Difficult Decisions

Hundreds of resumes cross an IT manager’s desk each day and of those he usually picks less than ten to interview for a single position. Many IT managers attempt to relate skills to certifications and choose to hire based on certifications. Other managers choose to pick an experienced candidate to hire, someone with years of tenure at other positions. Still others base their decision on education and resume keywords. But, the job market is different in IT than any other profession. Sometimes the right man for the job doesn’t have the best writing skills so their resume isn’t the prettiest. Other times the worst job seeker is someone with ten certifications he memorized out of a book, other times the most qualified person isn’t going to cut it because he won’t get along with your current squad. It is the IT Managers job to find the person who fills their company’s needs for the right pay.

Skills VS Certifications

Many of the brightest people I’ve worked with have no certifications but plenty of skill. Conversely, some of the worst troubleshooters in the IT community memorized the answers to a Microsoft test and are considered (by HR and managers, not their peers) indispensible. Certifications are a sure way to gauge a resume and help you decide which candidates have the most potential for an interview, but once you decide who to interview throw the certifications out the window. Let each prospective employee come in on even ground and ask them questions related to the skills you need and the experience they claim to have. The most important thing to remember is to have a technical person sit in on the interview. Many IT Managers are duped by intelligent sounding interviewees. Even if you have to pay a consultant to help your company it is money well spent.

Experience is Valuable but Attainable

One of the most overrated job requirements is experience. Don’t get me wrong, a person with 10 years of experience managing a Linux cluster is much better qualified than someone just out of high school, but don’t let it be the single qualifying factor. A person’s potential for growth should be the primary element to filling the roles available. Experience will be gained over the employee’s tenure with your company and if the potential is greater than other prospects he’ll surpass the competition given time.

One great way to gauge a person’s potential is to interview with general troubleshooting questions. A former colleague of mine (now working at Google) told me that during his interview with Google they asked how many gas stations there are in the United States. The answer he gave involved calculating the total citizens in the US, subtracting for people who don’t drive (children and mall-walkers), then how many miles their car could go on a tank of gas versus how far they drove in a given time period, then… Well, the point is the interviewer doesn’t care how many gas stations there are in the world or how good at guessing the interviewee is, he simply wants to analyze the troubleshooting skills of the prospective employee. A good IT Manager can use questions like this to weed out an over experienced candidate and hire an intelligent person with greater potential.

Pay is a Great Motivator But…

Pay is a great motivator but in my experience it is the one thing owners and stock holders aren’t willing to part with. There are other tools a knowledgeable and sly IT manager can use to bring the right person onboard. The normal vacation time for a company might be 10 business days but normally managers can work out side deals to permit a few extra days off. Some prospective employees might really be interested in telecommuting, and some IT jobs (Programming for instance) don’t normally require an 8-5 employee. Under the right circumstances have your employees help decide the best schedule. I know several programmers who are loyal to their company simply because they only have to spend 10 hours a week in their office.

Training and clear career paths are the final two things that I’ve seen help bring a job candidate on board. In any job it’s exciting to know the direction you’re heading in and it’s great to know there is a reward waiting around the corner. IT is one of those professions that require constant growth and knowing that an employer is willing to sacrifice training time and money helps retain great employees and helps bring on prospects.

Personality Trumps Everything

My manager reviewed this article before posting and says he agrees completely, except it needs a paragraph on personality, and he’s right. IT guys are sometimes not the most pleasant and popular people. The term ‘code monkey’ didn’t originate because programmers spend their nights at the bar picking up girls. And every good network engineer I’ve met has a lab in their basement where they try to conquer the world. Great IT managers have to balance ability and intelligence with personality and communication. A lot of times the position a manager is trying to fill requires people skills and at least prospective employees have to get along with their coworkers. Do yourself a favor and hire employees that can work with your current crew and with your customers. You can hire a CCIE with a Master’s degree in programming but if he flies off the handle when less intelligent people speak to him he’s useless and will need to be replaced.

Winding Down

IT Managers have limited funding to staff a very competitive market. It’s difficult to find a person with the skills to fix a down Exchange server and it’s even harder to find a person skilled to do the job and willing to put in the long hours. Don’t rely too heavily on a candidate’s certifications but instead quiz them about the skills you require. Relying too heavily on experience limits the number of intelligent, resourceful people you can bring to your company. It is sometime better to bring in a young fresh thinker with great potential. Your IT people have to get along with your customer and with other employees to be successful. Lastly, when a company can’t compete financially with other, bigger companies find other ways to reward your employees.

In the end an IT manager’s success or failure is directly related to the hiring decisions he makes. If new employees don’t last, neither will the person who hired them, on the other hand if the employees are successful their manager will also reap the benefits.