- Date: April 1, 2016
- Posted by Litcom Team
- Category: Project Management
The best way to guarantee the success of any type of project is to have a strong, experienced Project Manager (PM) and a strong, experienced Business Analyst (BA). But for many organizations, finding the right qualified PM or BA often proves challenging.
For employers, the inability to find adequate talent can translate into a reduced ability to serve clients, lowered productivity and morale, increased turnover and higher costs related to compensation and severance.
The Hiring Challenge: Why is it difficult to find and hire qualified PMs and BAs?
The Hiring Process Needs Improvement
Too many recruitment processes start in the same fashion. Someone in the organization has a need, a job specification or description is created (or an outdated job description is tweaked) and subsequently handed to the HR department.
In many instances, the hiring process begins even though approval has not been sought or received before going out to the open market. Often times, this disorganization results in frustrated candidates who are upset about the fact that the organization has posted positions that didn’t exist in the first place.
Inadequate skillset for the interview process
Many HR professionals are proficient at asking questions designed to assess organizational competencies, mainly because they are trained to do so. The functional or project management competency part of the interview is generally left to the hiring manager. The hiring manager tends to be less experienced and trained in interviewing. As a result, not only do good candidates get missed and the wrong ones get hired but good PMs and BAs are more likely to turn down any subsequent job offers based on poor interview experiences too.
Improper Market timing
Slow reaction times throughout the hiring process means good PMs and BAs will go elsewhere to organizations that make quicker decisions.
How to overcome the hiring challenge and find the best PM or BA fit for your organization
Clearly identify the goals and objectives for the position
The first step when looking to hire a top notch PM or BA is identifying what the crucial goals are for this role. All too often project management or business analyst job postings are generic and focus primarily on the general technical aspects and candidate attributes.
Plan ahead
The timing for hiring a PM or BA should be recognized ahead of the actual need. Often the hiring process cuts too close to the initiating of a project, creating a situation where the rush is on and yet the choices may be too limited. The end result is hiring a good PM or BA, but not necessarily the best one for a specific role.
Reference Checking
Once the right PM or BA has been selected, spend sufficient time carefully verifying their experience, training, personality attributes, working styles, leadership and, facilitation skills to ensure the best individual for specific needs has been chosen.
Hire on a trial project basis first
It may be worthwhile to hire a contractor PM or BA to ensure the right individual with the required skill sets has been chosen prior to committing to a full-time position. This arrangement can work to the benefit of both the employer and employee to ensure the fit works and both parties want to continue with the arrangement.
What to look for in a good PM or BA?
Has Business Knowledge
Consider looking for PMs and BAs with broader high-level business knowledge and skillsets who understand how their role plays into the overall business-wide objectives.
Demonstrates leadership
While the majority of PMs and BAs will have some form of formal technical training and combined experience, not all possess leadership skills. Leadership is not simply leading, facilitating, managing and directing. True leaders must lead by example, make difficult decisions when necessary, and act in a fair manner when it comes to all stakeholders while ensuring their attention and effort remains trained on business objectives at all times.
Excels at crisis resolution
Crisis resolution is another one of those areas a PM or BA must be versed and experienced in, as this is guaranteed to be a regular fixture in the world of project management, and more often than not projects do not go as planned. PMs and BAs will often encounter one crisis or another, whether financial, time-based, human resource in nature or other related, and will need to remain calm, focused and level-headed, and act appropriately, regardless of the situation.
Communication skills
Many projects have been derailed solely on communication issues that have arisen simply because the PM or BA lacked sufficient oral, written or non-verbal communication skills. Knowing how to effectively communicate, and which medium to utilize in a particular situation is critical.
Results-oriented
Ultimately a PM or BA must be results-oriented if they are to be successful. Hiring a PM or BA that simply navigates from one phase to another without vetting whether the activities align with the end goals cannot be successful.
The Litcom Approach
Skilled, experienced consultants are in high demand and difficult to find. Litcom has an extensive team of highly knowledgeable consultants and we are able to provide the talent that technology leaders need.
Litcom provides IT staff augmentation support to our clients including (but not limited to) the following resource classifications:
- IT leaders (Interim CIOs, CTOs)
- Business Analysts;
- Project Managers; and
- Security Specialists
Contact us to learn how our IT staff augmentation solutions can help your company gain a competitive edge.
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