Having a business unit that focus on outsourcing, one of our main needs is to hire qualified people to meet our clients requirements.
At RUPEAL we want our software business unit to specialize in one area: Java. We’re aiming to have the best team on Java development that we can have on the market.
Now the funny part is that as deep as we get on this market (of outsourcing to other companies), we’re finding out that the more versatile the consultant is, the more “marketable” he is!
Different clients, have different recruitment philosophies. For instance, one of our major clients, doesn’t give much value to experts on a given matter, like Java or .NET. The company cares more to know that the person has an attitude of “if I don’t know about the subject, I’ll go and find out as possible as I can”, to having a profile of a computer guru on a given matter! The computer skills aren’t irrelevant, but they tend to go to second place.
The fact is: The final client wants to “buy” a team to whom he expects to trust, and communicate their IT needs. If you buy a team of a bunch of geeks who doesn’t know how to do team work, communicate and ultimately make the client smile… it’s already a lost battle!
I’m learning that “computer gurus” most of the times, don’t have the social skills that are required for a consulting job! I’m talking about selling skills, presentation skills, persuasion skills and emotional intelligence! A lesson to learn here: Computer skills doesn’t bring the bacon home.
This has made me think about a lot of the kind of people that I want to hire for the Consulting business unit of RUPEAL. Do I really want to have a team of (only) geeks?
What would you do on this subject? What do you think about it?
