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Staff an IT Project With a Savvy Sourcing and Recruiting Strategy
by Sandra Lowe
Whether pulling staff from an existing bench or searching for talent outside company walls, building an effective IT development team that fits business requirements and meets a project's expected time to market can be challenging.
Further, intense global economic uncertainty and competition for top IT talent combine to ensure organizations have to do more with less. There are key steps talent managers can take to execute a cost-conscious, successful staffing strategy for IT project development.
1. Look internally first.
It may seem obvious, but talent managers often fail to take stock of the talent they currently have on staff or under contract. Further, in addition to considering skill sets and expertise, consider resource availability. What projects are people working on, how close are they to completion and will they be available to dedicate the necessary time and talent to an initiative?
Once you know what resources you can tap internally, identify gaps and determine the best way to fill those roles to meet the business need. Does it seem sensible to add head count to the organization, relocate someone or allow someone to work virtually to help meet your project goals? Or should you enlist the support of an IT contractor?
2. Develop a rate card.
Talent managers should understand the current and potential IT head-count spend. Whether done on your own or with the help of a staffing firm, developing a rate card provides the data needed to understand expenses and make cost-effective decisions. A salary rate card should include the existing IT contractor base for insight on current spend and the development team for forecast pay rates for specific positions.
Keep in mind that different skill sets are more readily available in different pockets of the world, and the price for and availability of quality talent varies even within pockets of the U.S. Thinking creatively about where you find staff to build your team can result in substantial savings. Having a rate card based on location can help you determine the most cost-advantageous approach to staff a team to meet business goals.
3. Think outside the box.
When building a team, consider taking a widespread approach to staffing. Just because your project manager is headquartered in Dallas doesn't mean other members of the team can't be in Chicago, New York or across the world in India. Business today operates in a 24x7 environment. Collaborative communication technologies such as Web conferencing, wikis, SharePoints and instant messaging applications bridge the distance gap.
By taking a diverse and broad-spectrum approach to staffing, you can ensure work keeps pace with business demands. Success is less about who does what work where and more about optimizing the labor force and ensuring consistent alignment with the business vision.
4. Be realistic.
Projects often fail because solid expectations aren't established at the onset. Be realistic in what you are trying to do, and be clear on timelines, deliverables and expectations. This includes being realistic in the amount of experience required for a particular position.
For example, don't expect to find developers with 10 years' experience working with the Ruby on Rails Web application framework, especially since the technology was just introduced four years ago. With newer technologies, many hiring managers simply aren't sure how much experience a candidate should have.
Accurately estimating the time required for project completion also is important for success. While there always are unknowns, it is easy to get hung up on what a project entails from an IT standpoint. To keep a project on track, it is imperative to focus on business priorities.
5. Get help if necessary.
Engage a staffing partner where you need help. A best-of-breed staffing partner understands the nuances of what is going on competitively in the local markets and can support organizational needs by offering strategic support on where to find talent. Talent in certain areas of the country costs less than others. A staffing firm can help organizations take advantage of this labor arbitrage.
Successful project management is contingent on having the right people on the team to get the job done. To increase the odds of success, consider the resources needed, the length of time they are needed and the skills required. Be flexible in where you find IT talent and where you physically locate them. Is it more cost-effective to staff a project in one location, or does it make sense to tap talent around the country to build a productive team?
Considering all labor sources and taking a creative approach to staffing a project can save money and produce the skill sets required to see a project through completion on-time and on-budget.
[About the Author: Sandra Lowe, SPHR, is a vice president at Veritude, a Boston-based staffing firm.]
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