Chapter 2: Staffing Your IT Team

What You Will Learn

• How IT managers must be directly involved in the hiring process
• How to write a position description
• How to advertise for IT candidates
• Whether or not you should use a recruiter
• How to interview candidates
• How to make a good offer to a prospective employee for an IT position
• Which career paths are available for yourself and your employees

Introduction

Your success and failure as a manager is based almost entirely on the people that work for you. Every time you hire, it is an opportunity to add value to your team, as well as to adjust the balance of skill sets and personality of the team. As such, each hire should have your full attention and not be dismissed as another administrative chore. This chapter discusses the important details associated with the various elements involved in recruiting for your team.

2.1 Hiring: Why Do I Need to Do This?

Hiring means dealing with agencies, your Human Resources department, reviewing resumes, conducting interviews, and negotiating an offer. If you secretly wish that the first candidate you meet is "the one" and you are grateful your job isn't in personnel, don't worry, you're not alone. That means you feel the same way as every other IT manager.

It is precisely this urge to "hire first, ask questions later" though, that can get you and your company into real trouble. This chapter deals in detail with some of the issues to watch out for, the questions to...