Advancements in technology are contributing to the demand for niche talent in the IT sector. IT roles are becoming more specialized today and as a result, IT recruiting is becoming complicated. Hiring managers need to understand different technical skills and subject expertise in detail before recruiting candidates. IT staffing has emerged as a solution to this concern of finding specialized IT talent that many HR departments are facing today.
To find qualified candidates for expert job roles in IT companies, it is an effective strategy. Today, IT hiring is emerging as an independent skill and one that is crucial for finding the most suited candidates. This article will explore IT staffing, its key models and pros and cons.
What is IT Staffing
IT staffing is the process of finding qualified IT professionals to perform tasks or projects in an IT company. The hiring can either be full-time jobs, short-term positions or contract-to-hire roles. Generally, IT staffing means a company partnering with a third-party IT staffing service provider to recruit IT professionals. But, it can also be done internally, through a company’s in-house HR team.
An IT staffing process starts from workforce planning and includes candidate selection, placement, training, appraisal, retention, and separation. The 7 steps in an IT staffing process are:
1. Resource planning
The goal is to identify the workforce requirements, like the type of resource and the number of employees needed.
2. Recruitment and selection
This step involves finding the right candidates and convincing them to apply for job positions. The selection process involves the evaluation of candidates’ abilities and performance.
3. Placement and induction
Placement is concerned with posting the right candidate for the right role. In induction, the selected candidates are introduced to the organization, their policies, and job expectations.
4. Onboarding
In onboarding, the candidates are prepared for their job role and given the required knowledge to help them start their work. Training is provided for candidates during the onboarding stage if required.
5. Appraisal
The employees' performance is evaluated and they are rewarded according to their contribution, capabilities, and potential.
6. Retention
This step involves ensuring employee satisfaction so that they can be retrained within the organization.
7. Separation
This is the last stage of the staffing process implemented when an employee leaves an organization. A proper exit process can help to find reasons for attrition and help organizations improve their employee care services.
Four IT Staffing Models
Depending on the goal of hiring and the type of specialists required, there are different models of IT staffing that are used. The four common models are:
1.Long term
In the long term model, the hiring is done for a long period of time, typically more than one year. Most long term hiring scenarios involve hiring an IT team on a full-time basis.
2. Short term
In the short term model, a company hires IT professionals to provide their services urgently for a project. Short term hires may be for days, weeks or months and usually involves the hiring of a single expert.
3. Succession planning
Succession planning aims at making the best use of resources within an organization by training selected existing employees to become capable leaders in the organization in future.
4.Strategic planning
In a strategic planning model, organizations aim to improve their profit by creating a strategy in which they combine the business plan and power of technical resources in such a way that the business operations can be enhanced.
Advantages of IT Staffing
Henceforth, we will be referring to the traditional model of IT staffing wherein a company hires an outside staffing service to recruit IT talent. Some advantages of the approach are:
- Fast hiring: A company that offers IT staffing services will be able to help you hire quickly. The recruitment and hiring will be accelerated, making it a great model for urgent staffing requirements.
- Skilled resources: They will be able to provide you with qualified and skilled resources that meet all your requirements. You will get your hands on experts with years of experience.
- Wider talent: As staffing companies dedicatedly work in the recruiting field, they have access to a wider talent pool. If you were recruiting through your in-house team, the reach could be very limited compared to that of staffing service.
- Simple process: There are no hassles associated with hiring. The company takes care of all the paperwork and administration activities ensuring that the process at your end is simplified.
- Save time: You need to spend only minimal time and effort on the hiring process. That means you can focus this free time on other high-value activities and improve the productivity of the organization.
Disadvantages of IT Staffing
There are also certain disadvantages to the IT staffing model, such as:
- Less control: The hiring process will take place through a third-party service provider, which means you will have less control over it. This could be frustrating for some business owners.
- Geographical differences: If the staffing agency is located in another country, you may face cultural differences or communication issues while engaging with them.
- Cost: When you avail the services of a staffing agency, you will need to pay them and it can be more expensive than direct hiring.
- Unfit resources: The staffing agency would be able to get you a perfect match for your technical skill requirements. But since they don’t dig deep into the company culture, the candidates may not be a good fit culture-wise.
Five IT Staffing Tips
To get the best out of IT staffing, you need to know how to staff your team properly. Let’s take a look at five tips that will help you with the same.
1.Define your goals
Having a clear idea about your goals will help you determine the IT skills that you need to hire for. To do this, make a list of all your projects and your resource requirements. Then, order them with respect to priority. This will help you create relevant staffing decisions.
2.Evaluate your team
Your current team is your major strength. If you can utilize them more effectively, you shouldn’t let that chance go. So, assess your existing team and their skills. If you can provide training for anyone to enhance their capabilities and take on more responsibilities, it is a great option. Compare with your talent requirements and choose appropriately.
3.Identify skill gaps
Create a list of the skills you need and the skills your team already possess. Compare these to identify the skill gaps. Now, check which of these gaps your existing team members can fill, given proper training. For the remaining talent gap, hire a staffing provider.
4.Train existing team
For the skills that are required long term, it is best to train the existing team members than hire new resources. The existing team is already composed of loyal employees, hence training them will be more efficient. It will also improve the rate of employee retention as employees enjoy acquiring new skills.
5.Define clear roles
Create clear job descriptions for each job role for hiring new candidates. Define their skills, duties, and expectations. Also, within your team, create a plan of the hierarchy, such as who will manage the new resources, who will be the reporting person, etc.
Following these five tips will help you look at your IT staffing process more meaningfully and hire mindfully.
How to Choose an IT Staffing Company
Many think IT staffing is useful to hire developers or programmers only. But in reality, the scope is much broader. You can use IT staffing services to hire business analysts, technical writers, project managers, IT architects, and more. Choosing the right IT staffing company is important as otherwise you may end up wasting time and hiring inefficient resources.
To determine whether an IT staffing agency is competitive and trustworthy, ask these four questions.
- Does the company have an efficient network of quality IT talent?
- Do they follow an efficient vetting process involving screening and assessing candidates and validating their skills and experiences?
- Are they a reputed agency with a track record of providing quality tech talent?
- Will they provide a comprehensive range of services for short term, long term, contract and project support?
If you can answer a yes to all these questions, you have found a reliable IT staffing company. Now you can employ them to meet your hiring needs.
Aufait Technical Consulting is a trusted IT consulting service provider that can help you hire professionals to meet your organization’s talent requirements. We follow a comprehensive IT consulting process – with 4 steps: Define, Analyze, Strategize, and Hire – to find the best talent for our clients. We also provide IT staff augmentation services to startups and SMBs and large enterprises. Get in touch with us if you are looking to hire IT professionals to enhance your team and fuel your business growth.