Meet your barmy new IT team

Lions supporters' journey halfway round the world indicates a higher pedigree, IT firm Synergy says. Picture / Mark Mitchell

Jovial, rugby-mad, beer-swilling Lions fans may be in for an image makeover, thanks to a recruiting campaign targeting them as skilled IT professionals.

Wellington IT services company Synergy International has identified the Barmy Army as a potential source of recruits to fill a staff shortage.

Desiree Keown, Synergy's general manager of marketing, says that since the campaign started last week, the company has been "flooded with calls".

"We realised this would be a good opportunity to target an audience that's probably well-educated and well-skilled," she says.

But what about the image of beer-swilling loons? Keown says the fact that fans have travelled halfway round the world to get here is evidence of a higher pedigree.

"If you think about the costs of getting to New Zealand, these people have got to have saved, they've got to have some money behind them, which means they're generally employed, generally well-skilled." The Barmy Army are a colourful crowd, so a soft marketing approach was not going to cut it. Synergy's answer is to dress recruiting staff in bright, lime-green suits with the line,"If you're in IT, we need you - ask here," emblazoned across them.

The suited recruiters then hunt down startled Lions supporters and hand out contact postcards - a reminder in case later drinking destroys the brain cells storing the memory, or it is dismissed as a hallucination.

The lime-green suits may come as a shocking apparition to the bloodshot eyes of Lions supporters, but Keown points out it is Synergy's corporate colour.

It's all about standing out from the crowd, she says, and "you might just choose someone who looks a bit more interesting and fun to work with".

Synergy could be tapping into a lucrative recruiting vein, with previous tours showing up to 10 per cent of the Barmy Army stay put when the rugby ends.

And New Zealand has more to tempt them than just top-class rugby.

"There's a good proportion who actually want to stay in New Zealand because they either fall in love with the country or fall in love with a bird," Keown says, and we're not talking Tui.

Although unlikely to have packed a business suit, Lions supporters can have an interview and return home with a provisional job offer in their pocket.

Synergy chief executive Jim Donovan says the global shortage of technical skills follows a period where the IT sector virtually stalled.

In preparation for Y2K computer threats, "virtually the whole of the user base upgraded their systems in the five years before 2000".

"So there was a bit of a downturn after all that happened, but that's all picked up again now."

Although intended to be fun, the campaign is a serious attempt by Synergy to solve a major shortage - 23 vacancies, including senior project managers and software developers, or about 10 per cent of its workforce.

With more than 20 nationalities represented on Synergy's staff, Donovan understands the potential of recruiting abroad.

"Business has never been better, so the invasion of the Barmy Army is a brilliant recruiting opportunity for us."

Jim O'Neill, executive director of the Information Technology Association of NZ, says staff shortages at Synergy are typical of the industry.

"Right now, if there was a plane-load of well-skilled Brits arrived in New Zealand who magically got a visa somehow, it's unlikely that they'd be sitting around very long."

O'Neill says that although the number of local training programmes is increasing, the demand for experienced staff means companies have to look elsewhere.

"Unfortunately, when you've got shortages and you've got people screaming out for [staff], the last thing you want is an apprentice."

Increasing the available skill pool will help to prevent a salary war, with companies trying to poach staff from one another, he says.

Better put some jellied eels on the barbie, guv.

Are you Barmy?

* Wellington IT company Synergy wants to recruit Lions fans.
* Staff shortages of 10 per cent are common in the IT industry.
* Previous tours show up to 10 per cent of the Barmy Army stay put when the rugby ends.
* Local IT training is increasing, but experienced staff are needed now.