Are technology and today’s recruiting practices keeping you from hiring the best people?

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I am not alone in my belief that the most important decisions leaders make involve selecting the best people to join their team.

Steve Jobs - "I noticed that the dynamic range between what an average person could accomplish and what the best person could accomplish was 50 or 100 to 1."

The good news is that advances in technology and more recently social media have been a great help in reaching an extremely large audience and generating interest in open positions.  We have access to a seemingly limitless pool of potential candidates.  We have a huge net...life is good, right?

Why is it that the #1 concern I hear from hiring managers is the quality of the candidates they get?   Part of the answer lies in the recruiting process, more specifically the recruiting lens with which candidates are being screened/evaluated.  These days, candidate screening is done through ATS Systems and associate personnel with no actual hiring/leadership experience.   At odds with this is the hiring manager's expectation that the recruiting process is capable of developing a shortlist of the best candidates for the position.

You would be amazed at the number of times I have recruited for a company and the person that was hired was someone who had tried to apply through the normal process but could not even get a callback.

How do you break the cycle?  In my world, I personally evaluate every candidate for every position I work all the way through the recruiting process.  We do not use ATS or technology to screen candidates.   We rely on a recruiting lens that benefits from 20+ years of  Information Technology leadership experience.  Sometimes you have to "Turn Over Rocks".

Short of that, think about injecting your leadership experience earlier in the screening process before the best candidate is eliminated.   Adjust your expectations, screening parameters and encourage your recruiter to open things up and take some chances on the candidates they are submitting.  Stop wondering about "Why" you got that candidate...instead, think about "What If"? The extra effort will reap tremendous benefits for years to come.

Bernard Beaullieu founded Beaullieu & Associates, Inc., in 2007 as a full-service San Antonio Information Technology Staffing & Recruiting firm.   We are the antithesis of today's Information Technology Staffing providers and company internal recruiting processes.   Our philosophy is to focus extensive IT leadership and hiring experience directly to finding and engaging the best people.  Why not hire the best!

Looking to see how local San Antonio IT Leaders are implementing ITSM best practices in their organizations?

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HDI San Antonio Local Chapter LogoPlease join the HDI San Antonio Chapter Wednesday, October 21 at 11:00 AM as Ron Willbanks, Senior Director for Infrastructure & Operations at CPS Energy, presents an ITSM Maturity Roadmap and overview of his organization’s plan to implement these strategies.  This will be an interactive presentation/discussion, with other local San Antonio IT leaders sharing their ITSM experiences and plans over a lunch.

Thanks to our event sponsor, ITT Technical Institute, this event is open to the public and offered at no charge.

ITT Tech

Please visit the event announcement for more details and registration.

We look forward to seeing you on October 21st.  For any questions please contact Bernard Beaullieu, 210-710-4161.

Looking for a leadership perspective to elevate your team and achieve success?

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I have spent a good part of my career leading large Information Technology support teams covering multiple states and large geographic territories.  Early on, I learned to appreciate the overall effectiveness of the people I had supporting the remote areas.   These were normally one to two person support teams located in remote, isolated areas like Amarillo, Tyler, Midland, etc.  I have had the good fortune to work with some really great people out there and they typically knocked it out of the park!

What was it that made these people so effective?  I think it was their ability to flourish in a remote area, “Remote Mentality”.  They totally owned their turf and took responsibility for everything that went on in their territory.   When needed, these remote specialists would escalate and engage other resources to help.  Through these challenges, they served the mission and owned the outcome.

I also realized that I was a much more effective leader when managing the remotes.  By nature, I had to get out-of-the-way, empower these people to run their turf and let their “Remote Mentality” thrive.  My job was simple.  All I had to do was articulate the mission, define turf, (areas of responsibility) and support each person when they needed additional resources or help.

Here is a path to get this going in the right direction

  • Start with yourself.  Make sure you fully understand and support the mission of your organization.  Walk the walk, talk the talk.
  • Make sure that everyone on your team understands and supports the mission.
  • Clearly define areas of responsibilities, turf.
  • Get out-of-the-way and empower your people to own their turf.  Support them and get them resources and help when they need it.
  • When things go wrong look at them from a “Remote Mentality” perspective.  Did we lose sight of the mission?  Did we own the issue?  Did leadership get in the way?

I know this sounds very idealistic and simple.  Certainly, there will be bumps along the way.  Engaging a “Remote Mentality” will give your people and your organization a great chance to develop and flourish.

Bernard Beaullieu is the founder of Beaullieu & Associates, Inc., a San Antonio Information Technology Staffing & Recruiting firm.    We believe the most important decisions a leader makes involve selecting the best people to join their team.  Why not hire the best?

Looking for an IT Specialist…Why not hire the best?

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2010-InfoTech-bevel MenuI still vividly remember my first hire.  It was in the 80’s, I was a new-by manager and just did not fully appreciate the importance and impact the hiring process/decisions can make on an organization.   The lessons learned from that experience became the driving force behind a successful Information Technology Leadership career.  I vowed that every time I had the opportunity to bring someone new in to the organization, I would invest the time and find the very best person for the position.

We founded Beaullieu & Associates, Inc. in 2007 with the vision of putting this successful Information Technology Leadership experience to work helping companies hire and engage the best IT people.  We are the antithesis of today’s Information Technology Staffing providers and company internal recruiting processes. Meta Slider - HTML Overlay - Meta Slider - HTML Overlay - iStock Slider 1400

Our philosophy is to focus our leadership and hiring experience directly on recruiting and finding best people.  We rely on crisp, repeatable processes and reserve automation and associate personnel for executing the ancillary functions of our business.We combine the infrastructure and credentials to serve large enterprise organizations with the flexibility and desire to serve small business and government contractors.

We believe the most important decisions a leader makes involve selecting the best people to join their team. Whether it’s a short term project engagement or a full-time direct employee, hiring the best person is  critical to the success of your team/organization.

We look forward to learning more about how we can help you and your organization achieve phenomenal success.

Beaullieu & Associates IT Staffing & Services Celebrates 8 Years

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2010-InfoTech-bevel MenuOver the last 8 years we have had the privilege of helping hundreds of IT Professionals and many San Antonio/Austin area firms achieve the success they desire. BB061210-0468-3A huge thank you goes out to all of our clients and employees for their tremendous support. It has been a great run with 2015 shaping up to be a banner year!

Beaullieu & Associates, is a premier San Antonio Information Technology Staffing & Services provider. We founded our company in 2007 with a passion for Integrity, Service, Value and Commitment specializing in engaging local organizations as their “Go-To” source for Information Technology Staffing Services.

We are “Your Local Presence” for Information Technology Staffing & Services.