Dice.com, ZyQuest, Local Universities, LinkedIn and Social Networks
What would a consulting business be without staff, and quick ramp up times to boot? When we were suddenly faced with needing to expand our capacity from 3 people to 7, we tried Dice.com (which got us nowhere) and our good friends at ZyQuest. We needed people that were very hard to find. ZyQuest delivered. John Moss (you can't have him, but you can imagine what it would be like if you could :P) has became our Lead Engineer in less than a year. We did also hire a number of people remotely. Some worked out right away and some were wrong from the start. IMHO, if you don't know who you're hiring, make them prove their worth first. Regardless of ramp-up time and complexity, it shouldn't take more than a 30 day trial to know for sure.
Local universities are also a great source of new people. If you pick well, pay well and (with today's generation) play well, you should see great results. We actually employ four (4) UW-Oshkosh alumni, and we hope to see many other graduates from Universities of Wisconsin help us with expansion.
LinkedIn is the professional social network to be on these days. Where else can you reach out to thousands (or hundreds of thousands) with industry specific questions and get quick replies? It's also a great place to find experts. Our latest Penguin comes from a LinkedIn job-post – her name is Jacky Powell, and she just happens to be the award-winning designer with her name on the patent for the Sony XMB interface! Do you have a Sony TV, PSP or Playstation 3? Click the 'home' button to see her work.
We haven't really dug into Facebook as much as we should, but do encourage virtual socialization through "Fragtime". We setup a few game servers in-house and bought everyone copies of The Orange Box and Call of Duty 4. Whenever things get a little too tense, someone has the insight to suggest we let loose for 30 minutes. Just play. No other reason. It really helps us buy another solid block of productivity instead of dreading the rest of the day. You can translate "Fragtime" to something more appropriate if you prefer racing games or the Wii in your office, but don't ignore it. It's quicker, interactive, less expensive and way more fun than a company picnic. I dare you to have your C-level people call us for details.
Next Time: Part 3, The Future
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