One of our IT staff discovered this great blog post about hiring IT staff, Hiring for IT, What We’re Doing Wrong & How To Fix It which really resonated with him.
In an era of customisation and personalisation, when it comes to recruitment most businesses still have a one approach fits all, from their un-targeted advertising of jobs through to a generic hiring process, which if we are all honest with ourselves – we have to admit is adequate at best.
For a short moment the power has shifted back to employers; however, it would be foolish to think this will last for very long. Reading this post is a great “what to do and what not to do” if you are responsible for hiring top IT talent.
By understanding your target market you can only add value and increase your chances of doing an outstanding job, rather than just doing the job.
From this post, two of the key points that I took away were – Asking the Right Questions and Invest Time. Unfortunately, we frequently hear in recruitment that people don’t have time to take a detailed job brief; write a great ad; answer phone and email questions from potential applicants; respond to applications; and/or interview! It seems rather incredulous if we don’t have time to perform a function that is core to the success of every business.
Do you have any other tips or suggestions around hiring IT staff?
2 Comments
Thanks for the note, Kelly. I’m always glad to get feedback.
I’m a strong believer in the “It’s not what you know, but *who* you know.” train of thought–especially with regards to employment relationships–and see one-on-one networking as a key strategic element for any growing company. Magical things can happen at social events such as discussion groups and conferences, and it’s downright foolish to think resumes will be nearly as important after the social media revolution hits the masses.
Preston
We have several IT clients and strategic partners in our pre-employment screening, exit interviewing and organizational survey business who believe as we do that in good and bad times, employers have to strengthen the processes that bring people in the door.
It may on the surface look like an easy market and many choices for employers but there are still many caution signs. In the current downtown, it will be the incompetent and unproductive that will go out the door along with some good people who were just caught in a bad situation not of their making.
In our business we see continuing large numbers of fake degrees and candidates who have moved from job to job failing in each but looking great on paper and in the interview room.
Our survey in 2007 showed that 62% of well educated members of organizations admit to exaggerating their resumes and experience with 33% of that group saying they do it a “great amount”. When asked why, they said it was the only way to get to the job interview stage where they know that it is unlikely that their references will be checked anyway.
What this means for employers who do not have either the staff to conduct reference and qualification checks is that their organizations become magnets for people who know full well that they cannot work for the over 90% of Fortune 500 companies that use external background checking companies like ours. In the mistaken belief that this is too costly, these employers who are impacted the most by poor performers continue to get the worst of the talent out there.
I introduced myself to one of the people hired by an IT client (who is still hiring now!) while she was doing system demos at an IHRM trade show in Hong Kong recently. We normally never meet any of people we do reference checks on giving us more objectivity but I couldn’t resist as our Client Services Director with me recognized her name. She was thrilled that this new employer had contacted each of her referees! What we achieved for her was a level playing field with applicants who stretched their experience and backgrounds. What we achieved for the client was confirmation that the person they were about to hire was as good as they looked on paper and in the interview room.
We did this file in 4 working days.
If IT companies want the best then they must mirror the best employers who are all using independent third parties to support their internal groups who usually haven’t the time to do the reference checks while the busy manager wants the person on the job immediately.
Great article and good admission about the reality facing many IT organizations when it comes to recruiting.