Miles Jennings - Blog

Find the right IT employees and keep them - Miles Jennings

Written by Miles Jennings | Oct 13, 2013 6:14:52 AM

The kind of employees that HR hire makes all the difference in an IT department’s performance.There is a reason that chief information officers put so much emphasis on designating the proper resources to find and recruit the right tech talent. Because the roles of each IT professional are intertwined, CIOs have to make sure to build a cohesive team so that everyone can function efficiently. For this reason, IT departments have to try their hardest to build up a staff of highly motivated and qualified tech personnel who will collaborate well.Corporate IT operations are like an intricate machine, and if one component is off-kilter, then it can have a domino effect and make everything go awry. In this case, CIOs are not necessarily talking about their software systems, but rather about their staffs. A single employee who does not mesh well with the rest of the team or who does not have the right attitude can throw off an entire IT department.Employee blacklistAccording to Forbes, there are several kinds of employees that corporate recruiters are going to want to avoid like the plague if they want their companies to continue to run smoothly.First and foremost, CIOs should steer clear from candidates who seem like they may be the complaining type. There are some individuals out there who are just never content with their jobs and they will inevitably find a reason to complain – whether it be about the work itself, their superiors or their colleagues. Because they are so set on finding fault with even the easiest of tasks, their motivation to get anything done is almost non-existent.It is bad enough for IT executives to have one of these naysayers on staff. However, a representative with this sort of disposition poses even more of a threat as his or her negativity could rub off on other personnel. These employees have a tendency of preaching to their coworkers about all that is wrong with their employers, trying to convince everyone to join in on their complaint campaign. As a result, tech recruiters who decide to take on applicants who have a hint of this habit in them should be wary in doing so. No matter how impressive their résumés may be, these IT professionals may do some serious damage on CIOs staff dynamics.On the opposite side of the spectrum, Forbes stated that there are apathetic personnel who can be just as detrimental as those who are vocally and vehemently against their employers. While these representatives actually accomplish the tasks at hand, they do so with so little enthusiasm that it’s as if they were mechanical.IT professionals of this more indifferent nature tend to keep a regular schedule, coming into the office only to pump out their work and promptly leave. Mingling and bonding with their colleagues is not important to them because they feel that this interferes with their ability to crank out everything on their to-do list before five o’clock. As CIOs can imagine, this can put a significant damper on their IT departments’ camaraderie, which will inhibit their representatives’ capacity to work together and ultimately impede their performance.After shying away from these poisonous IT professionals, recruiters can dedicate their hiring and onboarding resources to tech personnel who have both an advanced skill set and an ambitious attitude. This could better guarantee CIOs that their staffs will be capable of developing and implementing the most innovative technological solutions, in addition to cooperating in such a way that their performance is optimal.Retain the talentOnce tech recruiters manage to sort through all the cover letters and CVs, finding the most promising employee prospects, they will have to make sure that they retain these chosen representatives.CIO.com explained that constantly having to replace employees, especially talented IT professionals who are difficult to find, can take a toll on businesses. Tech executives waste a great deal of time and resources trying to pin down and train a suitable candidate to fill a vacant position. In the meantime, IT departments will have to operate while being short-staffed, which will hamper production and burn out existing employees who have to pick up the slack.To prevent this from happening, CIOs need to stay on top of their staff member retention measures. The news source stated that a key area to address when trying to keep employees happy and onboard is management. Because tech supervisors have the most contact with their department representatives, they have the most significant impact on how IT professionals feel about their jobs.Supervisors need to show that they are interested in more than just the overall performance of their departments. Instead, managers need to convey to their staff members that they are invaluable assets and not just disposable labor. By treating them as individuals and catering to their personal needs, then managers can appeal to the emotional side of their employees and ensure that they will remain at their jobs longer.