IT Gurus — Tech Trek: Search for Stars

But tapping into social networking sites, he warns, can be tricky. "You have to be savvy. You can't just jump in there and try to recruit someone. There's camaraderie between techies. When you become a comrade, you're accepted, and they'll listen to you. You can't go in there with guns blazing."

Regan says niche Websites can work a lot better than the big e-employment services like Monster or Career Builder because, often times, IT people won't use those Websites to look for jobs because they don't want to be bombarded by potential em-ployers.

Al Kennickell, of Kennickell Print and Global Marketing, started his IT search in his own backyard. "We hired our first guy because he was needed for our fulfillment operation and expanded his work into programming for our printing operation. We've also found luck with the Website Creative Coast, which is a high-tech site where programmers are listed."

At Padgett Printing, David Torok admits that IT people can be hard to find because the technology is so new to printing. Padgett looks for IT applicants by using local sources, word of mouth and placement services. "We're very diligent in our search for the right IT people--those with a printing background, Web development experience, etc. We interview lots of candidates to find the right one."