IT Personnel: Defining Your Needs

Hiring a new IT professional to work for your company can be a professionally and economically daunting task. IT professionals command high salaries in today's workplace, it's expensive and time-consuming to look for them, and if you get the wrong person, the damage done to your company can be extensive and costly. In order to be certain you are hiring just the right person for just the right position, try following these steps.

1. Define the problems which will be addressed by the person in this position. By defining your problems, you will also define the skills necessary to work with the problem.

2. Develop a clear understanding of the roles and responsibilities in which this person will perform.

3. Ask yourself who this person will be dealing with in the course of a workday - internal IT staff, internal staff throughout your organization, or customers of your organization. Not all IT professionals have the same level of communications skills. If your IT person is going to be dealing with laymen, he or she needs to be sensitive to communicating in nontechnical terms. If this person will be dealing with customers, you should ensure that the image and communications skills presented by him or her to the public is one which you want representing your company.

4. Determine what the work effort of your new employee will be. Is he or she going to be doing routine, everyday tasks, or will they be working with specific projects? If with specific projects, then what level of project management will they need to have?

5. Be very, very clear and honest with yourself as to the compensation range your organization can afford to pay for a professional. If you cannot maintain a full-time IT professional at today's rates, you may want to look at outsourcing your needs to a consultant. Do not deceive yourself that you can get an IT professional cheaper than the going rates - you get what you pay for, and IT needs are too sensitive to cut corners on. If, after looking at your budget, you determine that you cannot afford an IT professional, the Talent Resource Group (502-454-0784, ex. 213) may be able to help you get what you need at a price you can afford.

6. What level of certification and education does this position really require? Certified and degreed IT professionals are more expensive than others, and may not be able to meet your needs any better.Again, if you aren't certain, the Talent Resource Group (502-454-0784 ex. 213) can help you determine your needs.

Defining your needs properly can save you time, money, and a lot of grief and stress. Good luck with your employee search.

Charles Johnson is the general manager of the Talent Resource Group, an IT placement service with thousands of IT professional resumes on file.