IT Recruitment: Going Beyond Technical Skills

by Riia O'Donnell Whether you’re looking to fill a vacancy or increase the size of your team, you’re driven to fill that spot quickly and effectively. In IT recruitment, the need to balance speed of hire with accuracy is even more important, since the risk of a bad IT hire can be long-lasting and costly. Hiring Time Crunch When it’s time to fill a vacancy, take a step backward in the process to make sure you’re not just filling an opening, but affecting a long-term hire. More than what is needed to fill the technical aspects of the opening, you’ll want to look at what qualities each candidate needs to become part of the group, the team, and the company overall. For most tech recruiters this step in the process is largely overlooked: but the need to fill the technical requirements of the job must not trump all other aspects of the hire. What if you could do both? What if you could find a great hire on the technical side, who also fits in well with the group? The options for many hiring professionals in this area are limited: you can take a long time to find just the right fit and have the department head breathing down your neck. Or you can settle for the technical skills and hope there are no personality clashes that drive down the productivity of the group. Considering the Team We all know how critically important it is to have high performing teams on our staff. And while IT professionals typically work independently, no one works in a vacuum. They must interact and collaborate with others, in the IT Department and company-wide. They must translate needs into code, requiring them to interface successfully with peers and colleagues. When the lines of communication are strained between IT and non-technical professionals, the results can be disastrous. When IT team members are unable to work collaboratively, crises can occur. Hiring only on technical skills, without consideration of the affect a new team member can have on the group, could be a costly mistake. To find the right fit for your group, it’s critically important to find not only the technical skills, but the personality traits that drive cooperation, innovation, and performance. For IT recruitment, however, the ability to find the right person is typically overshadowed by the need to find the right technical skills. Making this mistake could be costly to productivity, morale, and even success. Focus on Fit With Rankdone, you can focus on finding the right fit. When you’re assured that each candidate you select to interview already possesses the technical skills you require, interviewing for the right personality fit is easy. Rather than spending all your time trying to discern whether they are who they say they are, you spend time discerning how they’ll work within the group. You only interview the top technical candidates for each position: you know they’re qualified. When all your choices are qualified, you can do what you do best – find  the right fit for the team and make a productive, long-term hire.