You won’t find a good IT Manager on every corner. It should be someone with both enough technical background and exceptional interpersonal skills. But are these the critical factors? How does management come at recruiting IT Managers? What are the outcomes of a common approach?
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Let’s start with the skills IT Managers need to fulfill duties. Check out this post to learn about the skills and the causes why IT Managers need them.
We’ve proven there that they need technical knowledge on a fundamental level but in a wide range of topics. They are not crucial, though. Social skills outvalue technical education when it comes to being good IT Managers.
Management board’s point of view on recruiting IT Managers
But do management boards value these things the most? Of course, they appreciate it when someone can talk with them efficiently, clearly, and politely. They care if the person will lead and motivate the IT Team and make it work like a well-oiled machine.
But what do management boards desire from the IT Manager the most? Many non-IT people find IT hard to understand. A lack of understanding usually triggers fear. We all feel anxiety when we face an unknown subject. Management board members are no different.
How not to be anxious? You lead an enterprise dependent on mechanisms you don’t understand. Of course, you can operate a computer and mobile phone. But when something breaks in the network, you are helpless. It’s even worse! How do you verify if your subordinate IT Manager does his job well? As soon as you start asking him questions, he becomes talking in a way that seems like a foreign language! You have no choice but to believe that your IT Manager does the right thing.
So, when they choose a person for an IT Manager, the decisive factors are trust and credibility.
How hunger for trust affects hiring IT Managers?
You don’t buy trust with beautiful words or fake actions during a job interview. Earning trust takes months of time and effort. That’s why supervisors recruit IT Managers from current IT teams. Many times promoted individuals don’t even wish for this kind of promotion. How it ends up?
As we’ve proven here at Netstero.com, IT Management may get painful. Unless you have a good purpose for being in this position, you’ll soon perceive it more as punishment than a reward. After some time, you’ll resign or look for a different job.
John worked as an IT Development Team Leader. He loved both scrum-based project management and making technical decisions. John was demonstrating exceptional performance, so the company offered him the CIO position. After eight months, he left for the IT Development Team Leader position in another company. As he said, he wouldn’t have considered changing jobs if he was still in his old position.
Jerry has been a great and promising IT Systems Administrator. He got the position of IT Service Desk Team Leader. After some time, he took the IT Systems Administrators Team Leader role. It seemed like a dream career, but not for him. After two years, he left the company to work as an IT System Administrator elsewhere…
These are both true stories. Bosses tend to promote the best employees in the team. If these people leave the company, it’s not a good deal for anyone. Instead of finding a good IT Manager, the organization loses a great IT employee.
How to avoid failure while recruiting IT Managers?
Does it mean you should only recruit IT Managers on the job market? Of course not! You should check how much they want this position and why they want it. Think twice if the answer is only about money, power, and prestige! Look for responses about learning to use technology and team management to deliver exceptional value!
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