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Hiring Knowledgeable Employees

by nathanjacobs
3 replies
I have been trying to hire people to help me do various things for years and never seem to find anyone who is very good at what they do. How do you find people who know what they are doing and will be a valuable asset to your company.

I put out job ads to fill a php programming position and I got tons of responses, but after interviewing them I find that most of them don't know the basics they would need to know to do programming for me.

The stuff I do isn't hard and any programmer that knew the basics could do it. But, I keep finding people who don't know much.

I am lucky because I know how to program in php and can clearly see from my experience that they don't know what they are doing. But, what if I knew nothing about the thing I am hiring for. For instance, if I hired a C# developer, I wouldn't know if they were good or not, If I hired a system administrator, I would only have basic knowedge and not know enough to decide if they were "one of the best."

I need help, how do you find people to grow your business who actually know what they are doing?
#employees #hiring #knowledgeable
  • Profile picture of the author MRomeo09
    Are you using Odesk? I've had some really good luck on Odesk finding programmers. If you use that, you can typically find tons of PHP programmers, and people that have already reviewed them.

    Don't think of "hiring" in the traditional sense, think of projects. Get them to finish a project for you. Something small in scope- think 10-20 hours. Then if they do well, hire them for another task.

    Have you looked at Agile? Can you divide your sprint into small tasks, and hire the tasks out as projects?

    Once you've found someone who succeeds in small projects, get them for larger projects. In today's day and age, with the shrinking of the world, you should be able to find developers at a reasonable rate that provide good work.

    Locally, I would still do the exact same thing. I never hired developers locally, but I hired staff constantly. They were all hired based upon their ability to complete contracts and fit in with the culture of the workplace. I never hired someone before we worked with them on 1-3 projects.

    HTH
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  • Profile picture of the author bizgrower
    Originally Posted by nathanjacobs View Post

    I have been trying to hire people to help me do various things for years and never seem to find anyone who is very good at what they do. How do you find people who know what they are doing and will be a valuable asset to your company.

    I put out job ads to fill a php programming position and I got tons of responses, but after interviewing them I find that most of them don't know the basics they would need to know to do programming for me.

    The stuff I do isn't hard and any programmer that knew the basics could do it. But, I keep finding people who don't know much.

    I am lucky because I know how to program in php and can clearly see from my experience that they don't know what they are doing. But, what if I knew nothing about the thing I am hiring for. For instance, if I hired a C# developer, I wouldn't know if they were good or not, If I hired a system administrator, I would only have basic knowedge and not know enough to decide if they were "one of the best."

    I need help, how do you find people to grow your business who actually know what they are doing?
    Do they have to be local?

    Absolutely agree with Mromeo09's suggestion about trial basis and chemistry.

    Face to face networking with good people and the local relevant groups that form.

    If you need someone good at C#, for example, get brushed up on it or
    bring someone established and not looking for a job to help hire.

    I had an acquaintance who hired PHP people off Craigslist and paid about $5/hr
    under market - not by project - and was always looking. Hopefully you are not in
    that cycle.

    Use a quality recruiting firm - maybe like Manpower Professional, but probably
    a local boutique firm - for temp, or temp to hire.
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    "If you think you're the smartest person in the room, then you're probably in the wrong room."

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    • Profile picture of the author savidge4
      I straight up hire local only. I have developed great relationships with assorted department heads at some of the university and colleges in my area.

      A lot of times if I need a single something, I pay the department, and they hand out the requirements as an assignment. Not only do I get my code or whatever, I get 10+ to choose from. I usually will go into the class after the project is done, share which one I used and why. I get what I need, and the students get some real world experience. And the person that did the "Winning" code usually gets $100 bill out of the deal from me.
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      Success is an ACT not an idea
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