May 1, 2008 – Hiring an IT consultant

Staffing firms, due diligence can help save money, avoid pitfalls.

By Justin St. Clair
Published in the St. Louis Small Business Monthly

Nearly every small business relies on Information Technology, though chances are it’s not your core area of expertise.

That presents a unique set of issues, and a source of anxiety, when you need to hire an IT consultant to complete a short- or long-term project or to update or change your system. How do you know who can do the job, and how do you know who to trust?

Brinda Beasley, Director of Staffing Services and Resource Delivery at The Newberry Group, Inc., said that professional IT staffing firms can often be the best option, eliminating the uncertainty and the time and money that can be spent finding the right person. Newberry is a global IT consultancy based in St. Charles.

“Anyone in any kind of business that requires additional staffing assistance should consider using the expertise of an experienced IT staffing firm,” Beasley said. “You avoid having to run ads, read resumes, and qualify people. Someone else is streamlining everything for you.”

IT staffing firms can also take some of the risk out of hiring a permanent employee with contract-to-hire agreements, she said.

“It gives you the opportunity to view the candidate’s skill sets and determine if they’re a good fit for the company before bringing them in full time with benefits and all the other associated costs,” Beasley said.

Good IT staffing firms will also conduct background checks and have a multi-step screening process that includes interviews and skills assessments.

If you need to find an IT consultant without the help of a staffing firm, there are several ways to avoid the pitfalls of hiring someone without the right skills or who doesn’t fit into your environment.

“Small businesses must do their homework and check out prospective consultants as thoroughly as possible. That means more than just looking over the consultant’s resume or Web site,” said Steve Kelly, Director of the Engineering Process and Quality Assurance Group at Newberry.

“Web sites can be deceptive. Anyone can put anything on a Web site to look qualified when they are not.”

Kelly said that when he is hiring an IT professional, he has a full background check done. He’ll call previous employers to verify information on the resume and try to fill in any gaps. He also doesn’t take things like special certifications at face value.

“If they’re certified, make them show proof of their certification,” Kelly said.

Finding the right consultant can be a very cost-effective way to solve your IT problems and keep your system running. It removes the need to add someone to your payroll and the cost of benefits, and you can pay for services on an as-needed basis, Beasley said.

“You get the full capability but you don’t have the responsibility,” she said. “It can be a great benefit, as long as you do your homework.”