How do you ensure that your IT new hires have the right mix of technical skills? We recommend that you “tech ‘em out”. This is the Agile phrase for the specific steps added to the interview process to assess a candidate’s technical skill set.

Here are five, specific examples that technology recruiters and hiring managers can use to identify top IT talent for your organization.

1) Include Technical SMEs In The Interview Process

One of the most common methods to “tech out” candidates is to include technical, subject matter experts in your interview process. By asking very technical questions and requiring candidates to provide detailed, technical answers, your SMEs can swiftly identify the most qualified people.

2) Ask Behavioral Interview Questions Focused on Technical Competencies

Behavioral interviewing is a method to assess a candidate’s skill set by asking questions about specific, employment related situations, that occurred in a candidate’s work history.

For example, instead of asking, “How would you handle a complex technical project in a matrixed organization?”, a behavioral interviewer would ask, “Give me a specific example of when you managed a complex, technical project in a matrixed organization. What was the outcome? What was your major contribution in that project?” The assumption is that a candidate’s past performance will help predict future performance.

3) Ask Candidates To Complete Online, Skills Assessments

Another method to assess technical skills is to ask candidates to complete online assessments. These are online tests focused on specific software packages, programming languages and/or technical competencies.

Brainbench, a Previsor company, is considered the industry leader in this area and is one of the only assessment companies that is ISO 9001-2000 certified. Other assessment providers include Criteria, Epsilon Technologies and Kenexa.

4) Ask Candidates To Complete Short Programming Assignments

There are some organizations that assess technical skills by asking candidates to complete short programming assignment that align with their business needs. These assignments are then reviewed by internal, subject matter experts for quality and accuracy.

5) Get Technical During Reference Checks

Once you identify strong candidates during the interview process, it is very important to “tech ‘em out” during the reference check. In addition to asking questions about overall job performance, ask the references for specific examples of technical contributions that relate to your open position.

By adding some or all of these steps to your technology hiring process you will become a “tech ‘em out” master and significantly increase the likelihood of finding and hiring top talent for your IT organization.

You may also be interested in an earlier Agile blog post, “How to Use Social Media to Research Technology Candidates”.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 3rd, 2010 at 2:26 pm and is filed under IT Recruiting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.