IT Hiring: Best Practices to Know

Without a doubt, making the right hire is an important decision in any field. In information technology (IT), that decision takes on another level of importance. Tech workers handle sensitive information, navigate data privacy, install cybersecurity systems, and much more. Regardless of the IT role you’re hiring for, adhering to some general guidelines can make a huge difference.

We’ve put together a guide that lays out some hiring best practices for the IT industry. From skills-focused evaluations and asking great interview questions to ensuring cultural fit, we’ll dive into the hiring protocol to ensure your IT department is stronger than ever and ready to tackle whatever tasks come its way.

If you want to make your next IT hire with confidence, then contact us online now to begin the process. In the meantime, you can learn all about effective hiring practices for IT managers below.

Best Hiring Practices in Information Technology

When it comes to IT hiring practices, you’ll want to focus on three key things:

1. Identify talent: Make sure the candidate’s skills match your company needs and that the candidate will do the job effectively and efficiently.
2. Standardize systems: By removing as much bias from the equation as possible and abiding by a structured hiring process, you’re giving all candidates a fair shot.
3. Create insightful interview questions: Finding the right candidate means asking the right interview questions, and the job interview is the best place to ensure both technical and cultural fit.

Think of these factors as the three main categories of your hiring process. Within each category, there are various subcategories you can work on improving. For instance, how does your approach change when considering in-person vs. remote talent? What diversity, equity, and inclusivity measures have you implemented? Are there any unconventional, outside-of-the-box methods you should consider?

The answers to these questions will vary from one hiring manager to another, but they’re worth considering nonetheless. We’ll briefly explore these aspects so you can build a strategy for IT job hiring that’s tailored to your business’ needs.

Best Practices for Hiring Remote IT Talent

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, remote work has become increasingly more common. According to our own survey last year, we discovered that nearly 56% of our local tech workforce is employed by a company with non-local headquarters. As remote work becomes just as standard as in-person roles, you’ll need to adapt your hiring strategy to reflect this shift.

Just as remote positions can function differently from their in-person counterparts, your hiring practices for those roles should reflect those differences, as well. For example, IT candidate fraud is significantly more prevalent in remote interviews, given how technology has made it much easier for culprits to commit it.

However, there are some things you can do to detect it. For instance, some best practices for hiring remote IT consultants include:

• Verifying with state-issued ID: Asking for governmental documentation helps ensure that the person is truly who they say they are.
• Conducting conversational interviews: Follow-up questions not only make the interview feel more like a real conversation, but they also prevent the predictable Q&A session that fraudulent candidates will want.
• Digging deeper into their LinkedIn profile: Look at details such as the profile creation date and their connections at purportedly previous places of employment.

Also, during a video interview, pay attention to any latency, unusual speech patterns, and strange lighting angles. If your gut is giving you a bad feeling, then consider why that’s the case. It could be another case of candidate fraud. Interview best practices for hiring managers can change depending on when and where the interview is taking place, so be sure to adapt your strategy accordingly.

Inclusive Hiring Practices

Developing and implementing equitable hiring practices is integral to any business. There are many ways to ensure your company is more inclusive to people with disabilities, people of color, and people with criminal histories.

For IT hiring agencies looking to create a more inclusive workforce, here are just a few methods you can incorporate into that process:

• Create an accessible environment: Some people with disabilities may need accommodations such as flexible work schedules, assistive technology, sign language interpreters, and/or transportation.
• Provide bias awareness training: Hiring managers should implement regular bias training initiatives to ensure they and their teams are aware of any prejudices that may subconsciously affect the hiring process.
• Work with re-entry programs: Partnering with re-entry organizations will allow you to draw from a wider pool of candidates who are motivated and eager to do the job.

To further avoid potential prejudice, you can also use work samples as a dependable way to evaluate talent. These should provide fair overviews of candidates’ capabilities and how they harness their skills in real-life scenarios.

Leveling the playing field for all candidates means a more productive workforce, as studies have shown. More importantly, equitable hiring practices allow employees to feel valued and better understood, leading to an overall happier workplace.

Non-Traditional IT Hiring Practices

For a long time now, hiring practices in IT have favored tradition over innovation. But, these days, resumes aren’t a perfect method for evaluating viable talent, both in terms of the people making them and the people screening them, as The Atlantic reported recently. Part of that is because people can always answer questions the way they think you want them to, and the rise of AI has only made that more feasible for candidates and more difficult for hiring managers.

So, how do you find candidates who stand out from the crowd? Stand out from the crowd yourself. In addition to conventional hiring practices, you can add your own spin to the process that demonstrates your company’s unique values and mission. Take these examples:

• Host a hackathon: For IT hiring, you can host a hackathon, a large-scale coding challenge that puts candidates’ skills to the test with engaging games and puzzles.
• Create an apprenticeship program: Establishing your company as an expert voice in the IT industry can go a long way, and starting an educational program, such as an apprenticeship or mentorship, could also mean building your own in-house talent pool.
• Collaborative assessments: Having a candidate work with someone on staff on a hypothetical project can demonstrate their cultural fit and showcase how they work with other team members. Communication skills are critical, and seeing how they collaborate can give you a solid idea of how they’d mesh with the company and provide yet another work sample.

Our Own Hiring Practices [4 Areas of Focus]

We’ve given you some examples of the best hiring practices, but it might be helpful to outline what we look for when we’re evaluating candidates here at TriCom. The four areas we give the most attention are:

1. Character: A candidate might be intelligent and have all the right skills, but do they work well within a team setting?
2. Attitude: The tech world is rapidly changing, but having a calm, positive attitude despite it all can boost team morale. What is the candidate’s attitude toward the industry and the work they’re doing?
3. Motivation: Does the candidate like and want to do the work, and are they enthusiastic about what they can accomplish at the company?
4. Aptitude: Do they show curiosity and an eagerness to learn? How do they apply what they learn to their daily output?

If you have any further questions about IT hiring best practices for your organization, then don’t hesitate to get in touch with us. Fill out our online contact form to speak with one of our recruiters or account managers. At the core of any hiring decision, you can rely on our evergreen motto: It matters who you work with.