[27854] in resnet
Re: How to hire students who aren't afraid of IT
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Carla Rounds)
Fri Jul 20 12:08:40 2012
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Message-ID: <5009822A.50009@ucsc.edu>
Date: Fri, 20 Jul 2012 09:07:06 -0700
Reply-To: Resnet Forum <RESNET-L@listserv.nd.edu>
From: Carla Rounds <cjrounds@ucsc.edu>
To: RESNET-L@listserv.nd.edu
In-Reply-To: <E026853FAE2E5E47BE78B287F89DAF9E3C204F4F@SUEX10-mbx-03.ad.syr.edu>
Hi Randall,
I agree with you on the "problem solver". Before I rewrote the job
description as you see it below all we got was computer science majors
applying ... and all men. The key words that opened it up to everyone
one was "Ability to Learn", "we are willing to train the right person"
and "problem solver". Now I get applications from every degree program
that is offered on campus, with over half the applicants not having any
technical skills. It has really helped to expand our applicant pool ...
I find great individuals every year .. and this year I had close to 1/2
of the applicants being women. I am a firm believer that you can teach
technical skills ... you can not teach customer service, only enhance
the persons ability through training. I have had to let go of some
technically talented individuals because they could not or would not
embrace the customer service aspect of the job, and they treated both
their co-workers and the customers badly.
FYI ... I had over 80 applicants this year. I would have gotten more
but I closed out the job. We interviewed all 80 of them and hired 25.
This and my returning students (6 total) will be my starting crew in
September.
Carla
On 7/19/2012 6:53 PM, Randall C Grimshaw wrote:
> In my humble opinion I agree that listing specific skills can discourage applicants. I like the phrase "problem solver" but not "problem solving skills". If that makes sense to you then you already know where I am going. It is a set of mind to like challenges. It is a set of heart to like helping others. These are not skills like acting helpful. ...
>
> Randall Grimshaw rgrimsha@syr.edu
> ________________________________________
> From: Resnet Forum [RESNET-L@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] on behalf of Carla Rounds [cjrounds@ucsc.edu]
> Sent: Thursday, July 19, 2012 6:17 PM
> To: RESNET-L@LISTSERV.ND.EDU
> Subject: Re: How to hire students who aren't afraid of IT
>
> Hi Kim,
>
> This is our job positing:
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> This position is a short term appointment beginning in September, and
> lasting approximately 4 weeks. However, individuals selected for this
> position may be invited to remain as an employee of ResNet throughout
> the academic year. Applicants do not need to have all the technical
> skills listed below. We are willing to train the right person(s).
>
> The individual selected for this position will be responsible for
> assisting campus residents with connecting to the campus network,
> troubleshooting network or OS issues, and performing hands on technical
> support on student owned computers.
>
> Individuals selected for this position will be required to arrive 2
> weeks early for the fall quarter and a 3 day of training session, be
> available for work the entire move-in weekend, and be available for work
> the first week of the quarter. If you can not meet these requirements,
> please do not apply.
>
> Technical Skills:
>
> * Ability to problem solve and troubleshoot or learn to troubleshoot
> computer, network, and software related problems.
> * Experience, knowledge, or ability to learn microcomputer operating
> systems (Mac, Windows).
> * Knowledge of, ability to learn or recent experience in using a variety
> of software applications such as, anti-virus software configuration,
> virus and spyware/ad-ware detection and cleaning, network
> troubleshooting, and OS installs/repairs.
> * Experience connecting to the UCSC Residential Network is highly desirable.
>
> General Skills:
>
> * Customer Service Experience highly desirable.
> * Excellent communications skills, both oral and written for working
> with a diverse, professional clientele with varying skill levels.
> * Must be able to work in a professional manner with access to
> confidential and other data types.
> * Ability to learn and absorb new information (both technical and
> procedural) and dispense information to end-users of varying computing
> skills.
> * Ability to work in an extremely busy environment, with frequent
> interruptions and still be able to prioritize.
> * Aptitude to take initiative and work independently and as a team member.
> * Would prefer recent related experience in providing technical customer
> support on the phone and in-person.
> * Must be punctual.
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> We use fall opening and the two weeks following that to see which new
> students we want to keep for the year. I have a limited number of year
> round positions. All the students that I hire understand that I expect
> them to learn IT Skills. If I have someone that has excellent customer
> service skills but can not do the higher level IT tasks, I assign them
> other tasks for them to do in addition to the lower level tech work and
> keep them on staff. If I have someone strong in Technical Skills but
> they have no customer service skills I will keep the customer service
> person over the tech.
>
> Hope this helps.
>
> Carla
>
> On 7/19/2012 2:58 PM, Libby Kim wrote:
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I've been pondering this a bit since we're starting to create postings for
>> new student positions and would like some guidance from all you fine people
>> at ResNet. :)
>>
>> In the past five years we've swung between the "techs only" recruitment
>> model where we only bring in a few students, to times when we focus solely
>> on customer service which brings in lots of great kids who won't take on
>> tech work. This upcoming year, due to an increased workload, we need to
>> bring in more student workers than usual, and but I can't afford to bring
>> in someone without at least a willingness to pick up the tech work.
>>
>> I work at a Journalism and Communication school and would love to encourage
>> some of these undergrads to come work for me. The quality of the student
>> population have gone up and they're more tech-savvy now, but many of them
>> turn away from our position because the post mentions "basic troubleshooting
>> skills" and they don't think they have what it takes.
>>
>> So the question is, what do you state in your job postings? How do you
>> "lure" them in? Do you state specifically that your workers must have
>> technical skills? Do you include phrases like "willing to train"?
>>
>> Thanks for your help.
>>
>>
>> Libby
>>
>> ___________________________________________________
>> You are subscribed to the ResNet-L mailing list.
>>
>> To subscribe, unsubscribe or search the archives,
>> go to http://LISTSERV.ND.EDU/archives/resnet-l.html
>> ___________________________________________________
>
> --
> Carla Rounds
>
> University of California, Santa Cruz
> Santa Cruz, California 95064
>
> cjrounds@ucsc.edu
> (831) 459-5757
>
> ___________________________________________________
> You are subscribed to the ResNet-L mailing list.
>
> To subscribe, unsubscribe or search the archives,
> go to http://LISTSERV.ND.EDU/archives/resnet-l.html
> ___________________________________________________
>
> ___________________________________________________
> You are subscribed to the ResNet-L mailing list.
>
> To subscribe, unsubscribe or search the archives,
> go to http://LISTSERV.ND.EDU/archives/resnet-l.html
> ___________________________________________________
--
Carla Rounds
University of California, Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz, California 95064
cjrounds@ucsc.edu
(831) 459-5757
___________________________________________________
You are subscribed to the ResNet-L mailing list.
To subscribe, unsubscribe or search the archives,
go to http://LISTSERV.ND.EDU/archives/resnet-l.html
___________________________________________________
