Importance of the Qualification Call

You’ve written an extremely thorough job description, and now it’s time for the qualification call. This is your opportunity to communicate a clear picture to your IT recruiter of what a hirable candidate looks like. Your IT recruiter will ask detailed questions to ensure a thorough understanding of your needs. It is important to clearly convey which skills are ‘required’ and which are ‘desired.’ Why is this so important? As every company becomes more technology driven, hiring timelines are already being squeezed by major shortages of talent and visa-related paperwork delays. Any communication gap with your recruiter at this stage puts you at risk for a costly delay in filling your much-needed position.

Outcome of Your Qualification Call

Your recruiter must clearly understand your priorities:

  • Technical skills you must have
  • Non-technical skills and values necessary to survive and thrive on your team

Let’s use an example of hiring a Project Manager for an SAP FICO upgrade implementation….

The following is a great example of the information a recruiter should take away from the qualification call:
Candidates for the Project Manager position will need experience implementing and upgrading SAP FICO and understanding how it integrates with other systems. They must be able to overcome challenges and improve the overall efficiency of the financial business processes. The Project Manager is the central point of communication for the project team and needs to understand technical aspects of the project. They should be capable of identifying problems that impact the project, and must work with the team to resolve them. They should have broad understanding of FICO and be able to explain financial processes to the business users.

Technical Skills

  • Must have SAP FICO configuration and implementation experience – including product costing and profitability analysis.
  • Integration of FICO into the core SAP modules
  • Tax experience preferably with Vertex

Non-technical Skills

  • Ability to communicate effectively at all levels of the business user community
  • Must have prior corporate financial/accounting experience
  • Strong conflict resolution skills
  • Proven success in SAP FICO project management
  • Understand the theory behind accounting chart of accounts

While this is a concise and specific example, it conveys the important points your IT recruiter needs. It is important to note, the available candidate pool may dictate where you need flexibility in the job requirements and compensation. Ongoing communication with your recruiter will provide insight to the moving target that is the IT candidate market.

Before you end the job order discussion, you should establish the level of urgency for this position. This will set the hiring timeline and allow the recruiter to effectively craft a search plan.

With 40 years of experience, Cemco uses a consultative approach throughout the hiring process. Through ongoing communication, we have built a proven track record of success in sourcing exceptional candidates for our clients – and it all starts with the qualification call.

 

Employers: Call Cemco Systems at 630.573.5050. Cemco Systems is a premier contract recruiting firm placing employees in direct hire and contract positions nation wide.

Job Seekers: Follow Cemco Systems on LinkedIn to be the first hear about new job opportunities.