Building ITAM teams – Making hires

This is part three of a three-part series by Beth Kaminski. Read part one  finding qualified staff and part two qualifications.

Making Hires

Welcome to Part 3 of Building ITAM teams (and Biscuits!).

In Parts 1 and 2, we explored terminology and qualifications. Confusion can arise not only as you try to define terminology around an ITAM position but also what qualifications will best suit the defined position.  We spent a bit of time looking at some ways of cutting the ambiguity out of the job posting both from the definition and compensation standpoint.  In addition, in the case of qualifications what is the best mix for the desired results.

Let us return to our theme of defining what is a biscuit/the position definition (Part 1), the required recipe’s ingredients /the qualifications (Part 2) and finally Part 3 exploring obtaining the ingredients/resources.  In other words, putting together all the analysis to make a hire.

I am a home baker as well as an ITAM practitioner.  Frankly, that seems obvious by now based on this collection of thoughts.  This pandemic that has affected all our lives at least here in the States has impacted the home baker directly.  Any given week especially in the beginning flour, bread flour, sugar and especially yeast has been impossible to procure.  The shelves were empty. Even today there is no guarantee you will find all the ingredients you may require.

My stance here is that filling the ITAM position as you have it currently defined may pose the same challenges.  Skilled ITAM practitioners/analysts are difficult to find and expensive.  If that does become problematic for your hire.  I suggest you may want to think about resources differently.

The ITAM skill set encompasses many areas.  I have always felt a good ITAM professional is a jack of all trades and a master of most.   Hard skills and soft skills in combination are required.  I think that the skills required for an ITAM hire are not as unique as assumed at first.  If you find an experience candidate is unavailable or too expensive try the following analysis.

Go back to the qualifications that have been defined in earlier parts of this series.   I suggested you identify 5-7 job duties and break out the qualifications needed to complete those duties.   Now what other disciplines might require the majority or all skill sets required.  Granted you may not find previous software or hardware experience.  However, you may to need to think creatively and do some training.  Some examples might include:

• Construction: project management, budgeting, negotiation, technical acumen, ability to work with a wide variety of stake holders, attention to detail
• Customer Service: negotiation, multi-tasking, situation tracking, calm under pressure, ability to communicate, attention to detail, ability to work with a wide variety of stake holders
• Buyer: procurement, invoice management, attention to detail, budgeting, financial analysis, vendor negotiation, ability to work with a wide variety of stake holders
• Auditor: attention to detail, ability to work with a wide variety of stake holders, ability to communicate, critical thinking

Case in point, one of the best SAM analysts that I have employed started as a temporary worker and was a home builder by trade.  This analyst brought all the skills needed to the table but past software experience.  She also brought a very strong desire to learn and with guidance she became an excellent analysis.

The point here is you may have to be creative but the important idea is that you can make a successful hire by looking at the skills required based on the role as defined.  Back to our analogy, all-purpose flour can be used in place of bread flour or vice versa.  While the results may not be exactly the same, it will not ruin your biscuit entirely.  The end result is still excellent.

This is part three of a three-part series by Beth Kaminski. Read part one  finding qualified staff and part two Qualifications.