Want to hear about a scary trend?

If you're a tech industry recruiter, you probably don't want to hear more bad news, but unfortunately... 

The number of computer science majors in American universities has been falling.

According to the Computing Research Association, the 2007 graduating class included just 8,000 computer science graduates nationwide.

That's bad news for Canadian recruiters. A shortage of qualified candidates and an extra $10,000 in salaries always leads to a huge sucking sound southward. The brain drain has never been funny and it could get a lot more frightening.  

Unless Michael F. Buckley, a University at Buffalo computer science lecturer, gets his way. He's leading a national movement to change the way computer science is taught.

Buckley says that current teaching methods are the reason why the slump is happening.

"Too often, undergraduate computer design courses lack social relevance," said Buckley. "They don't help students figure out how it's relevant to society's technology needs, like helping people with a range of disabilities, or establishing a region's safest evacuation plan in case of a natural disaster."

To reverse the trend of falling enrollment, Buckley wants students to learn "computing for a cause". As part of their course work, Buckley's students visit a center for children with disabilities and are asked to design technologies with the goal of improving how the children they meet live and learn.

"Creating practical solutions to socially relevant problems focuses incredible philanthropic and creative energy," said Buckley. "When students work on these projects, they see themselves less as geeks and more as citizens."

The idea of making a difference, of being useful to society does attract people toward certain careers.  

"We are pushing socially relevant computing as a means to attract a diverse population of students to computer science," said Buckley. "Students don't know that they can address societal concerns with computer science."

I think the recruiting industry can learn a lot from Buckley's observations now. 

Let's assume that being useful to society is important to all potential candidates.

Let's assume that our clients have programs that emphasize corporate responsibility and community care.

Let's assume that employees have a personal role to play in extending the company's acts of social responsibility into the community.

Let's assume that everyone can see the results of this involvement and that they are positive results.

Those assumptions sound like selling points to me. Big selling points. In fact, they are probably worth a lot more than an extra $10,000 and a move south.