When you watch a baseball team, you see nine players on the field. What you generally don’t see is the 50 plus personnel, without whom the nine players are ineffective at best. Any team, without that additional personnel, are just a few guys playing in the dirt. It takes years of development from the pitching staff, batting mentors, reserve players, relief pitchers, sports medicine specialists, the list goes on. Spectators do not see what goes on behind the scenes, but it is a well-oiled machine. The nine starters have a large group of those on the bench that can step in at any given moment. In addition to the players on the bench, scouts and recruiters perpetually scan minor league teams, and nearly every professional team has several contracts with local minor teams for the first option on minor league players. The depth is astounding.
Why every business doesn’t have such a well thought out plan is a mystery.
Major league baseball teams have replacement candidates to call up within a few hours’ notice. If a player is injured, one of the players on the bench can step up, and someone in the minor leagues takes the place on the bench (until he can prove he’s capable of starting.) In the IT realm, it doesn’t make sense to change positions as dynamically as a baseball player, but it certainly benefits a business to have a list of qualified, passive candidates who have demonstrated interest.
Like a minor league “farm team,” you also should develop your own mid-level staff. This makes it significantly easier to strengthen and maintain your company culture, in addition to developing the specific criteria your company is looking for. While bringing in senior and expert talent from the outside is sometimes beneficial, having a bullpen of vetted mid-career IT associates who are ready for the next step benefits you as well. Retention, however, is one of the most crucial aspects. Turnover can be very costly, and finding a quick replacement sometimes exacerbates the problem if there aren’t already passive candidates in your funnel.
Hiring the wrong candidate creates more problems than it solves on any level of IT. No matter what shape your team is in, we can help. At Cutting Edge Recruiting Solutions, we have very experienced IT professionals in Miami who can help your business find the ideal candidate with the right qualifications. We retain a large, diverse candidate pool of IT professionals at all levels. So contact us today to get started!
