Hiring Tips

(How go get who you want on your team)

1. Find 2-3 agencies you trust and tell them everything. They will do all the work and make you look really good! See “Working with Agencies – Best Practices”
2. See Tip #1

Other Hiring Suggestions

1. Understand the market.
   
   “The total number of bachelor's degrees granted by PhD-granting CS departments fell 28 percent between 2003/2004 and 2005/2006, to 10,206.” This is per CRA.org, the association that tracks computer science degree graduates in North America. Now, at first thought, 10,206 computer science graduates might seem like a lot. But this is the entire North American continent. The population estimate is 529 million. Do the math. Does that give you an idea of the dearth of good computer science professionals? Any good CS grad looks at starting salaries at 50k, and is never left out of the job market, even at the bottom of the business cycle. http://www.cra.org/CRN/articles/march07/vegso.html
   
   So -- always assume you have to sell the job. This is very counter- intuitive to most managers. The assumption is that it’s always the company, not the individual, with the upper hand. That’s yesterdays tune, where there were scads of lightly skilled, lightly trained, and lightly educated applicants for very few jobs. This time you are trying to attract a top shelf knowledge worker, who has likely been through competitive and rigorous education and training to get access to the experience you need on board your team.
2. Don't be afraid to use tests and third party evaluations as tools to assist you in decision making. Don't use them to rule out candidates; use them to rule them in. They are meant to help evaluate strengths and weaknesses, not a pass/fail. If you have any legal questions on hiring, Wolverine has two Certified Placement Professionals on staff (CPC) to answer your questions.
3. When writing a job description (always required as a best practice) make sure to describe in detail the daily activities of this person. Use bullet points and describe duties as an estimated percentage of time when possible. Think hard about the core reason for hiring this person; try to focus on those skills.
4. For contracting positions, and positions requiring very distinct high level technical skills, consider hiring via a series of phone interviews. It is highly likely that none of your candidates will be local. Other great attractions that don’t cost a lot, are offering a certain percentage of remote work and reasonably flexible hours.
5. Try to minimize the number of interviews. Two to three (between phone and in-person) is really the maximum before really topnotch candidates start rethinking their interest in the position.
6. Plan to work as quickly as possible. No matter what state the economy is in, good people are not easy to find. Top consultants are usually hired within a week of starting their search. If you start your search too far ahead, because you think it will take “that long” to find someone, make sure you are prepared to bring someone on board right away if you find them immediately. It’s another tool in your arsenal to impress the best candidates.

Any time you are having problems hiring and want to talk about it, we are here. You can chat now with us, or call or email. It’s free and we are happy to be here as your expert staffing resource.