Super users, business project leads, members of the “shadow” IT department: they may all be great additions to your IT organization. But there’s no way you’ll get them to sign on unless the business has a good vibe about IT. Forrester’s IT Staffing and Careers analyst Samuel Bright shares four tips to make sure a stop in IT is viewed as a step up instead of a career dead end.

• Market, market, market. When you think you’ve just about overdone it marketing opportunities in IT at company presentations, in department newsletters and at technology fairs or road shows, do it again. Some large IT organizations employ full-time marketers.

• Create IT ambassadors in the business. The best ones are IT employees who used to work in business functions.

• Start business-IT rotations. Yes, they should go both ways. If that seems like a leap, start by meeting with counterparts in the business to discuss the business users you’d like to bring to IT. This may lead to further discussions of rotation programs to benefit the business and IT.

• Keep on top of the business candidate pool. Layoff in another department? That may mean there are IT-savvy business professionals looking for a new opportunity. ERP project winding down? That project lead in the business may be receptive to a job offer in IT.