What kind of employee do I need?
Discussion
I need to hire someone into a small company of <10 employees although we're spread over 3 offices a few hundred miles apart.
Experience in IT support is essential, although this will only be a small part of the job - we have less than 10 PCs and only really use online software, so there's very little to do - no more than 1 hour per day usually. But I don't want someone without the experience because they need to hit the ground running.
I'm currently the only technical person in the company but due to my workload I can't commit that 1 hour long-term, and if/when something bigger happens I won't be able to deal with it quick enough.
They would have to occasionally travel to the other side of the country to sort out the network or whatever in another office.
For the rest of the time - it would be good if they were happy taking sales/customer service calls (a little industry training will be required, but we can give it). It's a very low-pressure environment, not at all about aggressive sales, but they need to be professional and pleasant on the phone - from experience this is not always the case with IT people.
And sometimes I'll need data analysis/reporting done... Boring, time-consuming, but simple financial stuff...
What are my chances of finding a single employee to do all of this for ~£20k in Scotland? How do I even advertise for a job like that?
Experience in IT support is essential, although this will only be a small part of the job - we have less than 10 PCs and only really use online software, so there's very little to do - no more than 1 hour per day usually. But I don't want someone without the experience because they need to hit the ground running.
I'm currently the only technical person in the company but due to my workload I can't commit that 1 hour long-term, and if/when something bigger happens I won't be able to deal with it quick enough.
They would have to occasionally travel to the other side of the country to sort out the network or whatever in another office.
For the rest of the time - it would be good if they were happy taking sales/customer service calls (a little industry training will be required, but we can give it). It's a very low-pressure environment, not at all about aggressive sales, but they need to be professional and pleasant on the phone - from experience this is not always the case with IT people.
And sometimes I'll need data analysis/reporting done... Boring, time-consuming, but simple financial stuff...
What are my chances of finding a single employee to do all of this for ~£20k in Scotland? How do I even advertise for a job like that?
Contact a local college? Go in and have a chat to some students who may be looking? Try and gauge what they’re capable of? Course tutors will be able to direct you towards students who are good at time keeping/studies etc...
My brother has his own gas fitting business and has found his last two employees his was as he wanted someone to hit the ground running and who had something about them. Found it much more worthwhile doing this than placing an advert and waiting for anyone to make contact.
My brother has his own gas fitting business and has found his last two employees his was as he wanted someone to hit the ground running and who had something about them. Found it much more worthwhile doing this than placing an advert and waiting for anyone to make contact.
Some feedback if it’s helpful.
I think you’re asking a lot for £20k, particularly with the travel involved. Assuming too you’d want them to just drop what they were doing and travel to fix a problem if it arose. Assuming this occurred later in the day, would you expect them to travel and stay overnight?
Then doing some basic customer service stuff is a completely different skill set.
Have you considered leasing your IT with support built in? What sort of issues have you experienced? Are these not able to be dialled out?
This would then leave you with a role for your customer facing work. You’d then be able to hire someone good just for this role and get a better outcome possibly.
Just some thoughts.
I think you’re asking a lot for £20k, particularly with the travel involved. Assuming too you’d want them to just drop what they were doing and travel to fix a problem if it arose. Assuming this occurred later in the day, would you expect them to travel and stay overnight?
Then doing some basic customer service stuff is a completely different skill set.
Have you considered leasing your IT with support built in? What sort of issues have you experienced? Are these not able to be dialled out?
This would then leave you with a role for your customer facing work. You’d then be able to hire someone good just for this role and get a better outcome possibly.
Just some thoughts.
For me it depends on what you mean by IT support. If it is basic enough self taught stuff then in Scotland I think you could get a good generalist business management graduate for 20k but specify specific experience in maintaining IT systems required.
If it is technical IT support (which if I've read correct it is) that your business would rely upon to run properly the reverse would be trickier - i.e. An IT specialist willing and able to generalise for entry level salary. Rather than try to occupy their time have you thought about a non full time role? Could get someone experienced that way looking for flex hours. Otherwise the college idea is a good one as you are looking for the 'added value' candidate, tricky but doable - just be clear in the advert and if you can offer genuine development too this will attract the kind of person you are after.
If it is technical IT support (which if I've read correct it is) that your business would rely upon to run properly the reverse would be trickier - i.e. An IT specialist willing and able to generalise for entry level salary. Rather than try to occupy their time have you thought about a non full time role? Could get someone experienced that way looking for flex hours. Otherwise the college idea is a good one as you are looking for the 'added value' candidate, tricky but doable - just be clear in the advert and if you can offer genuine development too this will attract the kind of person you are after.
Edited by Fatherofdragons on Wednesday 21st February 00:08
rog007 said:
Some feedback if it’s helpful.
I think you’re asking a lot for £20k, particularly with the travel involved. Assuming too you’d want them to just drop what they were doing and travel to fix a problem if it arose. Assuming this occurred later in the day, would you expect them to travel and stay overnight?
Then doing some basic customer service stuff is a completely different skill set.
Have you considered leasing your IT with support built in? What sort of issues have you experienced? Are these not able to be dialled out?
This would then leave you with a role for your customer facing work. You’d then be able to hire someone good just for this role and get a better outcome possibly.
Just some thoughts.
This - two different roles with different skillsets... and for the level of IT support you appear to require, you might get better results if you sub it out to an IT company.I think you’re asking a lot for £20k, particularly with the travel involved. Assuming too you’d want them to just drop what they were doing and travel to fix a problem if it arose. Assuming this occurred later in the day, would you expect them to travel and stay overnight?
Then doing some basic customer service stuff is a completely different skill set.
Have you considered leasing your IT with support built in? What sort of issues have you experienced? Are these not able to be dialled out?
This would then leave you with a role for your customer facing work. You’d then be able to hire someone good just for this role and get a better outcome possibly.
Just some thoughts.
You may get lucky and find somebody, but I think that will come more from word of mouth, forums etc, rather than creating a job description and pushing it out via the usual routes.
Because the two components that you require are quite different, the position will have limited appeal. The career IT person is unlikely to want the other parts and visa versa. So you could end up with maybe a 'hobby' IT' person. You could get lucky and find somebody who is looking for a way to get into the other area, or somebody who is looking for a good company, but if you try to target these, you are limiting your audience.
I'd agree with many of the other comments, in that I think it would be wise to at least consider having a 3rd party run your IT. We build bespoke support packages for our clients, around their specific needs, and include on-site time as required. It is a competitive space, and you may find it is cheaper than you would expect. (Please don't think I am pitching, as I very much doubt we could service Scotland!)
If you wanted to have a chat about how this works for our clients, feel free to pm me, and I will happily answer any questions, and give you some pointers as to what to look out for in companies more local to you.
Because the two components that you require are quite different, the position will have limited appeal. The career IT person is unlikely to want the other parts and visa versa. So you could end up with maybe a 'hobby' IT' person. You could get lucky and find somebody who is looking for a way to get into the other area, or somebody who is looking for a good company, but if you try to target these, you are limiting your audience.
I'd agree with many of the other comments, in that I think it would be wise to at least consider having a 3rd party run your IT. We build bespoke support packages for our clients, around their specific needs, and include on-site time as required. It is a competitive space, and you may find it is cheaper than you would expect. (Please don't think I am pitching, as I very much doubt we could service Scotland!)
If you wanted to have a chat about how this works for our clients, feel free to pm me, and I will happily answer any questions, and give you some pointers as to what to look out for in companies more local to you.
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