New IT Position UK, any advice/feedback?
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Hi folks,
I'll be hiring in the UK. I have drawn up a rough job spec, can you see anything that should change here? The profile covers roughly what I am looking for and is quite broad, but I think is fair. What feedback would you give on this? Its not up on any database yet as its in draft form. This role is around a 60%/40% split towards support.
Role: IT Support/Entry Level Infrastructure
Reporting to the IT Lead EMEA/APAC you will have influence of our global environment. This role will provide you with a variety of tasks and challenges and combines a range of IT support work with IT/infrastructure project work. You will be able to balance responding to technical support requests with projects, and have the ability to work both independently and collaboratively with our global IT team.
Performance Objectives:
• Support of all business critical IT services
• Monitoring, maintaining and improving IT Infrastructure, network, security, storage, virtualized environments, servers, network devices & productivity tools
• Proactively identifying and dealing with performance and security issues
• Acting as a technical resource to fellow team members
• Maintenance of IT policies, reports and documentationQualifications:
• You are a self-starter
• You enjoy technical challenges
• You are keen to always roll up your sleeves and dig in, whilst having the ability to look at the bigger picture
• You can connect and engage with all levels of the organizationEducation:
• Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate (MCSA) – an asset
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or equivalent education/IT experience in the computer science fieldCompetencies:
• Minimum eight (5) years’ experience within Information Technology
• Cloud based/hosted services environments (including infrastructure networks, hardware, software and telecommunications)
• Security relating to cloud based infrastructure, internal systems any hybrid infrastructures
• Support and troubleshoot SQL and Oracle servers
• Champion the adoption of Office 365 services as appropriate for our business
• Assist with the creation of policies around the proper use of Office 365 services and support
• Knowledge of Office 365 Teams/Groups/Video/Power BI
• Supporting Skype for Business and troubleshooting call quality issues
• Experience managing directory sync into Azure AD
• Strong virtualization experience using Hyper-V, Citrix XenApp and NetScaler
• SAN and NAS storage devices (with a variety of connection methods)
• Managing a variety of network switches, routers and Wi-Fi access points
• Cisco networking and Dell networkingBest,
Jim -
I don't know Jim, but it does sound like you want to find one IT support guy that somehow has the skill of five specialists.
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@Pete-S said in New IT Position UK, any advice/feedback?:
I don't know Jim, but it does sound like you want to find one IT support guy that somehow has the skill of five specialists.
I am trying to set somebody with mostly IT Support with some Entry Level Infrastructure, I understand I wont get everything on the job spec, nobody ever does... and those more expert skills are some they would build whilst working here with courses we pay for, but to start with some knowledge would help...
What do you think it should change to?
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@Jimmy9008 said in New IT Position UK, any advice/feedback?:
@Pete-S said in New IT Position UK, any advice/feedback?:
I don't know Jim, but it does sound like you want to find one IT support guy that somehow has the skill of five specialists.
I am trying to set somebody with mostly IT Support with some Entry Level Infrastructure, I understand I wont get everything on the job spec, nobody ever does... and those more expert skills are some they would build whilst working here with courses we pay for, but to start with some knowledge would help...
What do you think it should change to?
I don't have much experience hiring people so I have to refer to others on that one.
But maybe it would makes sense, at least in your mind, to specify what skills and experience the person really needs and then the rest can be areas that the person can grow into.
And the skills you are looking for has to be things that you are likely to find in an employee at that level. For instance you might need someone that cleans the office and takes out the trash 20% of the time and works with IT security issues 80% of the time but you will not find that in one person.
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@Pete-S said in New IT Position UK, any advice/feedback?:
I don't know Jim, but it does sound like you want to find one IT support guy that somehow has the skill of five specialists.
And pay them as entry level
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You're asking for a cloud expert in competencies, but are saying it's entry level infrastructure. Which one is it?
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@Jimmy9008 said in New IT Position UK, any advice/feedback?:
• Monitoring, maintaining and improving IT Infrastructure, network, security, storage, virtualized environments, servers, network devices & productivity tools
Is there budget to support these tasks? Nothing worse than saying you want to improve a firewall, and being told there is no money.
I agree that this is REALLY broad and after reading the description, I can say you will likely not find someone with appreciable skills in all areas.
I wouldn't answer this ad because I don't feel I could provide enough value to my employer in every area. I think you should clarify that you are okay with novice skills in some areas if they are offset with advanced skills in other areas.
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@Jimmy9008 said in New IT Position UK, any advice/feedback?:
Competencies:
• Minimum eight (5) years’ experience within Information TechnologyI might be wrong, but I'm not sure you're allowed to say this in the UK anymore, as it could be construed as age discrimination.
I was thinking of applying as I meet every criteria exactly, but then realised I wasn't a self-starter, so sadly will have to pass
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@Carnival-Boy said in New IT Position UK, any advice/feedback?:
I'm not sure you're allowed to say this in the UK anymore, as it could be construed as age discrimination.
I can't imagine that being true. How else do you measure experience and/or competency in a field or with a given technology.
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@IRJ said in New IT Position UK, any advice/feedback?:
ture
Its entry level. They would be junior on the infrastructure side, but should know the basics. I guess that does not come over in the text, ill review. Any complex items would either go to a higher up tech, or they would work side by side for knowledge.
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@JasGot said in New IT Position UK, any advice/feedback?:
@Jimmy9008 said in New IT Position UK, any advice/feedback?:
• Monitoring, maintaining and improving IT Infrastructure, network, security, storage, virtualized environments, servers, network devices & productivity tools
Is there budget to support these tasks? Nothing worse than saying you want to improve a firewall, and being told there is no money.
I agree that this is REALLY broad and after reading the description, I can say you will likely not find someone with appreciable skills in all areas.
I wouldn't answer this ad because I don't feel I could provide enough value to my employer in every area. I think you should clarify that you are okay with novice skills in some areas if they are offset with advanced skills in other areas.
Yep, budget is available. I guess I need to change the language slightly in the descriptions. They are items I would like the person to have an understanding of, and maybe some very basic time using, but not an expert.
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@Obsolesce said in New IT Position UK, any advice/feedback?:
@Carnival-Boy said in New IT Position UK, any advice/feedback?:
I'm not sure you're allowed to say this in the UK anymore, as it could be construed as age discrimination.
I can't imagine that being true. How else do you measure experience and/or competency in a field or with a given technology.
I think its to stop accidental discrimination against age.
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Why don't you list these instead:
Job description:
<A paragraph or two about the position/role.>
Then these listed:
- What you'll do
- Basic Qualifications
- Preferred Qualifications
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@IRJ said in New IT Position UK, any advice/feedback?:
You're asking for a cloud expert in competencies, but are saying it's entry level infrastructure. Which one is it?
Maybe its terminology? I use the term 'competent' to mean acceptable/satisfactory. Not expert. After 5 years of being a professional in IT with interests in technology, I would like somebody that knows a little bit about most of those items. 'Competent', not 'Expert'.
For example, if they have been doing support for 5 years for a range of companies, but does not have any competency at all with Office 365, then they would not be a good match.
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@Jimmy9008 said in New IT Position UK, any advice/feedback?:
@Obsolesce said in New IT Position UK, any advice/feedback?:
@Carnival-Boy said in New IT Position UK, any advice/feedback?:
I'm not sure you're allowed to say this in the UK anymore, as it could be construed as age discrimination.
I can't imagine that being true. How else do you measure experience and/or competency in a field or with a given technology.
I think its to stop accidental discrimination against age.
That doesn't make sense. Enough experience is enough experience, regardless of age. Who is putting their age on resumes?
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@Jimmy9008 said in New IT Position UK, any advice/feedback?:
@IRJ said in New IT Position UK, any advice/feedback?:
You're asking for a cloud expert in competencies, but are saying it's entry level infrastructure. Which one is it?
Maybe its terminology? I use the term 'competent' to mean acceptable/satisfactory. Not expert. After 5 years of being a professional in IT with interests in technology, I would like somebody that knows a little bit about most of those items. 'Competent', not 'Expert'.
For example, if they have been doing support for 5 years for a range of companies, but does not have any competency at all with Office 365, then they would not be a good match.
Office 365 is so easy to pick up if you are experienced in IT.
It seems like you are asking for alot.
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@Obsolesce said in New IT Position UK, any advice/feedback?:
@Jimmy9008 said in New IT Position UK, any advice/feedback?:
@Obsolesce said in New IT Position UK, any advice/feedback?:
@Carnival-Boy said in New IT Position UK, any advice/feedback?:
I'm not sure you're allowed to say this in the UK anymore, as it could be construed as age discrimination.
I can't imagine that being true. How else do you measure experience and/or competency in a field or with a given technology.
I think its to stop accidental discrimination against age.
That doesn't make sense. Enough experience is enough experience, regardless of age. Who is putting their age on resumes?
Worst case, just remove the number of years, leaving experience:
"Experience working with......"
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@Jimmy9008 said in New IT Position UK, any advice/feedback?:
@IRJ said in New IT Position UK, any advice/feedback?:
You're asking for a cloud expert in competencies, but are saying it's entry level infrastructure. Which one is it?
Maybe its terminology? I use the term 'competent' to mean acceptable/satisfactory. Not expert. After 5 years of being a professional in IT with interests in technology, I would like somebody that knows a little bit about most of those items. 'Competent', not 'Expert'.
For example, if they have been doing support for 5 years for a range of companies, but does not have any competency at all with Office 365, then they would not be a good match.
Maybe like @Obsolesce mentioned, create a few different categories of skills/qualifications.
We all understand that the applicant may touch all areas during the course of a month but what is 80% of their daily duties? You mentioned certain %'s in your post but will they do mostly support calls, setup/config O365, Azure AD setup/support and login to a hypervisor host?
If they are only going to touch the SAN/NAS, support Oracle and do network security only for 10 hours a month, that could go under a "Limited skills" segment.
You stated you are willing to train the individual, so items in the competency category should cover most of their required daily duties. They can learn the rest through training, working in a team and further education.
