Sep 2, 2019 | IT
Most managers settle on their own style of interviewing but is it wise to have just one approach?
If you’re responsible for hiring IT personnel, whether you work for a tech firm or are responsible for recruitment within the IT department, getting the interview right could be crucial to employing the right person for your team. Now, we’ll do our very best to help source the best suited and most well skilled candidates, but it’s down to you to make the final decision, and the type of interview you prepare for your eager new candidates is vital for providing you with the information you need to make this decision.
Regardless of the route you take with your interviewing no doubt there will be a traditional face-to-face interview involved somewhere along the line. There are options here too; maybe you’re happy using Skype, or perhaps you’d like to get other managers involved in the process and conduct a panel style interview? However you choose to conduct this stage of interview it’s a fundamental step that allows you to meet candidates and assess their ability to fit within the culture of your team and organisation as a whole. However, here are some explanations, tips and examples of some of the most popular IT interview styles.
Scenario Testing
Scenario testing involves creating a scenario that the candidate is likely to face in their role to test their skills and how they deal with the situation. Ideally there’d be five characteristics to scenario testing; 1 – there needs to be a story that is; 2 – motivating; 3 – credible; 4 – complex; and 5 – easy to evaluate. In some interviews you may choose to use test cases, which tend to be a single step, but the scenario test covers a number of steps that would be involved somehow in the ‘business process flow’ and tests a situation from end to end.
Technical Testing
Technical interviewing will usually be specific to your business or function and will depend entirely on what your organisation does, the programmes and software it uses and the role in which you are recruiting for. However, it’s not at all unusual for an IT interview to include some form of technical testing. Presenting candidates with a diagram or snippet of code for analysis would test how they put their knowledge into action but also should give you an insight into their thought process and how they approach tasks or problems.
Competency Based
Competency based questions delve into a candidate’s story based evidence to support claims of experience or expertise. Generally interviewers will ask ‘tell me about a time when…’ or “give me an example of…” questions. They’re a great opportunity to understand the context and application of skills and experience seldom learnt from a CV. Also, questions like ‘how have you succeeded in a team project’ will allow you to find out more about the candidate’s personality, professional style and likes and dislikes.
Portfolio Based
Interviews for certain roles may benefit from the candidate presenting a portfolio of work. Particularly in web design or more creative roles.
Our expert IT recruitment consultants are here to take the pressure off you when recruiting someone new, permanent or contract. We liaise with candidates with the utmost care to ensure that their candidate experience is a positive one. Call us on 0207 788 6600 and let us help you Recruit Someone Worth Recruiting.
Sep 1, 2019 | IT
When was the last time you reviewed your company job titles and descriptions (and I mean all of them)? Maybe it’s not top of your list right now, but it’s good practice to have a process for making sure there is regular review of both job titles and job descriptions.
Lets begin with job titles. It goes without saying that they need to be clear and easy for those in the industry to understand, and in technical roles this is often of even more importance. General consensus is that being familiar and specific without being too general is the best route to take. However, perhaps you are a young company in the media or new technology sector and you want to attract individuals with new ideas and a bit of an edge? In this case you might want to adapt the strategy of firms such as Apple, who name their in-store technical support teams ‘Geniuses’ or Starbucks who have used ‘Coffee Master’ as a title for some of their customer service members. These kind of titles are fun and give the employee a sense of pride in what they do while helping the customer to trust them. This isn’t going to work for everyone so before you start renaming your team as ‘Digital Dynamos’ and ‘Ninja Analysts’ think about your company culture and the personality of the personnel you’re aiming to hire.
Job titles are key for a number of reasons. As well as outlining responsibilities, they can be used for setting goals and measuring performance. Long standing roles may have been filled by one person for many years with them assuming new responsibilities or leaving out tasks that didn’t work as well. Or you may have seen a number of people in and out of the same role, each taking a slightly different slant on the position. Both instances would leave the original job description outdated and not fit for purpose.
If any problems were to occur, from either your point of view, or that of the employee the job description may well be referred to. Strict adherence to an outdated job description by the employee would of course be counter productive and could help the employee in filling a complaint or grievance. An up to date and accurate job description however could work in your defense or favour. A great time to update job descriptions is during an employee’s annual review, but do it more often if you need to – this might be the case if you’re a growing or changing organisation. Regularly use it and refer to it, this way you’ll be more likely to keep it up to date.
Keep job descriptions as short as possible, you don’t want them to be an operational manual on how to do the job, but you do want to them to include all the vital skills and competencies. As well as skills and qualifications, competencies are just as important and highlight aspects such as teamwork, leadership and communication. Rather than simply stating that the individual must be a ‘good communicator’ be more specific and expand a little on the most important areas.
You’re shaping your organisation with your job titles and descriptions, which tasks are covered by which employees and what is expected of everyone. Make sure you have strong job descriptions and that you make time to ensure they’re accurate and up to date, and if you can, incorporate them into day-to-day business.
May 29, 2019 | HR, IT, Management
There’s a lot of confusion right now about IR35; what it is, why it’s changing and what those changes will mean for the millions of self-employed contract workers currently operating in the UK.
Although many of the proposed changes to IR35 legislation are not yet set in stone, we have put together some helpful information to try and make sense of the latest developments and how they might affect you:
What is IR35?
IR35 is a piece of legislation that was introduced in 2000 to ensure the correct national insurance and income tax was paid by self-employed contractors. IR35 prevents tax avoidance, stopping workers who seek to hide their employment status from HMRC by supplying services to clients via an intermediary – a practice known as ‘disguised employment’.
What’s new with IR35?
In 2017 in the public sector, the onus shifted from worker to employer; employers became responsible for determining the correct tax status of their workers and took on the associated tax risks. From April 2020, it is expected that medium and large-sized businesses in the private sector will face the same shift in responsibility.
Back in March, the Government began an open consultation on the implementation of reforms to the off-payroll working rules from April 2020. The consultation asks for views from all sectors on subjects that include;
– the scope of the reform and impact on non-corporate engagers
– information requirements for engagers, fee-payers, and personal service companies
– addressing status determination disagreements
The consultation closed on 28th May 2019.
We’re not in Kansas anymore
There are many who see these changes as far more than a reform of current rules, calling it a ‘stealth-tax’ and alleging that the consultation seeks to mislead. Adrian Marlowe, chairman of the Association of Recruitment Consultancies (ARC), said to onrec; “…the proposals go significantly beyond compliance with the original IR35 rules… The device used is therefore at best a brand new tax burden, and at worst a new tax altogether.”
A lot of the disagreement stems from the new rule which states that payments to contractors must not include either employer’s NI at 13.8% or an Apprenticeship Levy which, at 0.5%, would mean each contract becomes 14.3% more costly to the company engaging a contractor.
What do these changes mean for you?
The anticipated changes to IR35 from April 2020 will mainly affect the businesses who receive contract services, rather than the workers themselves. However, it would be foolhardy to assume these effects will not trickle down and be felt by all.
Uncertainty surrounding the issue will likely cause companies to think twice before engaging new individuals through personal service companies (PSCs) so, if you are unsure about your status, you can use the HMRC employment status checker to confirm. Once you know where you stand, you will be better prepared to discuss reservations from potential clients.
With regard to the potential 14.3% increase in cost to engage, it is highly likely that all contracts will be renegotiated. Unfortunately, these changes seem set to be costly for both sides.
Our expert IT recruitment consultants are here to take the pressure off you when recruiting someone new, permanent or contract. We liaise with candidates with the utmost care to ensure that their candidate experience is a positive one. Call us on 0207 788 6600 and let us help you Recruit Someone Worth Recruiting.
May 15, 2019 | IT, Management
For business leaders experiencing country wide skill shortages, the knock-on effects of key recruitment failures are far reaching, costly and damaging. Experienced IT Recruiter Langley James offers valuable advice to help attract and secure desirable talent ahead of the competition.
The latest UK Recruitment Survey from the REC and KPMG reports that although the number of vacancies becoming available slowed in April, many recruiters and employers are struggling to cope with fierce competition for quality candidates.
Failing to recruit on time can hurt. Commercially, a business can suffer downtime, missed deadlines, reduced quality and disappointed clients or customers. Further operational problems can appear due to increased pressure on staff to pick up the slack causing stress, resentment and general unhappiness. Mistakes, complaints, sickness and even resignations inevitably follow heaping more pressure on you to steady the ship by finding that key hire.
The problem is demand. Quality candidates have an abundance of choice and rarely need to take a job out of necessity. Savvy employers make great efforts to deliver attractive recruitment propositions from branding to interview content aimed at convincing people to attend interviews and accept job offers. Put simply, any company failing to do this will risk missing out.
Ok, so what can we do about it?
Firstly, let’s start with the target audience. With most people employed these days talent targets are likely to be passively interested and relatively happy in their job, which means your vacancy positioning needs to change from a mere job to fill to an attractive career opportunity.
Quality candidates interested in career opportunities want to:
– hear the company and career path vision in order to imagine joining the journey
– understand clear objectives relating to the business problems requiring their skills
– trust you as a manager and leader
– feel valued and rewarded both personally and financially
– develop their skills and/or progress their careers
– be heard
– work with talented people with a shared interest in personal growth
– Enjoy a positive working environment
Ask yourself, does my current recruitment agency brief, job description and interview content deliver on these points?
Next, lets lose the mindset that people should count themselves lucky to interview with you. In a talent short market it’s actually the other way around and so anyone subjected to a hard nosed poker game of an interview is likely to switch off. Instead, create candidate desire by forming a warm and welcoming pitch just as you would sell your own products or services. Focus on the employer features of your company and the benefits of joining you – ideally delivering on what a quality candidate wants. Make people want your job before asking them to jump through a selection process.
Speaking of selection processes, during times of high demand avoid forcing people through unnecessary testing and long winded, multi-stage interviewing. Look at improving the interview itself and reduce the time between interview and decision to hire.
Finally, recognise the seriousness of your need and look to offer a salary and package that reflects that. Cast aside the ‘that’s what we pay’ mentality, recognise the true cost of failing to recruit and instead focus on doing what it takes to win.
Ultimately winning the talent race comes down to how a person feels so, make changes to your approach aimed at creating a positive selection experience. Make people feel good and you’ll stand a much better chance of securing their services.
Our expert IT recruitment consultants are here to take the pressure off you when recruiting someone new. We liaise with candidates with the utmost care to ensure that their candidate experience is a positive one. Call us on 0207 788 6600 and let us help you Recruit Someone Worth Recruiting.
Apr 1, 2019 | IT
IR35 is a piece of tax legislation introduced in 2000 to ensure the correct national insurance and income tax was paid by self-employed contractors. IR35 prevents tax avoidance by exposing self employed workers seeking to hide their employment status from HMRC by supplying services to clients via an intermediary. This practice is known as ‘disguised employment’.
In practical terms, IR35 is designed to test the day-to-day circumstances in which a contractor physically operates to determine if they meet HMRC’s criteria for self-employment. If they should fail, HMRC can reclassify them as either a worker or an employee and order all parties to pay the appropriate tax. This includes the company paying for the individual’s services too!
From 2020, the responsibility for IR35 compliance falls directly onto the employer. Check out our recent blog on what the upcoming changes to IR35 might mean for you
Langley James is an IT recruitment agency offering permanent and contract expertise. Call us on 0207 788 6600 and let us help you Recruit Someone Worth Recruiting.
Mar 15, 2019 | IT
Recruiting the best IT contractors and IT staff can be a protracted process and the danger of candidates changing their minds, or worse still, accepting a counter-offer from a competitor is ever present.
In order to minimise the risk of losing the best candidates before they have signed their new contract of employment it is essential to ensure that you have a recruitment process which is as efficient as possible.
It is important to balance the need to act quickly, in order to secure the best talent, with the need to bide your time so that you do not appear desperate. A shrewd candidate may pick up on the fact that the recruitment process appears to be rushed and they may then try to turn that to their advantage when it comes to negotiating terms.
Employing the services of a specialist recruitment agency to act as a professional intermediary is a cost-effective way to recruit IT contractors and IT permanent staff. Their experience, advice and refined procedures will minimise the risk of losing out on the best candidates during the recruitment process and help to avoid complications in the future.
A recruitment agency will be able to advise on an accurate package offer based on current market rates, the skills and experience of the candidate and the candidate’s current situation. This negates the risk of making an offensively low offer or an offer which is too high which could then cause conflict and tension between existing employees and put financial pressure on a business.
A good recruitment agency will also spend time maintaining a dialogue with prospective candidates as well as acting as an advocate on your behalf, this helps to keep your company at the forefront of the candidates mind when they are considering offers.
They will also be skilled in asking the questions which determine a candidate’s motivation for seeking a new role; if money is a key factor then it is likely that the candidate will be susceptible to counter-offers. If you are aware of this then you can act accordingly.
Once a candidate is committed to the recruitment process it is important to maintain momentum by arranging first and second interview dates quickly, providing feedback and keeping in regular contact via phone or email. Having an efficient method of completing the necessary paperwork is equally important as candidates are prone to changing their minds between receiving a verbal offer of employment and a copy of their new contract of employment.
To find out how Langley James can help you recruit someone worth recruiting to streamline your IT recruitment process please contact us on 0207 099 4839 or langleyjames@langleyjames.com
Mar 15, 2019 | IT
How To Create A Positive Candidate Experience in 4 Steps
The recruitment process is a stressful time for both employees and applicants. Businesses place such a huge emphasis on hiring the ‘perfect’ candidate for the role, they often forget the importance in nurturing relationships with those who aren’t ‘perfect’ for the role. Don’t forget, when somebody applies for a job, they are taking a risk and putting their current job on the line. All applicants deserve a positive candidate experience and when you master this, you are providing your company with an excellent marketing tool. Here are our 4 steps to creating a positive candidate experience for ALL applicants:
- First Impressions are Crucial
It only takes 3-5 seconds for someone to make a first impression. This begins right at the outset when an applicant applies for a role. A person’s first interaction with your company is likely to begin at your website and from there, judgement and perceptions of your company are heavily shaped by their user experience at initial search stages. You may not realize the importance of providing users with a positive experience externally, but a poor website can tell an awful lot to an applicant about the kind of company they could potentially be working for. This first impression will proceed to heavily influence a candidate’s decision over whether they want to work for you or not.
- Honesty is the Best Policy
Companies who are honest and transparent about the roles they are recruiting for, are always the ones who are able to recruit the best candidates and maintain the best retention and employee satisfaction rates. Little white lies such as “you’ll hear from us either way” when you have no intention of getting back in touch; or “we are interested but still have some more people to interview”, when in actual fact you have extended an offer and are waiting for the candidate to except; all contribute to leaving a candidate feeling deceived and disappointed. Again, this type of behavior will certainly impact on your employer branding – don’t forget, word of mouth is a very strong tool. Avoid getting into a situation where your company is given a bad name all because you committed to something you never delivered on.
- Acknowledge ALL Applicants
Establishing and maintaining relationships is crucial if you want to successfully recruit new members to your team. Whether an applicant fits the bill or not, each person who has taken the time to apply for the role deserves your time and courtesy to let them know the situation. If the applicant is not right for that particular role, then contact them with a simple call or email to let them know that you will not be proceeding any further with their application but to thank them kindly for their application. This common courtesy throughout the recruitment process. It is imperative to create strong relationships with applicants, whether they are suitable for the role or not – because you never know when an unsuccessful candidate’s skill set and experience may become of significant value to your company. A staggering 70% of online applicants never receive a response if their application is unsuccessful. This disheartening statistic demonstrates the lack of importance placed on responding to applicants. Strong communication is a positive marketing tool – and lack of it demonstrates poor leadership and inadequate HR.
- Feedback is Key
The one thing that candidates truly hate when going through an interview process with a company, is when clients simply do not provide feedback following the interview. Candidates place a large importance on the interview, and go to great lengths to ensure they are fully prepared. A client who fails to provide feedback can do more damage to their own reputation than they realize. Whether it be that feedback is on your to-do list and you just haven’t got round to it; or that you didn’t feel the candidate was suitable and you will not be proceeding any further with their application, so therefore feedback is unnecessary, feedback is of high importance and must always be provided where possible. It can be hard to give negative feedback to a candidate, but even negative feedback is constructive and can be used to improve a candidate’s interview skills in their future endeavors. It also gives you the opportunity to seek feedback from the interviewee. This is a chance to review what you did well in the interview and what you could improve on in future interviews.
Our expert IT recruitment consultants are here to take the pressure off you when recruiting someone new. We liaise with candidates with the utmost care to ensure that their candidate experience is a positive one. Call us on 0207 788 6600 and let us help you Recruit Someone worth Recruiting.
Mar 15, 2019 | IT
Generally speaking employee turnover is seen as a bad thing. Aside from having to accept that someone may not want to work for your business any more, turnover can have a negative effect on moral and the cost involved in recruiting and training someone new can build up too. This may be the case for larger organisations. However, for smaller firms, SMEs and start-ups the discussion about positive employee turnover produces a strong argument.
Dr John Sullivan, an internationally known HR thought-leader said “true recruiters are always trying to steal away the best employees, even during tough economic times. If no one steals (or even tries to steal) your employees, it might mean they aren’t worth stealing.” With this in mind, we take a look at some of the positives of employee turnover.
Developing The Right Team
Smaller businesses may have started up fast, with a keen CEO employing new staff to get essential jobs done and help the business get moving and begin to grow. However, in the longer term as the business evolves, these people may no longer be the best people for the job. It’s important to assemble the right team over time and not just one of convenience. In this case, experiencing employee turnover may not be negative but simply part of the evolution of the business, helping it to grow, improve and discover the core strengths required by team members.
Identifying Poor Performers
Because during the recession most organisations saw their workforce fall, as they hire again focus is often on job security and so turnover is all too often seen as a negative. Reassessing and monitoring performance and ROIs will help you to evaluate whether or not it is bad for your organisation. Dr Sullivan talked about categorising turnover into the three categories of ‘regrettable’, ‘neutral’ or ‘desirable’. This will depend on who is leaving, why and how. In order to understand what kind of turnover you’re experiencing you’ll have to know your staff and have an idea about their performance rate, attitude, and skills. Regular reviews and assessment will allow you to see who is not performing as well as you’d like or who is causing holdups or low quality work. To lose these employees shouldn’t be detrimental to your business, it should be advantageous, and if one of these poor performers went to a competitor instead, well that’s just a bonus!
Encourage and Incentivise
Following on from the above, nurturing the top talent is just as important, as these are the people you don’t want to turnover! Regularly evaluating employees to recognise who is worthy of a promotion or bonus encourages staff to try their best. Often a high turnover rate itself may encourage employees to work harder. Some organisations seem to have implemented a company culture where great performance is key and employees either choose to continually improve or to leave. This may sound a little harsh, but if the right kind of incentive structure is in place, top performers will be able to enjoy the benefits of their hard work.
Organisations are recognising even more that low turnover is not such an important factor in evaluating business success. There is often no ideal level of turnover for firms, and some will be suited, and benefit from, a higher turnover. If you would like some advice on finding innovative new employees for your organisation, we work with hundreds of candidates who could be the perfect fit, so give us a call (0207 099 4839) and see how we can help you to recruit someone worth recruiting.
Feb 18, 2019 | IT
If you are considering a new project and taking on a short term contractor to support the day to day issues, or are being pressured to let the vendor carry out the installation themselves, please consider this …
Getting an expert IT Contractor to undertake the actual project can be much more cost effective than undertaking it yourself and using a short term contractor to support the day to day issues.
Projects aren’t undertaken on a whim and very often have both time and cost restraints and getting it right first time and within budget is vital to its success. Even if you re-assign someone within your existing team to carry out your new project, entrusting something so important to someone who may not necessarily have all of the skills or specific experience will be delving into the unknown. They will most likely be learning on the job which will ultimately work out more costly in the long term, not even taking into account the extra stress experienced by both parties. And that’s before you think about the additional time taken to bring in an IT Support Contractor and get them up to speed to fulfill the role they will be covering.
Forget all that! You’ve made enough sacrifices and carried too much stress for far too long. For once, reap the benefit for yourself and really take advantage of the IT Contract market.
Get an expert Contractor in! Not just an IT Contractor who has the skills, but a specialist IT Contractor who will have already completed these projects numerous times, with references to prove it.
We are proud to say that we have saved one client several thousands of pounds by doing just this. Instead of using a software vendor to carry out the installation, complete with their own phenomenal costs, we enabled the client to keep full control of the installation by supplying specialist, expert Contractors. Due to the complexity of the project, we supplied 3 Contractors engaged at intervals, each one with a different skill for each stage of the project. The project was completed on time and well within budget without any other area of the business suffering as a result.
We can supply you with an expert IT Contractor, within budget, to carry out your project to a strict timeframe, giving you peace of mind by knowing the exact cost of the project from the outset and allowing day to day IT Operations to carry on as seamlessly as possible.
Let us find you an expert IT Contractor who not only has the T Shirt but is going back to remake the film. Now is a great time to get on with those projects that have been hanging around and getting specialist contractors has never been cheaper than it is now. You can buy in an expert who can turn a project around to a set schedule and budget.
We have been recruiting IT Contractors and permanent IT staff for over 19 years, we have an extensive network of experienced contractors, so let us know all about the project – not just the skills needed – and we will find you an expert contractor who has the experience of undertaking that specific project.
Jan 20, 2019 | IT
People aged between 35 and 54 are at the top of the hire list for small businesses in the UK, research by Aldermore has revealed.
In a survey of 1,002 SME business leaders, 50% said they would choose to hire from this age group out of all potential recruits – compared to 30% who would prefer to hire 18 to 34-year-olds.
Nearly half of small business owners (47%) also said they believe 35 to 54-year-olds have the greatest industry knowledge of any age group.
When describing current employees, similar numbers of employers said this age group are the most productive (53%), most focused (50%), and have the best work ethic (48%).
However, 21% said it is difficult to recruit employees in this age range, with this figure increasing to 32% among medium-sized businesses.
Carl D’Ammassa, group managing director of business finance at Aldermore, said businesses should also recognise the “fresh approach” that can come with hiring younger staff.
He said:
“Attracting and hiring the best industry talent can be a tough task, yet the long-term benefits that even a single new staff member can bring to a business can be very significant.
“Having a diverse workforce with different perspectives drives innovation and problem-solving, which is why hiring employees with different skills and levels of experience is so important.”
Jan 20, 2019 | IT
Workplace experts, Acas, have published guidance to help employers and employees know the rules around employment references.
A recent survey by AAT (Association of Accounting Technicians) found that nearly half of employers want job applicants who have relevant work experience.
Tom Neil, Acas Senior Adviser said:
“The job market can very competitive so it is vitally important for job applicants and employers to know what the legal requirements are around work references.
“We’ve based our advice around the typical questions that we receive on our helpline about job references.
“Acas’ new advice has information on what to include in work references, when they are needed and how to resolve problems with references.”
Typical questions the Acas helpline receives about job references:Can an employer refuse to give a reference?
– How can I obtain a copy of the reference my previous employer has supplied?
– If a reference is incorrect what can I do about it?
– Can my employer includes absence rates relating to sickness in a reference?
– Can an employer put negative things in a reference?
Acas’ employment references advice includes top tips such as:
– Employers can usually choose whether or not to give a reference;
– Employers must only seek a reference from a job applicant’s current employers with their permission;
– If a conditional job offer is made then it can be withdrawn if the job applicant doesn’t meet satisfactory references. Employees should consider waiting until they get an unconditional job offer before handing in their notice in their current job;
– Potential employers should remember a referee may not provide a reference or might inaccurately suggest the applicant is suitable. In these circumstances, it may help to discuss any concerns with the job applicant directly first; and
– Job applicants who are unhappy with a reference can ask for a copy that was sent to their new employers and may be able to claim damages in court if they can prove it was misleading or inaccurate and resulted in the withdrawal of their job offer.
Read Acas’ employment references guidance.
Dec 6, 2018 | IT
There are a few meals that aren’t half bad as leftovers. Cold roast chicken, potato salad, even coleslaw is good. But why settle for leftovers if you can enjoy a fresh meal instead? Surely fresh food is a better option? Yet in recruiting, when someone resigns, managers often scramble to do everything they can to keep them, and I have to wonder why, because it’s the perfect opportunity to get in someone new.
Consider this: When a permanent staff member hands in their notice, they have probably already got another job. They’ve been for interviews, signed a contract and already considered their options. Leaving may be news for the manager, but it isn’t for them.
Chances are, they’re leaving because they’ve not been happy for a while. Trying to make them stay by dangling a few carrots isn’t going to change much. If they do stay, they’re seldom as productive or motivated and sometimes it can actually be more damaging to the team. Let them leave. Even if they were good, things will never be the same. They’ve shown they aren’t happy there, and there’s a good possibility that if they stay, in a few months time, they will be looking for other options again.
Forget the fear factor
One of the concerns that managers have is that they will never find someone as good to replace the person with. But what if you were to find someone better? There are a lot of good people out there and a lot of good reasons to bring in fresh talent to make your team perform even better.
In IT having to maintain a system is quite different from building it. It requires different skills and the costs are different too. Why pay the same costs when the maintenance could be so much cheaper?
Bringing in someone new also has the benefit of gaining a fresh perspective on a project. That person can help identify solutions that people involved in the project have been unable to solve because they are just too immersed in what they’re working on. The new person brings with them both expertise and an outside objective view. Also they’ll be looking for the best solution without having to defend the decisions made earlier on in the project.
Employees that have been around for a while may be good, but there is a strong temptation for them to rest on their laurels. After all, they’ve already shown they can do the job. Unfortunately this usually means that over time they become lazy and no longer feel the need to put in any extra effort. A new person will want to prove themselves so they’ll work harder and be more motivated. This alone should be reason enough for managers to jump on to the opportunity to hire when they can.
It’s all about the money – use it wisely
Yes people leave for more money, but offering them more money won’t necessarily make them stay. Rather than throwing money at counter offers rather put that money to the budget to hire someone new. The person who has resigned has already given as much value as you’re going to get from them, whereas someone new could have a lot more to offer.
If you brought in an existing contractor for a specific project and that project has been completed, then re-allocate the funding for that role to another project. That way you can ensure you get the right expertise and optimise the value you’re getting from your budget.
At the end of the day you want a team that is motivated and productive, and sometimes the best way to do that is to bring in fresh talent. Be smart with your recruiting budget and make it work for you by getting in new people when you need to and taking up the opportunity to hire whenever it arises.
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