ZDNet UK / News and Analysis / Business of IT / IT Strategy

Skill mix is 'key to IT hiring'

By Vivienne Fisher, ZDNet Australia, 8 April, 2003 15:59

Daily Newsletters

Sign up to ZDNet UK's daily newsletter.

Topics

technical, IT recruitment, soft skills, communication skills

NEWS
Respondents to a recent IT Manager channel poll run on ZDNet Australia have spoken of the need for a mix of technical and 'soft skills' when hiring IT staff. Communication skills that fit in with the skillsets of other team members was the criteria one respondent argued are key. "They must fit into the team well to ensure that we can perform," the respondent argued. Likewise, IT consultant Jeff Kemp said that he learned very early in his IT management career that focusing on satisfying the technical skills requirement above all else mostly resulted in disappointing recruitment. "IT team members need to interact effectively with customers and be team players," Kemp argued. "The day of the back-room boffin have long gone. Technical skills can always be verified outside of the interview during reference checks or skills testing. This is the relatively easy part of the process." In the interview itself, Kemp said that he liked to focus on the person. "The interview (that) I undertake, usually in partnership with HR, is loosely structured with some standard questions," he said. "The focus of these questions is to open up communications to share with the applicant details of the environment but equally important to assess the motivation, potential, personality and soft skills of the applicant." Kemp said that on several occasions he has had the opportunity to employ staff who didn't have the primary technical skills required but had the soft skills. "Many times those who already had the technical skills -- but not the soft skills -- were much less effective generally, moving on after 12 to 18 months for various reasons," he said. Making a careful assessment of candidates and having a detailed job specification are aspects that recruitment consultants argue are an important aspect of the hiring process. Grant Montgomery, managing director at search firm EL Consult, said that a proper job specification includes details such as what the key result areas of the job are, what is the reporting structure, as well as responsibilities. "Often people employ on the basis of a position becoming vacant, or the fact that they're overworked," Montgomery said. "They don't really finely specify what that (new employee) is supposed to do." Nor are the consequences of making a bad hire slight. Montgomery said it may be difficult to get rid of an unsuitable hire, and there may also be resulting team problems or costly system or design faults. Montgomery said that internal hiring may be used in some companies, to give opportunity to existing staff and encourage them to perform better knowing that internal promotions are available. "It requires the company to assess what it has internally, rather than having people ignored or hidden under rocks -- people who have got special skills that they're not aware of," he said. "(Internal recruitment) allows the (candidate) to identify their own skills, which may not be relevant to their current job in that organisation." When actually making the hiring decision Montgomery warned that it's important to make sure that the hiring manager is not just choosing personality traits that they like, as opposed to traits which would benefit the company. "There is a tendency sometimes to choose someone from your own background, because it seems easier," he advised. "Note down the pros and cons of people in the interview, and thoroughly check that out in reference checking." Vincent Teubler, managing director at IT recruitment firm VTR Consulting, said assessing the best candidates, both internally and externally, is important when IT managers are looking to make a new hire. Teubler believes that in the current IT job market there was a real capacity for employers to pull the right people out of the market if they went through the process thoroughly. "(Potential employers) are able to access candidates they previously had no hope in hell of gaining," he said. According to Teubler, the time a manager spends in the interview, and the costs associated with setting up a new permanent employee in an organisation meant that it was important to get the decision right.
For all job and work-related news, or to search for a job and get information on training, go to ZDNet Jobs. Let the editors know what you think in the Mailroom.

Related stories

IT employers look for business skills

The Year Ahead: Skills trends for 2003

Linux skills in short supply

Heart of England NHS begins massive digitisation plan

Hard-drive woes hit PC shipments in fourth quarter

Post your comment

In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in.

You can also log in with Facebook. Log in or create your ZDNet UK account below

  • Login

Will not be displayed with your comment

By signing up for this service, you indicate that you agree to our Terms and Conditions and have read and understood our Privacy Policy. Questions about membership? Find the answers in the Community FAQ

Get ZDNet UK's daily newsletter

Enter your email address to sign up

ZDNet UK Live

TerryRK

Well it seems there is something a number of us agree on. Why is the Ubuntu Unity launcher so ugly? I thought perhaps it was something to do with...

3 hours ago by TerryRK on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
Freebies202

Duplicate comments are not made intentionally. Its very good to know that now you are keeping check on this problem because sometimes a commenter...

12 hours ago by Freebies202 on Microsoft fixes blog comments, speeds up blogs with open source
kevinmchapman

"the very significant number of users" and "many (most) of us" - you have no evidence for these statements. It is a fact that most users are saying...

20 hours ago by kevinmchapman on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
Marg Menzies Harrison

Another grammar faux pas is the improper use of "you". When sitting down down in a restaurant, for example, I get cringe when the waitress...

22 hours ago by Marg Menzies Harrison via Facebook on 10 flagrant grammar mistakes that make you look stupid
zdnetukuser

And NOW, folks, for Canonical's next trick... Kubuntu is late. Here's a pencil. Draw your own conclusions. cf.:...

22 hours ago by zdnetukuser on Linux Minterface
Moley

@kevinmchapman. The discussion here reflects the very significant number of users who really do like the traditional menu system and who wish to...

1 day ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
kevinmchapman

Er, no... It is an efficient means of finding the application/file/setting you need in one place. The icons are a simply a fallback for when you...

1 day ago by kevinmchapman on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
TerryRK

Isn't the provision of a text based search an admission by the developers that the mass of icons approach does not work? I don't need to use a...

1 day ago by TerryRK on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
kevinmchapman

"Unity and GNOME 3 both abandon the old text-based cascading menus in favour of a graphical icon-driven system." Point truly missed. Both use a...

1 day ago by kevinmchapman on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
TerryRK

whs001 - Thank you, I'm glad you liked the article. I absolutely agree with you on your first point. I should perhaps have made it clearer that...

1 day ago by TerryRK on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
Dennis Nilsson

If we allow corporate interest to dictate the way our government circumvents due process against foreign entities then we should accept the same...

1 day ago by Dennis Nilsson via Facebook on ACTA stumbles in Germany
GHar123

I totally dislike pirating of works, I fear that artists will be deterred from creating works if they think that they are going to get ripped off....

1 day ago by GHar123 on ACTA stumbles in Germany
JCB33

How dare film makers, artists or anybody that invests in creativity stop us pirating their works for free. I want to be able to walk into my local...

2 days ago by JCB33 on ACTA stumbles in Germany
Moley

@GrueMaster. I prefer horses for courses rather than one size fits all. I, and I suspect most other computer users, do not really wish to have...

2 days ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
greycynic

The product that scares me every time I have to use it is the Office 2007 version of Excel. The first bug that I found was applying the median...

2 days ago by greycynic on Ten flawed products that derail productivity
GrueMaster

Nice review and very informative. One thing I'd like to add (in reply to whs001's 1st question), the main reason to have the same interface from...

2 days ago by GrueMaster on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
Frederick Wrigley

I'be been using Mint 12 since the RC came out, and I am far more happy with the Cinnamon, the Mate, and, yes (with extensions), theGnome 3...

2 days ago by Frederick Wrigley via Facebook on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
bdantas

Excellent article. One small correction, though--although a fresh installation of Linux Mint 12 will, indeed, provide the user with a version of...

2 days ago by bdantas on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
Alan Ralph

In related news, the ISPs club together to get the members of the Home Affairs Select Committee (ya goofed on that part, ZDNet UK) copies of "The...

2 days ago by Alan Ralph via Facebook on MPs urge ISPs to take down terrorist material
Alan Ralph

In related news, the ISPs club together to get the members of the Home Affairs Select Committee (ya goofed on that part, ZDNet UK) copies of "The...

2 days ago by Alan Ralph via Facebook on MPs urge ISPs to take down terrorist material

Latest in IT Strategy

Heart of England NHS begins massive digitisation plan

Hard-drive woes hit PC shipments in fourth quarter

Featured white papers

Value of a team: Five pillars to strengthen employee culture

Citrix Online

Value of a team: Five pillars to strengthen employee culture

This white paper explores how to define objectives for employees and clients and how the business can benefit from encouraging... Read more

Key trends driving global business resilience and risk

IBM

Key trends driving global business resilience and risk

This IBM research paper looks at how businesses are thinking more about business resilience by improving the ability to adapt to a continuously changing business... Read more

Cloud computing security: A practical guide

SunGard Availability Services

Cloud computing security: A practical guide

Cloud computing has been the belle of the IT ball, but can you trust it to keep data reliable and... Read more

Inside ZDNet UK

A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

2012 Predictions: VCE FastPath, VI SAN Probe & Hadoop

2012 Predictions: VCE FastPath, VI SAN Probe & Hadoop

BlackBerry Bold 9790

BlackBerry Bold 9790

Make faster, smarter decisions using BI

Make faster, smarter decisions using BI

Ten factors that make Ubuntu 11.10 a hit

Ten factors that make Ubuntu 11.10 a hit

Toshiba Portégé Z830-10P Review

Toshiba Portégé Z830-10P Review

BT's archive: Pictures from the vault

BT's archive: Pictures from the vault