Hiring the Best Knowledge Workers, Techies and Nerds: The Secrets and 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 résumés 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 more

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.

Johanna Rothman is a highly regarded speaker, author, and consultant; she is known for her pragmatic approach to the problems of managing high technology product development and workers. During the past twenty years, she has been influential in the hiring of hundreds of technical people, including developers, testers, technical editors, technical support staff, and their managers. Based in Arlington, Massachusetts, she is the president of Rothman Consulting Group.