IT hiring strategies: Finding the right person for the job

When it comes to hiring the right person, you have to look at skill set and personality, though not necessarily in that order. Knowing the skills your ideal candidate should possess is the first step to hiring success. Here's my recipe for finding the right person.

Define what you want. Your first step in the hiring process is to create a list of skills that your idea candidate would posses, along with a rating for each skill. This list will come in handy when you get to the technical portion of the interview process.

Review resumes carefully. When you know what you want, you know what to look for in a resume. Many IT placement firms will take liberties with the resume of their applicants to make them more appealing to the hiring company. Be sure to place a premium value on education and experience.

Be wary of the over-certified. If someone is a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, Systems Developer, and Database Administrator, then you either have found a diamond in the rough and you should hire them immediately, or you have found someone that has no problem with studying test answers. Unless this person has considerable real-world experience, you can rest assured that they are the latter.

You get what you pay for. There will always be isolated cases when you can find a very talented person who will accept a position, and associated pay scale, for which he or she is overqualified. Don't rely on finding this person. For example, suppose you're staffing up for the migration of an enterprise application from a legacy application to an entirely new platform. Expecting to hire a high-level developer at the pay scale of a mid-level developer will just waste your time, and the time of your applicants.

Personality Counts. The team chemistry of your IT group ultimately determines how successful you will be. A team that has fun together and communicates well with each other will be more successful than a team that does not. It's your job as a manager to hire not only individuals that are technically proficient but also people who have personalities that fit in with the rest of the group. When you interview these individuals, you want to walk away with a sense that that applicant has a desire to contribute to your team, not just some person seeking employment. These people are not always going to be the candidates with the most experience or the best technical skills. Always put a premium on those candidates who you feel will work the hardest, not only for the team, but to improve themselves. These are the people you want on your team.

Personality red flags. Be wary of candidates that you feel may impede on your team chemistry. In the past I have interviewed overbearing, overly-confident developers. These are the individuals who want to come into an organization and take over how things are handled, and are always difficult to deal with. If you hire people bent on change from the moment they step through the door, more often than not you ultimately will sever the organization's relationship with them, and only after considerable time and money has been wasted.

Put them to the test. When it comes to finding the right candidate for an IT position, take the interview process very seriously. I suggest breaking the interview process up into two different phases. The first phase should consist solely of the technical interview. Create a series of hands-on technical tests and administer them to the applicant.

For example, suppose you are looking for a developer who is proficient in C# and TSQL. In this case, you may want to consider designing a test that integrates the two technologies. Give candidates a strict time limit in which the tests need to be completed.

The results of these tests will give you valuable insight into the technical background and knowledge of the candidates. For your technology test, measure the applicant against the list of metrics I mentioned earlier. Human Resources will like this approach because it ensures that you compare your applicant's skills on a level ground. In addition to providing you with information regarding technical skills, a technology test for your applicants will give you insight into their ability to follow directions, and their ability to perform under pressure. Use the tests to whittle down the list of potential employees.

For example, you won't want to have a face-to-face session with an applicant you want to hire as a C# developer if they don't know the language; a technology test can shed light on the qualified candidates for you.

Once you have a list of candidates that did well on the technical exam, it's time to have face-to-face sessions with them. I always find it to be advantageous to have applicants speak about their experience listed on their resume, because I want to make sure the topics listed haven’t been fabricated. If the candidate doesn't have real-world experience, have him or her talk about projects completed in class.

During the interview, I like to place the applicant in a variety of business situations to see how they’ll react. For example, here is a question I typically ask an aspiring database developer:

"What actions would you take if the report you created regarding financial estimates was viewed by the business owner as being inaccurate? How can you remedy the situation?"

With a scenario like this, there are literally dozens of ways to handle the situation. What you are looking for as the hiring manager is to see how the applicant plans to handle stressful situations.

The value of references. As the hiring manager, you want to be completely confident in the choice you make when you hire a new employee. If you still have questions about the applicant after the technical and traditional interview, consult references. References can give you a wealth of information regarding your applicants.

Of course, you must also be careful when consulting the references because you may come across a former employer that has a grudge against the applicant. All reference conversations must be taken with a grain of salt. Also, some companies have strict reference policies that require no information other than date of employment is given.

Incorporating a technology test in your hiring process has numerous benefits. Testing lets you gauge the applicant’s technical skills, personal skills, and business expertise. If after testing and interviewing you are still unsure about your candidate, consult references for more information. When evaluating candidates, put technical expertise first, and personality a close second.

(by Tim Chapman) /http://articles.techrepublic.com.

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Date: 2015-12-18; view: 786