I'm at the fun (!) stage of business growth where I have too much work for myself but not quite enough money in the bank to take on a full time employee. I've been using a freelance contractor to cover most of home/SOHO jobs we get but he isn't interested in doing the business stuff (and doesnt have the MS server skills), so I'm looking for one or two contractors who can handle server/SBS 2003/2008 in the small business environment (small business here is under 20 workstations) and hopefully at least one of those will be able to go permanent this year.
I put an ad on Seek (probably Australias largest online jobs website) and so far have had a dozen or so responses but a lot of those aren't suitable as some of them don't even live in the same state as me, and three are in a different country (!). The ad was extremely clear that it was a freelance/contractor role, no guranteed hours etc but people still apply from overseas and some not even including the requested cover letter. Still it means you can weed out the time wasters pretty fast.
Anyway I have 3 or 4 I am going to follow up with and just wondered if anyone had any pointers for things to check with them, ask them about, ways of finding out their real knowledge on a particular skill/platform/OS etc.
Also, one of the reasons people use me is that I get along with people very well, I don't come across like a techie, i can relate well and can explain things very easily. People trust me easily which is a major reason 95% of our business growth is word of mouth and we don't really advertise much yet. The ideal technician will have some of this ability as well, be friendly and able to relate to people and inspire confidence. Any suggestions as to how I might help determine what somebodys ability is in this area in a conversation, phone or face to face? Obviously i'll form my own impression when talking with them but a 30 minute interview often doesnt really tell you a lot about someone when they are on their best behaviour and have a good idea of the right things to say, especially when it comes to customer service.
And generally, any advice/things to do or avoid in this stage of recruitment?
And lastly (maybe i should post this in a different thread) does anyone know where I might find a standard/template employment contract relating to the IT industry, or contractors? Just a base I can ad my own terms/conditions into. I'll have one drawn up professionally when i take on permanent staff but cash flow is a bit tight for that right now.
cheers
nathan
I put an ad on Seek (probably Australias largest online jobs website) and so far have had a dozen or so responses but a lot of those aren't suitable as some of them don't even live in the same state as me, and three are in a different country (!). The ad was extremely clear that it was a freelance/contractor role, no guranteed hours etc but people still apply from overseas and some not even including the requested cover letter. Still it means you can weed out the time wasters pretty fast.
Anyway I have 3 or 4 I am going to follow up with and just wondered if anyone had any pointers for things to check with them, ask them about, ways of finding out their real knowledge on a particular skill/platform/OS etc.
Also, one of the reasons people use me is that I get along with people very well, I don't come across like a techie, i can relate well and can explain things very easily. People trust me easily which is a major reason 95% of our business growth is word of mouth and we don't really advertise much yet. The ideal technician will have some of this ability as well, be friendly and able to relate to people and inspire confidence. Any suggestions as to how I might help determine what somebodys ability is in this area in a conversation, phone or face to face? Obviously i'll form my own impression when talking with them but a 30 minute interview often doesnt really tell you a lot about someone when they are on their best behaviour and have a good idea of the right things to say, especially when it comes to customer service.
And generally, any advice/things to do or avoid in this stage of recruitment?
And lastly (maybe i should post this in a different thread) does anyone know where I might find a standard/template employment contract relating to the IT industry, or contractors? Just a base I can ad my own terms/conditions into. I'll have one drawn up professionally when i take on permanent staff but cash flow is a bit tight for that right now.
cheers
nathan
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