Chicago — Among the biggest problems that colleges face within their fund-raising departments is recruiting and retaining talented professionals.

While higher-education leaders demand that campaigns set higher goals, last longer, and produce results, there simply are not enough qualified people to do the job, experts said here today during the annual Council for Advancement and Support of Education conference. A survey of research-university development officers, by Eduventures Inc., shows that 86 percent listed difficulty in hiring and retaining people as their most challenging issue.

At the University of Michigan, where the development staff totals 450 people, Chrissi Rawak is an in-house recruiter, serving as the executive director of recruitment and personnel planning. Her concentration is hiring the right people for Michigan’s fund-raising operation and making sure fund-raising staff members are aware of internal promotion and career-path opportunities.

Michigan has also started fostering its own future fund raisers with a summer internship program designed to interest students in the profession as a career choice. “The market isn’t going to get any better, so it’s our responsibility to fuel the pipeline,” Ms. Rawak said.

Once talented staff members are hired, however, it’s a full-time job to keep them. Laura Toy, associate vice president for alumni affairs and development at Cornell University, said there are simple ways to keep staff members challenged and engaged — and not all of them involve higher pay.

“Make the company a playground and let people migrate around to new positions,” she said, adding that star performers need to be rewarded. “They are critical to your long-term success — make an art out of recognition.” —Erin Strout