Hiring Initiative (NHHI)

Director of the New Haven Community Hiring Initiatives Chris Brown joined the meeting to share information about the NHHI, established in 2013 to help connect New Haven residents with jobs at Yale. The program has continued to grow since that time, including commitments to hire New Haven residents, provide training and hiring support, and develop career pathways.

The NHHI offers several programs to support hiring managers:

  • The Career Development Pathways to Employment program starts as an eight-week (NHHI-funded) temporary assignment and provides candidates with on-the-job training and new skills. If after the first eight weeks the department wishes to retain the employee, NHHI will share half of the cost for an additional eight weeks.
  • The Resident Trainee Program places candidates who have received rigorous technical and behavioral training in one-year (NHHI-funded) fixed-duration roles at Yale. Typically, candidates rotate every two to four months per assignment/department, depending on the department’s needs and the trainee’s progress.
  • The Incentive Funded Hiring Program, offered in conjunction with New Haven Works and Local 34, provides subsidies to departments that hire qualified New Haven Works candidates.

A few of the benefits of these programs include:

  • Receiving pre-screened candidates
  • Getting cost-effective support for your projects
  • Strengthening our community and sense of Belonging at Yale

If managers need interns, there is a program for that, too! The New Haven Promise Internship helps to fulfill the NHHI’s mission to serve the community, align with Yale’s educational mission, and prepare students to be able to compete for career opportunities at Yale and other leading organizations. If you are interested in hiring an intern, start by attending the internship fair and creating an initial intern job description.

To learn more about these programs, contact NHHI.

FY24 Plans and alignment with Long-Range Planning (LRP)

Lisa Sawin provided an overview of how LRP information is received and how decisions are made with the IT Governance Committee (a.k.a. All Pillar Chair). She also celebrated advancements in the LRP process, including a first annual meeting where “the SLT sat together, looked at the emerging themes, and aligned them with portfolio projects proposed for FY24”. This exercise ensured that “Yale’s portfolio budget investments align with the strategic needs of the university from an IT perspective,” according to Sawin.

In the past, the IT Governance Committee Meeting mainly focused on the project portfolio budget. However, this year, Courtland Stretton and her colleagues sought ways to align operational budget submissions, identify dependencies, evaluate headcount, and provide better data for leaders to make informed decisions. Barden clarified that these process improvements are not about growing “the budget at the same pace as the services we’re adding.” They facilitate “more discussion around where to apply headcount, redistribute resources, and work with governance chairs to ensure that we’re making decisions in partnership.”

Regarding FY24, there are a lot of projects being considered (totaling around $27M), which means tradeoffs will need to be made. It will be important to think clearly about the work to be accomplished, identifying dependencies with IT teams, our functional partners, and beyond. For example, the supply chain has caused challenges for some of the work within IT’s portfolio.

Lisa closed by thanking the SLT, who guides Pillar Chairs, and IT LT for their support in facilitating LRP conversations. She also encouraged everyone to visit the PMO SharePoint site for more information, including a timeline for FY24 Long Range Planning.

Cultivation of talent

Frank Mathew shared that, over the next two years, Yale IT’s goal is for college recruiting to be its primary source of talent. For this to happen, IT needs to shift its culture to be more open to cultivating its talent and more willing to collaborate across teams. He suggested IT do this by working together and collaborating, maintaining process and control, helping people grow to fulfill our vision, and applying our knowledge and expertise.

As an example of how this program offers value to IT, Maria Belli remarked on her experience hiring Victoria Gorski. “Training has been very easy, and Victoria has been successful in shadowing colleagues and learning the role,” Belli added. As a manager, Belli appreciated Gorski’s fresh perspective, willingness to make suggestions, and openness to feedback.

Kaila Carroll, who has been gathering feedback from colleagues on the program, acknowledges that this could be a heavy lift. She said, “with welcoming a large group of early career professionals, we acknowledge that there needs to be a bit more structure around how we execute this program and support for managers in developing these individuals”. Carroll confirmed that IT’s SLT and HR teams will support the program, and plan to offer soft and hard skills training as well as mentorship opportunities.

Ask John Anything

No questions were asked.

The next IT LT Meeting will take place on Wednesday, January 18. Starting in January, IT LT Meetings will be hosted at 125 Science Park in a hybrid format. Please note that meetings will occur earlier than usual for the first three months of the year.

One IT at Yale