Wanted: Someone who knows how to build a router and explain to the rest of us what they are doing. Someone who is steeped in the latest technology around cybersecurity and shared services, but understands they have more to learn, and always will. Someone who is organized and assertive enough to manage projects, yet humble enough to take feedback as a gift that can make them better.

Four chief information officers described their ideal federal IT manager and explained what their agencies are doing to build a cadre of dream IT staff Tuesday before a gathering of the industry-government group ACT-IAC.

It’s far from a simple exercise for Transportation Department CIO Richard McKinney. He hopes to hire 100 people within the next two years as part of a plan to “rebalance” the number of federal employees and contractors in his office, he said. When he arrived at DoT in May 2013, his office had fewer than 50 federal employees and about 200 contractors. The contractors cost more and his office was passing those costs on to agencies who participated in its shared services. In addition, he said, the contractors were difficult to manage and did not provide good service to his clients. Even though the agencies were using the shared services, they were keeping their own versions just in case the partnership didn’t work out.

“I’m going to figure out why it costs so much and raise the service level, and I’m going to make it a bad decision not to do business with me,” McKinney recalled thinking at the time.

Hence, his hiring spree. On his wishlist: 15 more cybersecurity experts. He has five now.

“I’m a little concerned that I’m not going to be able to find them,” he said. “There’s no secret in this industry that there is a shortage of people with that skill set.”

Data scientists and DevOps professionals are in demand too, said Margie Graves, deputy CIO of the Homeland Security Department.

But the technical chops alone wouldn’t get someone the job at one of the four agencies represented, according to the CIOs.

“We are all in demand on cybersecurity,” said Renee Wynn, acting CIO for the EPA. “But if a cybersecurity person can’t explain it to me, then how are we going to be able to solve the problem? Communication is key.”

So is curiosity and willingness to learn.

“I’ve had a performance review in which the person did not hear what I said,” she said. “You don’t have to take [feedback], but you have to accept it as a gift and not use it as a shield. You have to be courageous.”

Add to that, someone who cares about what their agency does, rather than just the technology it uses.

After spending 23 years in the private sector, which was “customer focused,” Renee Macklin was surprised to find in the government, “a lot of people didn’t know who their customers were.”

Macklin, now the CIO at the Small Business Administration, said she expects her staff to have business skills so they can understand the loan programs and other offerings the agency provides its end users.

“You have to be able to talk to a customer and build a router,” she said, adding that the ideal IT manager would also understand acquisitions and the budget process.

“I think you’re looking for a balance,” said McKinney. “People who are comprehensive.”

He recently hired employees who were slightly behind when it came to job skills, but who won him over with their eagerness, vision and desire to collaborate.”

“The sense of downstream potential was much higher,” he said. “They want to be part of the team and take the ride.”

Schools are doing a good job of training students in the latest technology, but parents and others need to pass on the softer skills, the panelists said.

“A leader is a purveyor of vision and hope,” said Graves. “You need to recognize individuals, know who they are, what they did, what they’re working on, and ask them how it’s going.”

She recalled reminding an IT staffer to leave his computer to talk, in person, to a colleague with whom he was having a disagreement.

“This is still a human world, even though we work in technology,” she said.

To recruit and retain the ideal employees, McKinney said he wanted to offer more opportunities for technical training so those employees’ skills stay current. He found the lack of it “appalling” when he arrived at the Transportation Department.

Agencies can no longer offer the array of bonuses and other performance awards that they once did because of financial and political concerns, but new awards programs and other ways of recognizing work well done are cropping up. At DHS, Graves said, the undersecretary for management has instituted one such program in which senior executives are nominated by their peers for their collaboration, innovation or leadership skills. Those nominations are then evaluated. Finalists are lauded before the directorate.

Good supervisors can also make the job appealling, the EPA’s Wynn said.

“Our mission attracts a lot of focus, so we focus on retention,” she said. “It might mean managers have to go to training, or have to move on.”

The CIOs see their roles changing as well.

“You are responsible for creating the environment that lets those people thrive,” said Graves. “It’s your responsibility to clear the debris. There are certain bureaucratic elements that exist in every agency.”

But, she said, “You are never bound by anything but law.”

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