The Ultimate Guide to Successfully Recruiting Dynamics ERP & CRM Talent
This is the first in a series of weekly blog posts that will come to outline, in detail, the process by which one successfully recruits top Microsoft Dynamics ERP & CRM talent. Please come back often, and let us know if you have any questions at all.
The Ultimate Guide to Successfully Recruiting Dynamics ERP & CRM Talent (Part I: Defining the Target)
Step One – Understand the Position and Its Selling Points
In Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, Alice falls down the rabbit hole and arrives in Wonderland in a very confused state. As she wanders, she comes upon the Cheshire Cat and asks him which way she should go next. He responds, “That depends on where you want to go.” Alice states, “I don’t really know where I want to go.” His reply, “Then it doesn’t really matter which direction you take.”
The point is, without an iron-clad understanding of exactly where you’re going, (what kind of professional is needed), your chances of successfully filling the position are at worst, impossible and at best, largely dependent on luck. In this section, the goal is to teach you how to fully understand the requirements of your available position in order to market to and attract the ideal candidate.
Building the Job Description
The key to developing the best job description possible is to gain a crystal clear picture of the perfect candidate. If you’re lucky, you or your hiring manager has filled this type of role before, and you have access to an existing job description fitting your needs. If you are able to use an existing job description, you should make sure it’s as complete as possible. This is especially true when it comes to:
1. The necessary responsibilities of the position.
2. The skills which are absolutely required for a candidate to be ableto perform the job.
It’s crucial in both of these areas to separate which items on your list are vital and which items constitute a “nice to have”. You must understand who your perfect candidate would be to understand your target. Keep in mind, though, recruiting is a dynamic & artistic process, so keep your mind open! A rigid job description packed with requirements can tend to slow down and clog a search. Being a perfectionist in this process can make you blind to some wonderful surprises. A flexible, well-designed description helps open your eyes to new possibilities. It can help you identify a great fit for your company that might otherwise have been missed.
Asking the Right Questions
If you are developing a job description from scratch the worksheet below will serve as a helpful guide to gathering all of the information you’ll need to begin your search 100% in the know. At DyNexus Recruiting, we use this model each and every time we start a new search for a client.
You can download a PDF copy of this questionnaire at http://bit.ly/1pnzr0t.
Step One – Understanding the Position (Cont.)
DYNEXUS CANDIDATE SEARCH KICK-OFF QUESTIONNAIRE:
TECHNICAL/FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS:
1. What is the nature of ERP/CRM work needed from this role? (Upgrade, New installation…)
2. What brand and version of ERP/CRM? (Dynamics AX, Sage X3, etc..)
3. ERP/CRM System Size? (Single site or multi-site and # of seats)
4. Size of project? (Single-site or multi-site and # of seats)
5. Critical skills/abilities needed for the role?
6. Order of importance for critical skills?
7. Skills that would be a “bonus”?
8. Skills that could be learned and bring a candidate up to speed, such as gaining a certification?
9. Order of importance for “bonus” and/or learnable skills?
10. Special module/technology experience focus for this role?
11. Certifications that would be desirable?
12. Is experience in a comparable brand/technology acceptable?
13. Years of experience desired? (Select a range: 1-3, 2-5, etc.)
14. Specific Industry experience desired or required? (Medical, Manufacturing, International, etc.)
15. Management experience needed?
16. What educational background(s) are you targeting? (Computer Science, Business Administration, Finance, Information Technology, etc.)
17. Any specific pre-qualifying /screening interview questions you would want to include in the process? What will help you determine quickly whether a candidate is knowledgeable and worth pursuing to further rounds of consideration?
18. What sort of subjective qualities are you looking for? What kind of personality fits well with your team? (Independent, self-motivated, team-player, etc.)
POSITION DETAILS:
1. Where is the position located?
2. Can this role be performed remotely or part-time remote?
3. Does it require relocation?
4. If yes, to the home office or will branch locations work as well?
5. What is the percentage and geography of travel required for this role?
6. Will you provide financial assistance to cover relocation expenses?
7. If yes, what range of relocation assistance are you willing to offer?
8. What is the geographical range of this search for relocation or remote possibilities – National, Regional, Local?
9. Are you willing to address issues related to work authorization? What statuses are eligible for this role? (United States Citizen, Green Card, H1b Visa, TN1 Visa, etc.)
10. Who is the direct report/point person for this role?
COMPENSATION:
1. What is the salary range?
2. How does the compensation package break down (base, bonus, commissions, benefits)?
3. Are you willing to hire someone on a contract or contract-to-hire basis?
BENEFITS:
What benefits are available for this role? (Medical/Dental/Insurance coverages, Vacation/Holiday/Sick leave, 401K, Profit sharing, etc..)
SELLING POINTS FOR THE CANDIDATE:
Skilled candidates for ERP and CRM technologies are in short supply. In a tight market for talent, employers find themselves needing to “sell” themselves to a potential hire. What are the major selling points for your company to a potential employee?
Try to identify with a candidate’s needs. What do you have to offer them? What is exciting about working with your company and where is it headed? Include this information in your job description. It’s important that you grab a candidate’s attention early. Here are some other questions to consider:
1. What is the potential career path? What opportunities are there for growth?
2. What unique benefits does your company offer?
3. What is unique and desirable about your company culture? What makes it a great place to come to work?
4. Is there anything a candidate can get excited about learning while working with your company? Are you working with cutting-edge technology or a unique industry?
5. What percentage of work can be done at home vs the office? Can you offer flexibility in terms of remote work?
6. How many employees does your company have? What was your annual revenue last year and the projection for this year? (Remember, size can be a selling point whether you are a small or large company. Both have their positives and negatives.)
7. What is the size of the applicable department/team?
8. Is the company publicly or privately owned?
EXTRA NOTES:
<Your notes here>
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER IF YOU’RE HIRING A CONTRACT EMPLOYEE:
1. Location of contract?
2. Remote option?
3. Duration of contract?
4. Duration of entire project?
5. Possible extension?
6. Contract-to-Hire possibility?
7. Nature of project? (Upgrade, New installation..)
8. Size of project? (Single site or multi-site and # of seats?)
9. Is there currently a PM?
10. Size of project team?
11. Critical Skills/Abilities needed for the role?
12. Special module focus/special technology/experience focus for this role?
13. W2 or 1099? Will the contractor be an employee of us or them?
EXTRA NOTES:
<Your notes here>
Getting Team Ownership of the Job Description
Once the first draft of the job description is complete, review it line by line with the hiring manager and/or all key members of your team who will interact with the new hire. This is an important step towards ensuring that all pertinent details are included and all unnecessary information is omitted. It’s also a crucial step toward building team ownership for your search.
If your team feels like they’ve had a voice in the process, they’ll be more supportive, and having everyone on the same page will help avoid confusion in the interview process.
How Does Your Job Description Compare to the Current Market?
After reviewing with your team, perform some independent research to further validate the position. How does your job description compare to other examples found online? How are your colleagues in the industry shaping similar roles for their companies? Is your compensation in line with the current market? If you encounter any adjustments that need to be made, go back to your team and clarify the remaining questions together.
Even if you’ve been lucky enough to find the perfect candidate for your position, a hire is unlikely to take place unless they’ve been “sold” on the position and the company. Because of the high demand for talent in the Microsoft Dynamics marketplace, companies are now in a position where they must consider how to market themselves to candidates. You’ll want to highlight selling points and value propositions about your company in your job descriptions. Here are some ideas on how to discover them . . .
Defining the Position’s “Selling Points” (How can your company help a candidate to grow in their career? How will you tell that story?)
1. Use your own experience with the company, as well as word of mouth among current employees to gather thoughts about what makes your workplace special and attractive. Understanding your company culture can help you define your cultural values and market to candidates who share them.
2. Think about a potential candidate’s felt needs and be ready to address them. How can your company help a candidate to grow in their career? How will you tell that story? Give the candidate a clear sense of where the company is headed and how they could grow with it. Present future opportunities for promotion. Highlight opportunities to work on cutting-edge technology. Think about how the size of your company is a benefit to the employee, whether large or small. Highlight the strengths and unique aspects of your benefits package.
3. Augment this information with independent research about your company and industry. Find statistics that can help support your claims to growth and potential.
4. If relocation is a possibility, gather relevant and appealing information about your area (local attractions and activities, housing, schooling, cost of living, etc.)
5. Consider in advance how far you are willing to bend on issues like remote-work and compensation. Use classic negotiation tactics and start small so that you can appear to be flexible later on.
6. In the end, be sure you’ve made the development of your sales pitch to the candidate as important as the development of your job description. In fact, you’ll want to integrate your selling points into it. Your job description is the first place where a candidate will encounter a narration about your company. It becomes one of your most important marketing tools.