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ABSTRACT
Careers in information systems and technology are top-rated and growing, yet universities are challenged to recruit students into information technology (IT) majors and organizations struggle to find talent with IT and digital skills. Experiential mentorship programs offer an opportunity for both academia and industry to attract students into university programs and ultimately into IT positions when they graduate. Therefore, to address the goal of developing digitally proficient, meaning technically and analytically strong, students and talent, this teaching tip presents a digital-ready mentorship program designed to connect technology students with industry as a part of their undergraduate education. This program has been in place since fall 2019 and has facilitated a total of 50 students in five cohorts. As a part of this work, we present the digital-ready mentorship program, teaching approach, lessons learned, and evidence from the project outcomes and learning experience. We hope sharing this program will inspire other universities to develop similar programs with industry partners and ultimately address the IT labor shortage.
Keywords: Information systems education, Industry partnerships, Mentoring, Internships & co-ops, Career development, Employment skills
1. INTRODUCTION
Careers in information systems and technology are reliable and frequently rated as top-paying and available jobs in the market (Best Technology Jobs of 2025, 2025). According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment in computer and information technology occupations is projected to have more than 377,500 openings each year from 2022 to 2032 which is much larger than the average for all occupations (Computer and Information Technology Occupations, 2024). While the information technology (IT) industry is growing, organizations are challenged to find talent and are increasingly seeking students with IT and digital skills (Benamati et al., 2010; Leidig et al., 2019; Muraski, 2023; Muraski & Iversen, 2022). This is not only true for hiring managers in IT departments, as nearly all employees and new hires need to be comfortable with technology (Colbert et al., 2016).
Experiential mentorship programs offer an opportunity for both academia and industry to attract students into university programs. Successful academic and industry partnerships between IT organizations and technology programs (information systems, analytics, computer science, cybersecurity, etc.) can ultimately place students into IT positions when they graduate. Previous research has explored the development of academic programs with industry...