too overwhelmed to hire right?

HUDSON IT LEADERSHIP SERIES

TOO OvERwHELmED TO HIRE RIGHT?

Hudson finds IT leaders are moving too fast to follow hiring best practices. Inside we offer 5 strategies to help see the light at the end of the tunnel.

� HUDSON IT LEADERSHIP SERIES

Doing more with less. That seems to be

the prevailing dilemna keeping today’s IT

hiring managers up at night. Less time,

less money, fewer resources…and tighter

deadlines. The pressure is relentless, and

IT departments are struggling to cope.

On a positive note, budgets are finally

unfreezing and allocations are being

made for both contract and full-time

hires. Yet that may not be enough.

There is a pervasive sense among workers

in general—and IT professionals in

particular—of being absolutely overloaded.

Of barely keeping up with the tasks and

projects that need to be done. Technology

professionals feel that they “should”

be able to complete tasks quickly and

instantly, and end up feeling inadequate

that they cannot.

This is not the usual “too much to do and

too little time to do it” archetype of recent

years—this is palpable despair of

– being overwhelmed,

– feeling incapable of meeting expectations and,

– seeing no clear way out or solution for the problem.

ExEcUTIvE SUmmARY

• �Time�is�not�the�only�scarce�resource.��

Budget dollars and talent constraints

are also impeding many IT departments’

ability to get things done.

• Despite all the press about high unemployment,

top�technical�professionals�remain�scarce.

• candidates are demanding more

control over their careers and are

less�willing�to�tolerate�delays��

in�the�hiring�process.

• IT departments need help, but they

have no�time�to�plan�and�no�time��

to�hire.

AT A GLANcE

4��Barriers to IT hiring (pg 4)

5�Strategies for improving talent acquisitions (pg 7)

15��Ways�to improve results from your staff augmentation vendors (pg 10)

To gain insight into this serious quandary, Hudson interviewed technology managers from

organizations all over the country and captured their thoughts about this troubling state of

business. Here’s what we learned:

HUDSON IT LEADERSHIP SERIES �

1��Build�a�better�business�case�for�

hiring.�

Show executives how hiring full-time and contract staff will directly correlate to improvements in efficiency, productivity and profitability.

2��Streamline�your�hiring�processes.��

Become more proactive in your approach to candidate selection to accelerate decision-making and improve your access to top talent.

3��Start�with�the�“Big�Rocks.” Approach task management more intelligently by better matching people to tasks. Use contractors to backfill your need to complete lower level work and routine maintenance activities.

4��Use�staff�augmentation�more��

strategically. Implement better workforce planning to eliminate capacity constraints, shorten learning curves and accelerate productivity.

5��Stop�going�it�alone.� Invest time to train staffing vendors to enable them to be more proactive and accurate in providing the talent you need.

Based on this input from IT leaders, Hudson identified four primary barriers to hiring, along with five strategies for overcoming the

constraints, minimizing the stress and finding the time to hire right. The remainder of this paper confronts these issues and explains how

some managers are coping with the current state of affairs. Highlights of our recommended strategies are shown below.

ExEcUTIvE SUmmARY

5 STRATEGIES TO HIRE “RIGHT”

4 HUDSON IT LEADERSHIP SERIES

when it comes to the success of technology projects, the three most critical elements are planning, process and people. But if you don’t hire

right, or staff sufficiently, no amount of planning or process can compensate for your talent deficiencies.

while no organization sets out to hire wrong, the challenges of any fast-paced—and budget constrained—IT department often preclude best

practices in hiring and staffing. consider the following issues:

4 BARRIERS TO HIRING “RIGHT”

BARRIER�1:�Managers�have�little�time�and�no�accommodations�are�made�for�hiring.�Tight deadlines abound. Expectations for getting things done “yesterday” are rampant. IT managers must deal with huge project backlogs

(backlogs possibly created because departments don’t have enough IT talent to complete them—an ironic feedback loop if ever there was

one). But hiring is a time-intensive process. Even with the assistance of the human resources department, hiring places a significant burden

on IT managers. consider the steps in the hiring process:

• Hiring�requirements�must�be�defined.

Often job descriptions are little more than a list of duties and necessary skills. But a well-defined job requisition delineates the experience

and personality traits of your ideal job candidate. After all, all the skills in the world won’t matter if the person you hire can’t work with your

team.

• Candidates�must�be�sourced.

For junior-level positions this may mean no more than writing and posting a good job listing. But for highly specialized skills and

leadership positions, you need a well-conceived recruitment strategy—determining where you can find the people you need and, just as

importantly, how to get them interested in your firm.4

• Resumes�must�be�screened. No job opening ever returns just the right number of responses. Either you’re inundated with resumes to

review or you’re scrambling to find any with the requirements you need. Either way, it’s a tedious process that often cannot be done

without significant involvement from the IT department.

• Candidates�must�be�interviewed. Before you can interview, questions must be developed, scoring systems should be defined and

interviewers must be trained. To compound matters, interviewing most often is not a one-time event, but a multi-step process involving

multiple managers, multiple departments and multiple rounds of interviews.

• Assessments�tests�and�background�checks�must�be�administered. According to HireRight.com, �4 percent of job applicants lie

on their resume. To hire right, skills must be tested, backgrounds must be verified and references must be checked.5

• Offers�must�be�negotiated. compensation is one of the trickiest and most dangerous parts of the hiring process. Offer too little and

you’ll never attract the talent you want. Offer too much and you run the risk of creating division in your organization because the salaries

you pay your employees have a habit of becoming “public knowledge.” Long-time workers receiving less than new “stars” can become

embittered and disengaged over what they perceive as an inequity. The challenge is to do your homework to put forth the compensation

package that best fits the candidate’s needs and your company’s constraints.

• New�hires�must�receive�proper�orientation. Onboarding is a critical process. Even the most talented new hires don’t show up ready

to master your systems. Fail to provide a proper orientation and you’re going to suffer reduced productivity and often more turnover.�


BARRIER�2:�Financial�constraintsSometimes, there’s just no budget to hire. This especially has been the case for the past two years (�009-�010). This seems to be

changing, however, as a third quarter �010 cIO.com Economic Impact Survey6 found that “[o]ver half of IT leaders plan to ramp up

budgets in the coming year, with only 16 percent planning cuts.” Still, of the �50 cIOs surveyed, just “�5 percent plan to increase

spending on full-time in-house workers.” (many plan to keep their contract hiring steady in �011, the report said.)

This budget crunch also creates another problem. managers find that they only have funding to hire one person, while they actually

need three people. Therefore, they are tempted to craft a complex role combining pieces of various positions into one new role. These

“hybrid” positions are not only abnormal to manage, they are unattractive to highly-talented individuals who will ascertain they are being

asked to do the impossible.

In addition, financial constraints also may force HR and IT to set compensation targets that are not sufficient for attracting the right

people, slowing the hiring process, with disappointing results.

BARRIER�3:�Talent�shortagesThe “good guys” still are hard to find. many average or low-performing IT professionals lost their positions during the recent recession

while companies tended to retain their highest performers. As the recession wanes and IT hiring picks up, companies are finding

themselves flooded with applications of those currently unemployed—generally the low-performing and average.7 But hiring

underperformers can be worse than not hiring at all. mediocre employees require more supervision, more training and they create

more disruption and substandard work than their peers. In fact, a study by mcKinsey & company found that top performers increase

productivity, revenue and profit by between 40 percent and 67 percent. So when it comes to hiring, you simply cannot afford to settle

for less than the best.

BARRIER�4:�Candidates’�desire�for�flexibility

IT professionals want elasticity in their job and career options. Top IT talent knows they are in demand, and they continually look for

their next “hot gig.” companies wishing to make offers to these stars need to do so quickly. we’ve seen many IT managers miss out on

their opportunity to hire top people (this includes full-time hires and contractors) due to delays in the assessment process and/or their

hesitancy in making an offer.8

4 BARRIERS TO HIRING “RIGHT”

STRESS�IN�TODAY’S�WORKPLACE

• �55�percent of employees are stressed to the point of feeling extremely fatigued and out of control.

• 42�percent of employees report an increase in errors in their workplaces due to stress.

STRESS�AND�OVERWORK�

• 34�percent of employees cite too many job demands or overwork as their most common cause of stress.

• 66�percent of employees who feel overworked report feeling nervous or stressed. 4

• 26�percent of employees felt overwhelmed by the amount of work they had in the past � months either often or very often.

STRESS�AND�PRODUCTIVITY

• 40�percent of employees report losing an hour or more a day in productivity due to stress.

•��20�percent of employees say they miss more than six work days a year due to stress.

• 25�percent of employees say they come to work five or more days a year too stressed to be effective.


THE IRONY OF TEcHNOLOGY IN IT HIRING

The recent Great Recession (December 2007-June 2009) was different than any other and not just because it was the worst recession on record: unlike other recessions, in which American productivity rises when workforce numbers are cut, productivity during the recent recession actually decreased.*

American workers have hit capacity. Companies truly are understaffed and existing employees are utterly overwhelmed.

What’s exceptionally ironic, of course, is how much technology—which was supposed to help us work less and relax more—actually has exacerbated our stress. Smartphones, e-mail, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc., have become so ingrained into our daily lives that we can’t imagine living without these tools. But we can’t live with them either! Technology has made us so connected that employers have developed untenable expectations regarding our responsiveness. We are expected to be always on, always available and always ready to respond. After all, if I can send you an e-mail in less than a minute, why can you not send me the report I need in two?

This has resulted in a pervasive sense among workers of being utterly inundated. And it’s more than just feeling there’s too little time to do too much—there’s a real sense of futility and a feeling of being incompetent:** These tools exist to make me more productive. The tool can allow me to send a message in less than a minute; it can allow me to create a document in less than five minutes. Yet I am not able to get it to you now. I have 25 things on my to-do list to complete in the next hour. Yet if the tools exist, I should be able to complete them. But I can not. Therefore, I am inadequate. And not just at my job: I am lacking as a human.


5 STRATEGIES TO HELP EASE THE LOAD

STRATEGY�1:�Build�a�Better�Business�Case.�

If you need to hire but management says, “No—no budget,” show the following:

• How hiring additional IT talent will eliminate capacity constraints.

• How hiring the right talent will improve productivity.

• How deadlines will be met—and the economic benefit to the firm of getting projects implemented faster.

• How bringing in expertise—even on a contract basis—will shorten the learning curve for new technology.

In building your business case, look for the hard costs of IT shortages, and then demonstrate the ROI of eliminating these shortages.

For example, you might evaluate:

• The average response time to problems in your network or application.

• System downtime and the impact on sales, service or operations.

• The number of help desk calls you’re receiving.

• The backlog of work accumulating because staff is overwhelmed.

• The average output of your current employees and the subsequent gains that could be achieved by bringing in the

right supporting skills and experience.

Executives understand how technical inefficiency increases costs and can result in the loss of clients, revenue and even internal staff.

Be proactive and present a cost-benefit analysis to your firm’s leadership showing how hiring staff (either full-time or contract)

will improve your firm’s ROI through cost reduction and/or an increase in productivity and revenue.

STRATEGY�2:�Streamline�Your�Hiring�Process.�

As mentioned in one of the previously outlined hiring challenges, too many companies are taking too long to finalize hiring decisions

and extend employment offers. The best IT professionals do not stay on the market for long. If your hiring process is inefficient, you

will lose top talent.

Instead, work with your human resources department to find ways to make the hiring process faster. These could include:

• Having great job descriptions prepared for all critical positions.

• creating a clearly defined candidate evaluation process, including systems for resume scoring, interview evaluation and assessment

testing.

• Providing better training to department managers on the hiring process (how to spot the best resumes, how to interview better, how to

negotiate salary, etc.).

• Preparing interview questions specific to IT professionals and having them ready before you ever need them.

• Improving communication between your department and human resources to avoid bottlenecks.

STRATEGY�3:�Start�With�the�“Big�Rocks.”

Stephen covey discussed this in his book, First Things First, describing an individual’s “big rocks” as those tasks or projects that are

the most critical to do in terms of results desired and goals to meet. Placing your “big rocks” into a container first allows you to fit the

less-important-but-still-vital things (what covey described as the “sand, gravel and water that fits between the spaces”) around the

rocks. Doing so, covey says, ensures that the critical things get done first.

How do you do this yourself? By doing what the staffing industry labels “backfilling:”

• Identify the “big rocks”—the critical tasks that you want to assign to your best people.

• Identify the “sand and gravel”—the smaller “grunt work,” routine maintenance and other low-level tasks that distract—

and detract your top people from focusing on the “big rocks.”

• Determine which of the sand and gravel tasks can be offloaded to contractors or lower-cost administrative support.

• Bring in short-and/or long-term contractors to do the “sand and gravel” work.

• challenge your star players to put more effort into the critical projects.

STRATEGY�4:�Use�Staff�Augmentation�More�Strategically.

Basically, this means bringing in outside personnel to augment your current staff, more proactively. For example, by analyzing

your project load, in-house resources, upcoming projects and capacity constraints, you can:

• Eliminate capacity constraints on your current staff by providing just-in-time access to additional technical resources.

• Shorten learning curves. Bringing in contractors with specialized skills allows those projects needing those skills to be

completed—without having to keep someone on payroll for the times those specialty skills are not needed.

• Staff up to meet deadlines.

• Accelerate launches for new projects.

• Reduce the negative impact of system upgrades.



JUST ONE HOUR mORE SPENT wITH YOUR IT STAFF AUGmENTATION FIRm PROvIDING THEm wITH SPEcIFIc INFORmATION ABOUT wHAT DOES AND DOESN’T wORK FOR YOUR cOmPANY cAN PAY FOR ITSELF EASILY wITH FASTER FILLS, BETTER HIRES, LESS TURNOvER AND mORE PRODUcTIvE EmPLOYEES AND cONTRAcTORS.

STRATEGY�5:�Stop�Going�It�Alone.�

Partner—really partner—with the IT staffing firm of your choice. Take just one extra hour up front to confer with the staffing manager to

educate him or her on your company and its needs. This is a simple step that you can take to save significant time down the road. In fact,

it is critical that you dedicate this time to achieve the efficiencies you seek in using a staffing partner. Your two-way conversation with the

staffing manager should cover topics such as:

• Your firm’s culture. what kind of personality best fits at your firm? Do those who enjoy set parameters thrive, or are your

company’s stars more the types who act first and apologize (if necessary) later? Are you willing to hire for attitude rather than skill?

• What have other staffing firms done right? what have they done wrong? For example, are you a financial institution that needs

IT professionals with industry expertise, but your IT staffing firms keep sending you IT professionals with little, if any, financial

industry knowledge?

• Competitive intelligence on salaries. what is the norm for IT salary expectations in your industry? How do the specific duties and

responsibilities of this role add or detract from the salary norm? A good staffing firm will be able to share salary benchmarks for peer

firms in your industry, as well as explain how your specific position may vary from the norm and the resulting implications.

• Assessing the strengths and weaknesses of your current team. what skill sets do you already have on your team? At what level?

where does this leave a gap in overall organizational knowledge and performance? Your staffing partner can help you assess the best

mix of capabilities and work styles to increase the productivity of your entire team by the addition of a new member(s).




Sourcing, vetting and hiring IT talent

has never been a greater challenge.

IT managers must overcome financial

constraints, talent shortages, demanding

candidates and, most significantly of

all, a lack of time to hire well.

But hiring right is not just a good idea,

it’s essential to the long-term success

of any IT department or, for that matter,

any company. Information technology

is the core of innovation, efficiency,

business intelligence and long-term

competitive advantage.

considering that top IT professionals can

be 1,000 percent more productive than

their peers, hiring right should be the

single most important goal of any

technology manager.

cONcLUSION: IT PAYS TO HIRE RIGHT

wE REcOmmEND THE FOLLOwING TIPS FOR IT mANAGERS:

1��Clearly define and demonstrate to senior management the link between hiring and productivity, efficiency and your company’s bottom line.

2��Reengineer your hiring process to improve sourcing and minimize delays.

3��Hire contractors for lower-level work and put your stars on your critical projects.

4��Think strategically about your staff augmentation efforts.

5��Educate your IT staffing partner(s) as to what you really need in IT talent. Give them the information they need—and the mandate—to be more proactive.


HOw TO wORK wITH AN IT STAFFING vENDOR

For those who deal with IT staffing

challenges every day, a strong

relationship with a staffing service

that specializes in information

technology talent can be a

great asset.

This whitepaper touched a bit on

partnering with an IT staffing firm.

we’d like to offer the following

more detailed suggestions here.

Set�expectations�from�the�outset.• Define your expectations for vendor

performance. What are your typical employee requisition lead times? What do you expect for response times? How do you want the staffing firm to communicate with you?

• Define quality standards. Provide a clear (and detailed) list of requirements for every job order, and ask the IT staffing firm not to under-fill or over-fill positions.

Be�proactive�about�planning.• Develop as accurate a forecast as you can

for your project staffing needs. Consider your current project load, expected new initiatives and your current talent to determine the types of technical skills you will need, the number of people you will need and the likely timing of your needs.

• Meet with your preferred staffing vendor(s) so that they can be proactive about recruiting.

• Provide as much lead time as you can for each job requisition.

Train�your�supplier�of�IT�talent.• Teach your staffing vendors about your

projects and objectives. Make sure they understand what you want to accomplish and your time and budget constraints.

• Educate staffing vendors about your work environment. What types of people are most likely to succeed? What are the personality styles of your managers and supervisors?

What are they looking for?

Define�your�expectations�for�candidate��orientation�and�training.�What�could�your�staffing�vendor(s)�do�to�help�maximize�productivity?• How much and what type of quality

control checks and follow-ups do you need or prefer?

Communicate�your�needs�clearly�to��staffing�service�staff.• Develop a relationship with a recruiter

you trust. You’ll save time in ordering and increase the quality of service and candidates.

• Learn the names of other managers and recruiters in the staffing firm who will be able to help you should your main contact be unavailable.

• How do you prefer to place orders? Do you wish to call, e-mail or use an online order form to submit your needs? How do you want the staffing service to contact you? When is the best time to do so?

Developing�IT�staffing�strategies.• Analyze your workflow to look for

opportunities to improve staffing efficiency (get your key people working on the “big rocks”).

• Evaluate current and potential staffing issues, such as turnover, morale and other staff problems.

• Create strategies for the recruitment and training of IT talent under best and worst case growth plans.

1� HUDSON IT LEADERSHIP SERIES

1 “Dwindling resources, hiring freezes,

administrative policies, and new state

mandates often dictate much of the agenda

for the information technology professional.

A feeling of ‘loss of control’ is voiced both by

managers and their subordinates. Sometimes,

information management specialists joke

that the most important skill of their trade is

organizational politics.”, Emotional Climate in

the Informational Technology Organization:

Crisis or Crossroads? By margaret G. massey

and Deborah w. Stedman, http://net.educause

.edu/ir/library/pdf/CEM9543.pdf

� Challenges of Information Technology

Management in the 21st Century, Page 7��:

http://books.google.com/books?id=J1u7Mb

5 kmWgC&dq=information+technology+wo

rker+stress&source=gbs_navlinks_s

� How to Stop Making Staffing Mistakes, cIO.

com, November �9, �007: http://www.cio.

com/article/160050/Staffing_How_to_Stop

_Making_Hiring_Mistakes

4 “There really is a critical—and worsening—

shortage of IT professionals today. Because of

the Baby Boomer drop off effect. It’s becoming

increasingly hard to find a combination of

good technical skills and communication skills.”,

Haley IT Staffing Interviews with Information

Technology Executives, October/November,

�010

5 The Truth About Resume Lies. By charles

Purdy, Yahoo!HotJobs, April �010: http://

hotjobs.yahoo.com/career-articles-the_

truth_about_resume_lies-1194

6 http://www.cio.com/article/618267/IT_

Spending_Continues_to_Rise

7 “with many unemployed IT people today,

one would think that finding a suitable

candidate has become easier, but it has

not…There are very few [IT candidates]

who have everything we look for or need.

“I would say there is a shortage of good

IT professionals today. By good, I mean

highly-skilled, consistent performers who

are willing to tackle new applications—

or new to them.”, Haley IT Staffing

Interviews with Information Technology

Executives, October/November, �010

8 Hudson IT Leadership Series white

Paper: 5 Emerging Trends Affecting

IT Staff in the Recovery

cITATIONS

* Productivity Decline Adds to Worries

About Job Market, cNBc.com, August

10, �010: http://wwcnbc.com/id/3863

9614/Productivity_Decline_Adds_To_

Worries_About_Job_Marketw

Productivity Decline Suggests Hiring

Needed, AP.com, August 11, �010:

http://www.oregonlive.com/business/

index.ssf/2010/08/productivity_falls_

09_percent.html

Productivity and Costs, Third Quarter

2010, Preliminary, Bureau of Labor

Statistics, November 4, �010: http://

www.bls.gov/news.release/

prod2.nr0.htm

** A �010 Farleigh Dickinson University

report states that “workers are on the

brink of a meltdown.” Fairleigh Dickinson

University reports that 75 percent of

workers in the United States describe

their jobs as stressful, and estimates

that workplace stress and the related

physical problems cost American

employers approximately $�00

billion annually.

*** Work Stress—What is It? catalyst.org,

march �009: http://www.catalyst.org/

publication/231/work-stress

1� HUDSON IT LEADERSHIP SERIES

ABOUT HUDSON ITHudson IT provides solutions necessary for IT leaders to deliver business value. Our IT consulting services bring expertise to assess, manage,

develop and maintain your critical initiatives, while our staffing services provide specialized professionals on an as-needed basis, allowing you

to maintain IT service levels with reduced fixed costs. Backed by global recruitment resources, we draw upon our multiple capabilities to design

the best solution for each company’s need. Hudson IT is a part of Hudson (NASDAQ: HHGP) with nearly �,000 professionals serving clients in

more than �0 countries.

Find more “Tips for IT Leaders” in our Resource center online: us.hudson.com/IT | @HudsonIT