The Solution
Businesses have more choices than ever for staffing technology positions. This article offers a brief overview of four major options for finding technology personnel: professional recruitment firms, staffing/contracting agencies, consulting firms, and good old-fashioned direct hiring.
Professional Recruitment Firms
Recruitment Firms (otherwise known as "headhunters") match your requirements against a collection of people that have listed with them. They typically collect a fee from your company when an individual they referred to your organization is hired.
| Pros | Cons |
| They do the advertising and broad screening for you. | Placement fees can be pricey. |
| Candidates are usually high-quality | They are motivated to place people and some are persistent |
Things to remember:
If you develop a good working relationship with one recruiting firm, (or particularly one account representative from a recruiting firm) they become more "in tune" with your business environment, objectives and style. The referrals you get will be closer matches as you both learn how to communicate your needs.
Staffing Firms/Contracting Agencies
If you know exactly what skill sets you are looking for, and need them for a short-term project (like the implementation of a system or data migration, or handling a temporary overload of work) it is usually less expensive to "rent" the skill set than to hire a person.
Staffing firms today bear little resemblance to the old temporary agencies where you would find temporary office help to stuff envelopes. IT staffers are generally very skilled and have expertise in a number of fields. They also cost a lot more than the old-style temporary agencies.
| Pros | Cons |
| If you are dissatisfied with the work of a particular individual, the firm will generally replace him or her within the terms of the contract. | Staffing firms take a pretty stiff cut. Generally, the individual working for you gets not more than a third of the hourly fee you are paying. |
| This is sometimes a good way to "try out" a person before hiring them, if the contract allows it. | Many staffing agencies have rules against their employees being hired away by clients, or charge a fee (in which case they're acting like a recruitment firm, and everything from that section applies here.) |
Things to Remember
In order to make this relationship work, you have to have a pretty good idea of what skill sets you need. The firm will generally give you exactly what you ask for, so ask carefully. If you don't know the difference between a database integrator and a Visual Basic programmer, you will end up wasting a lot of time and money and frustrating yourself, your employees, and the technical person!
Consulting Firms
They are typically not "bodyshops" where you find a person to fill an open cubicle, but more of a partner in determining the best solution to a business issue.
A good consulting firm will ask lots of questions about your business processes, the technology you're currently using, and what you're satisfied and dissatisfied with. They will generally write up a specific proposal to resolve an issue or complete a project, and provide the skill sets needed (or team up some of their people with some of yours) to hammer out a solution.
| Pros | Cons |
| You are much more likely to get a holistic, real-world solution to a complex problem than you would with a staffing service. | Consulting services are much more expensive than staffing services. |
| You may be required to pay a rate plus expenses, which would include travel if the consultants are out of the area. |
Things to Remember
Make sure you see the project plan and have set realistic measures. How will you (and they) know if the project was successful? If possible, make part of the compensation to the firm contingent on meeting the success criteria you both agree on. A reputable firm that honestly believes they can be successful will bet their pay on it.
Hiring Techniques
If your company relies of Information Technology, you will probably want to have some IT folks on your own staff. People that cash checks from your payroll are much more likely to have the company's best interests at heart, are likely to know the internal workings of the company better, and can make better decisions about how to apply current technology to current opportunities and problems.
Many of the hiring techniques that have worked in the past are still very good, with a few twists and caveats.
- Recruitment fairs at IT colleges and technical schools You are likely to get people from your area, which reduces moving expenses and improves your chances of keeping them in town.
- You get recruits with fresh new skills in the latest technology.
- Graduates from short technology certificate courses may have low experience levels.
- They may lack professional, leadership, and communication skills that come from a more liberal education.
- Graduates from four-year traditional programs are likely to have more "polish" but less current technology knowledge and skills.
- Technology changes so quickly that four-year programs end up being old technology although it was cutting-edge at the beginning of the program.
Advertising openings
It is a worker's market for technology now, and they know it. IT people may do a lot of "shopping," but may not be serious about leaving a current position unless you're prepared to offer something substantially better.
Ask questions about experience level. There is a big difference between 10 years of experience and 10 times 1 year of experience. Was the person was consistently advancing in responsibility level? Were they keeping current on continuing education. Technology is no place for "stale" skills or people who have stayed in one position too long.
Make sure you understand exactly what skills are needed before you advertise an opening, and make sure you are very specific. This will narrow the field - see everything about working with the wrong skill sets under Staffing Solutions.
You can use the Web for this, and comb through a number of applicants
quickly from all over the country without a lot of time and expense. You
will probably want to meet the top candidates once or twice to make sure
they're a good "fit" with your team, and will probably need
to pay travel costs
Keep in mind that it is much more difficult to remove an employee that
doesn't work out for whatever reason than a contractor or a consultant.
Recruitment firms may offer a "guarantee" of sorts, but when
you locate an employee on your own, you may subject yourself to more "due
diligence" to get rid of a person. So choose with care!
Conclusion
Needs for Information Technology staffers have become increasingly
complex. The options for meeting those needs hve also increased. By having a good
understanding of the basic types of help available and the strengths and weaknesses of
each one allows a business owner or manager to more effectively make use of exciting
technology advances without spending time and money on inappropriate options.
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