Hiring The Best Knowledge Workers, Techies & Nerds: The Secrets & Science Of Hiring Technical People

Good technical people are the foundation on which successful high technology organizations are built. Establishing a good process for hiring such workers is essential. Unfortunately, the generic methods so often used for hiring skill-based staff, who can apply standardized methods to almost any situation, are of little use to those charged with the task of hiring technical people.Unlike skill-based workers, technical people typically do not have access to cookie-cutter solutions to their problems. They need to adapt to any situation that arises, using their knowledge in new and creative ways to solve the problem at hand. As a result, one developer, tester, or technical manager is not interchangeable with another. This makes hiring technical people one of the most critical and difficult processes a technical manager can undertake.Hiring the Best Knowledge Workers, Techies & Nerds: The Secrets & Science of Hiring Technical People takes the guesswork out of hiring and diminishes the risk of costly hiring mistakes. With the aid of step-by-step descriptions and detailed examples, you'll learn how to* write a concise, targeted job description* source candidates* develop ads for mixed media* review r sum s quickly to determine Yes, No, or Maybe candidates* develop intelligent, nondiscriminatory, interview techniques* create fool-proof phone-screens* check references with a view to reading between the lines* extend an offer that will attract a win-win acceptance or tender a gentle-but-decisive rejection* and moreAn effective hiring process is crucial to saving an organization the costs and consequences of a bad hiring decision. Not only is a bad hire costly in terms of recruiting expenses and the time spent hiring, it can also bog down or derail projects that may already be running late.You, your team, and your organization will live with the long-term consequences of your hiring decision. Investing time in developing a hiring strategy will shorten your decision time and the ramp-up time needed for each new hire.Technical leaders, project and program managers, and anyone putting together a team of technical workers will greatly benefit from this book.Insights from the Book"Hiring knowledge workers, such as technical people, is different from hiring purely skill-based staff. Knowledge workers are not just the sum of their technical knowled≥ they are the sum of their technical knowledge and the way in which they apply that knowledge to the product. The method with which they apply their knowledge is determined by how they use their technical skills for the product, how they manage their work, and how they manage their relationships with other people. Skill-based staff members have a set of skills they can apply the same way in almost all situations. Knowledge workers must adapt their knowledge to the situation." - from the PrefaceJohanna Rothman is the author of 'Hiring The Best Knowledge Workers, Techies & Nerds: The Secrets & Science Of Hiring Technical People', published 2004 under ISBN 9780932633590 and ISBN 0932633595.