Translation issues between IT and HR causing poor IT employment choices

Job skills are being lost in translation between IT and HR says Hudson

Poor IT employments are being made due to poor communication between IT and HR, according to HR supplier Hudson.

The company claims there is a disconnect between IT roles and HR teams, forcing IT to take the lead in recruitment processes.

According to Gary Fay, regional IT director at Hudson, the barrier begins with a poorly structured job specification for the role: “IT is becoming increasingly specialised and, while technical capability remains important, IT teams are now looking for candidates who have wider skills to offer.

“Specialist roles often see the introduction of a professional language that is generally only really understood by individuals working in those roles and, as it transfers from departments outside of IT, these points can get lost in translation.”

Fay said a loss in translation can lead to poorly structured job specifications that are either ineffective in communicating the job role or seek the wrong skills. 

“This lack of connectivity at best lengthens the recruitment process and at worst leads to an ineffective hire, all of which costs the business money,” he added.

Hudson’s 3D software assesses each candidate’s skills, technical knowledge and cultural fit.

Recently, body repair firm AutoRestore appointed a head of information technology using the 3D approach. The company needed a candidate who would be held accountable for the overall delivery of IT services as well as playing a role in information and data governance.

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The Hudson team worked with AutoRestore to create a job description tailored to the role through the 3D software. Out of 109 applications, it was filtered down to nine, out of which five were invited for an interview. The process took six weeks, with three candidates scoring as potential hires.

Patrick Dignan, customer experience director from AutoRestore, said the 3D process enabled the company to find exactly the right kind of candidates: “We were looking for an emotionally intelligent technical expert, the insight that we were provided with was spot on and, as a result, we were able to weigh up the candidates across a range of technical and behavioural competencies.

“We then chose a candidate we were confident could fulfill the technical brief but more importantly could create a climate that others would be motivated to work and innovate within.”


QA Apprenticeships places 5,000th young person into technology sector

In further news, QA Apprenticeships has announced it has placed its 5000th apprentice in the IT sector.

The Slough-based recruiter claims to have placed the 5,000 apprentices in the last five years, with 2,500 of them finding an apprenticeship in the last 13 months.

For September, the firm claims to have placed 500 apprentices in IT businesses across the UK.

Ben Pike, director of QA Apprenticeships, said: “To start the IT careers of 500 young people in a month, and see thousands more apprentices and employers benefitting from our unique approach to training, are two fantastic milestones for our team – of which we are very proud. To maintain these amazing results we have needed huge capability and commitment across all areas of the business.

“We have always taken a proactive approach to meeting customer needs and in the acceleration of our business we are now seeing the rewards. But, as we grow, we know we must keep answering the needs of our rapidly growing customer base with products and services that add value for the long term.”

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