However, hiring data processing personnel is a highly specialized task, and it's my opinion, as well as the opinion of many personnel directors, that interviewing data processing personnel should be handled by the DP department, and for the higher-level positions, the DP manager must do the interviewing.
If the people doing the initial interviewing do not fully understand data processing nuances and terminology and the similarity (or lack of similarity) of various hardware and software, they run the risk of eliminating the very people who might perfectly fit the job; they may end up submitting those who seem to conform best to the corporate culture, and whose resumes appear to conform to the job specifications. I believe it works better to have DPers approve of the candidate first, and then send the candidate to the personnel department for reference checking and other hiring procedures.
But you should augment the personnel department's efforts by using your network of contacts within data processing to identify talented people who are out of work or, for various reasons, are looking to change jobs. Your contacts with professional data processing organizations can be especially helpful.
- Look to yourself, your family, your circle of friends, and the employees already working for you as sources of leads. We've been handed the myth that hiring friends, or friends of friends, is bad practice. That really doesn't make a lot of sense if you think about it. If one of your employees recommends someone who is hired, that person is putting himself or herself on the line and will be careful about whom they recommend to you. Another advantage (and when we get to reference checking it will become more apparent) is that when an employee or friend recommends someone, there comes with that person a built-in reference from someone you know and trust.
- Another hiring myth we've had imposed on us is that we should never hire people older than we are. Again, that doesn't withstand scrutiny when you consider that older people are often more reliable, loyal, and productive, and, contrary to the myth, do not resent taking orders from younger people.
- Another myth: don't hire people who are "over-qualified" for the job. True, such individuals may become bored and may eventually leave, but if you have made good use of them while they worked for you, you will have gotten your money's worth. Besides, if you treat them properly, they may stay with you, which gives you an "overqualified" person to help in that career leveraging I talked about earlier.
- Still another myth has to do with never hiring people who are related to others in your company. If both are good workers, you will end with a situation in which company loyalty becomes a family affair, which has its advantages.
- Avoid the natural temptation to look only for candidates who have extensive experience in precisely what your department is doing. I'm not suggesting eliminating those people from consideration, but I do recommend placing more emphasis on innate talent, rather than going for recycled "experts." Hiring only from a pool of such people results in inbreeding within your department that is not conducive to innovation and aggressive problem-solving.
- Make sure you understand that your own prejudices must be sidetracked from the hiring process before you interview candidates. I've known top executives who were so consumed with prejudices that by the time they finished informing the personnel department of traits in candidates that would rule them out, they were left with an impossibly narrow field from which to choose. One such gentleman was the president of a small firm who would never hire a fat man because, in his words, "Fat people steal." I know another executive who will hire only people born under certain astrological signs.
Think of all the prejudices you've come across in business, such as the myth that short people all have inferiority complexes and aren't natural leaders, or that redheads have bad tempers. The list of myths that, for too many, have become beliefs is long and depressing. Eyes too close together indicate a shifty personality; a receding chin is a sure sign of a wimp who lacks aggressiveness; a bow tie on a man means that he will never be a team player; bald men who wear a "rug" are covering their hairless domes because they lack self-confidence.
Take all those prejudices, eliminate a candidate because he or she possesses them, and you may see your competitor end up with a bald man wearing a red wig - who has a receding chin, whose eyes are close together, and who is left-handed-leading that other company in burying you competitively.
