What You Have to Do To Get That Best Candidate
Categories:
Worker Selection
Categories: Worker Selection
| Having trouble filling positions with the right people on time? You are not alone. Like many other organizations, you might have to resort to extreme measures. In this article (registration required) IT departments report on their various strategies to get the top performers. One problem is that for excellent candidates you will likely have to move quickly, even if you work through referrals. In this era of "full IT employment," candidates may have other offers already or may loose interest after seeing new opportunities becoming available. A good salesman knows how to close the deal quickly. Acting quickly will also show the candidate your genuine interest and your ability to make things happen. The solution, however, may cause you heartburn. It involves you being able to make a hiring decision (or selection decision in case of a contractor) in a matter of a few days rather than weeks, like Red Door has done as reported in the article. If you are a regular reader of this blog, you understand that during any selection process, you cannot underestimate the importance of identifying those who fit into your work culture - not something you can easily do quickly. Consider these steps to create a "quick action team" that can work quickly if not simultaneously.
Day 1: Initial phone screening This does not have to be done for every candidate (thank goodness), but when that critical candidate for the important position comes up, you have to be ready. |
Afoul of Independent Contractor Rules: Training #2
| In my last post I tricked you -but it was for a good reason! I started with a seemingly simple common scenario where workers required training delivered by your organization. This scenario was used to illustrate how rules affecting independent contractors are not as clear as you would want them to be. The rule seemed to say that if you train workers in any way, they are employees and cannot be classified as independent contractors. That could be a problem. Perhaps not always, however. It would seem that there is training that independent contractors should complete that doesn't really control their behavior, only explains how to get work done in your organization. A couple of examples are:
In this IRS guidance document under "All of the following are examples of types of instructions about how to do work." you will find the following bullet: "What order or sequence to follow." That means that, if you tell workers the steps to do their work, you keep them from being independent contractors. This seems to put you in a bind. There are many types of training where you lay out specific steps for workers, For example, training on system development life cycle or project management process. For many organizations, the processes and procedures associated with these activities are pretty detailed and specific. An independent contractor being required to go through this training and following these rules will look very much like an employee. Very much. Here's another listed training topic that is for employees only: Training covering corporate strategy or IT organizational goals. Yet, your organization may desire to have independent contractors attend training of this type to ensure they are aligned properly. Giving independent contractors either of the above training types can be used by regulators (or in court) as evidence that your organization is misclassifying employees. Very bad. Yet training must occur on certain portfolio management processes such as tollgates where deliverables are submitted for review. Likewise you would expect contractors to create your organizationally-required deliverables - but on their own time and using their own expertise as independent contractors would be expected to. Consider this a risk to be managed. Involve legal, compliance and procurement experts. Industry standards have not been clarified at this time and your organization has to be protected. Remember this series will continue intermittently to help you remain aware of pitfalls in managing independent contractors. |
Afoul of Independent Contractor Rules: Training
| As a project manager you may have to work with what the law calls "independent contractors." In recent years employers - and their attorneys - have been wrestling with the issue of who is actually an independent contractor and who is not. This so ironic because there has been plenty of time to sort this all out. You see years ago there was the famous "perma-temps" case where a well-known IT employer appeared to be hiring contractors in order to - you won't believe this - save money by not having to pay full-time employee benefits and other costs. The employer described certain employees as independent "temps." The point of the court judgement was that the employer did not treat these contractors any differently than full time employees. The conclusion was that there had to be a difference and the IRS was nice enough to codify a list of factors so that employers could identify both groups appropriately. It looked good on paper. In practice, however, it has been more complicated. I've worked as an independent contractor and an employer of independent contractors and I can tell you first hand that it is a difficult relationship to manage even with the rules and guidance. This will be the first of a continuing intermittent series on these rules and how you can take practical steps to avoid non-compliance. The approach will be pragmatic, and you will want to make sure you work with your legal and compliance experts to ensure you do right by your organization. According to the IRS: "The general rule is that an individual is an independent contractor if the payer has the right to control or direct only the result of the work and not what will be done and how it will be done." To start us off on an easy note, we can look at the rule on training. It says that if you train workers, they are employees not independent contractors. Wait, what? Do you mean we cannot train our contractors at all? What if we simply train them on our software development lifecycle and our tollgate set-up? What if we just give them compliance or security training? Did I say start on an easy note? I lied. There are no easy interpretations. Now you see where confusion can come in for any of the criteria. We'll apply several rules against this training scenario in my next post. Until then, make sure your independent contractors clearly label themselves as such in their standard email signatures. More guidance at this IRS site: http://www.irs.gov/publications/p15a/ar02.html. |
Why Onboarding May Be Your Problem
| Think you have a problem going from needs to execution? Check out this disconnect with IT onboarding reported in this survey. IT Leaders say that onboarding programs are extremely important
IT professionals agree with leaders on this. So the next questions is: what attention has been paid to onboarding programs? An amount of attention that corresponds to "extremely important"? Apparently not. Most IT leaders and managers surveyed say that onboarding programs are not a top priority. Evidently they do not even get the attention they deserve. Only about 12-13% of IT leaders and professionals rate their onboarding programs as extremely effective. So chances are when you are a project manager and have to onboard new resources, you will be starting with an inadequate process. Plan to supplement the program in your project.
Oh, and do your best to get onboarding moved up the list of organizational priorities. It's difficult to find good people and it would be a waste to delay their integration and disappoint them. |
Key Workforce Motivators Are Available to You
| If you could be sure of key motivators of your workforce, imagine what you could get done. Check out this Dan Pink video which explains some of the science associated with worker motivation in an enjoyable way. A couple of the interesting study findings:
But can you guess what these factors are? Select the three from this alphabetized list:
Really, try to choose the key three before you see the correct answer. It will help you see how sophisticated you are as a workforce manager. Try to get as many as possible. You should know them if you are a regular reader of this blog. Ready for the answer? The key three are Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose. For details see the video. What you are interested in now is whether you can use these motivators when you are acting as a project manager. Sure you can. Here are some examples that will help you think of many others appropriate to your situation, especially if you work with a helpful human resource representative:
Get out there and motivate! |
