Many years of experience helping small and medium-sized businesses with technology have taught us that it’s difficult for those who aren’t in our industry to hire for IT positions. Because they may not be familiar with the roles and skills they need, most business owners and executives will resort to picking based off of resume keywords and certifications.
That’s not necessarily a bad place to start. If you need specialists who understand a certain type of hardware software, then by all means make sure you bring in professionals with the right skills and experience. Don’t be fooled, however, into thinking that certifications are the only things that matter. Doing so is a recipe for disaster – in IT or any other field.
To help you understand why, here are a few reasons why you have to consider more than skills and certifications when hiring an IT employee…
Certifications Can Mean Different Things
Not only do a lot of certifications in our industry look and sound similar, but two people who have the same training might be used to doing very different jobs on a day-to-day basis. So, you don’t just want someone who has the right piece of paper, but also the proper experience for the job you need. Otherwise they may take a long time to get up to speed and require additional training that is expensive and time-consuming.
You Need the Right Culture Fit
For whatever reason, business owners and HR managers will pay huge amounts of attention to personality and drive when hiring for supervisors and salespeople (as examples), but completely ignore these factors when they need IT personnel. It doesn’t matter whether someone is good with email if they are difficult to work with or will be unresponsive to other employees and their requests. Make sure you only bring in people who fit your culture.
Your New Employee Should Fit Your Long-Term Plans
What happens if you hire someone and then don’t need their particular brand of technical expertise? Or, what if they do such a good job that you realize you could use two more employees just like them? These are things that are hard to consider when you’re struggling with immediate IT concerns, but if you fail to think about the long run you could find yourself wasting a lot of time and money with your hiring decisions.
Is There a Smarter IT Hiring Solution?
As we hope you can see, hiring for IT is about a lot more than simply finding someone with the proper certifications or technical skill set. And yet, it’s sometimes very difficult to identify, interview, and bring in the perfect person for the job… much less keep them trained, happy, and in place for years to come.
That’s where a team like ours comes in. The IT experts at Fantastic IT can work along with your in-house technical team or as a lower-cost replacement. Best of all, you can scale your services up or down as needed without having to make permanent hiring or layoff decisions.
So, if you want the best of both worlds – top-notch IT care without a never-ending personnel budget – contact us today to schedule a free consultation!