Hiring IT Staff for Your Business: 3 Qualities to Look for
Every business needs to have a strong IT team, whether a logistics company or a law agency. This is because most client interaction and data archiving are now in the digital space. If you want your clients to trust in your brand, you need to invest in hiring a capable technical guru who’s a good fit for your company.
What to look for when hiring an IT staff
Whether you’re hiring a graphic designer or IT professional, you need to ensure that the person you choose is good at what they do. However, you shouldn’t just focus on their technical skills. You won’t just hire a job applicant with an incredible portfolio; you need to look at their strengths as individuals and as team players.
If you’re planning to build your IT department, here are three qualities you should look for in an applicant:
1. Engaged and proactive listening skills
You can find a great listener among your applicants by presenting them with a sample problem in their interview. If it’s your first time to develop an IT team, it’s vital to give them enough time to digest and process the current systems you have in place. This is why it’s essential to hire people who have good listening skills. When they’re developing each department’s different needs, they need to take note of what redesigns need to be in place so that there will be minimal revisions.
Keep in mind that it’s highly unlikely that your first IT team will get things perfectly the first time around. This is why they need to be open to engage in conversation to make the necessary adjustments. They need to be proactive in confirming processes and discussing follow-up questions so that their output will work as intended.
2. Precise and clear writing skills
Developing your business’s digital infrastructure requires as much care and precision as you exert in your products and services. The right IT staff knows how to translate your needs in concise writing. It’s common for IT professionals to fumble when discussing their work if it contains too much technical jargon.
If you want to avoid any miscommunication, you need a person who can simplify their output through precise and understandable writing. The better they are at conversing about highly-technical topics through layman’s terms, the more effective they will be when coordinating with non-IT colleagues. You can assess the mastery of their technical skill by asking them to reiterate their past job experiences in a simplified manner.
3. Confidence in presenting ideas
Presenting their ideas in a group of people is a vital aspect of being an IT professional. It’s a common misconception that IT teams work behind-the-scenes out of sight while writing their code. In reality, tech talents need to have the confidence to speak in public to explain their work during business meetings. This is where their writing and listening skills will pay off as they present their results and findings to their managers and non-IT colleagues.
You can gauge an applicant’s confidence throughout the interview by noticing their mannerisms and inflections with their voice. It can also help to have separate interviews, a one-on-one and a group appointment, to see how well they interact with a broader audience.
Conclusion
It’s relatively easy to comb through your IT applicants from their past job experiences. In contrast, the more challenging task is narrowing your options to a select few. These qualities above will help you find the perfect fit for your business’s first IT team.
Technical Paradigm is an IT jobs staffing agency in Chicago, IL that helps employers find the perfect fit for their business. We can help you connect with the ideal IT staff for your workforce’s needs. Get in touch with us today to match with the right applicants through our capable talent pools!