Picking the Right Person for the Job
Hiring is essential for a company to survive — all communities need mechanisms for adding community-appropriate newcomers so that they can maintain themselves over time (Gershon 205). This process of hiring employees appears to be no less complicated for those doing the hiring though with many aspects being kept in mind to determine which applicant(s) would be best for the position. Apparently, hiring managers also rarely saw themselves as The Decider, but rather as one of the many involved in making hiring decisions that were caught up in the politics of their workplace (188). In my discussion with the NSA’s Operations department manager, Dan Bourassa he has said that while it is highly important that applicants possess the technical skills necessary for most of the positions in his department, having good people skills is just as important. His team is a very informal and close knit group composed of people with varying degrees of technical knowledge with their ability to communicate with each other being what determines the department’s success.
My father works under Mr. Bourassa, so I have been to his building and office from time to time so his comments on hiring decisions came as no real surprise. I do think that most people would be surprised to see how the people in Mr. Bourassa’s team conduct themselves though as the NSA is generally considered to be stocked full of rather dull individuals.
As Gershon has said, when hiring managers are choosing someone to hire, they will frequently talk about cultural fit, and determining cultural fit often involves talking openly about the ways people think that everyone at a company interacts (201). Mr. Bourassa went on to say that having a face-to-face interview was a real deciding factor for him if he wanted someone in his department as it allowed him to get a good read on the applicant’s personality and demeanor. For him it is not so much as just finding people for the positions, but finding the right people that will be beneficial to the team’s success.
When it came to financial decisions he was rather mum on the details (it’s NSA and the interview was over the phone, I don’t blame him) but did briefly go over the pay grade skill they use. For most employees they start at the minimum on the pay scale, but some receive a higher salary based on their previous experience and/or skills they possess. This didn’t really surprise me as I have seen application pay scales range in $30,000 differentials and it would make sense to offer someone with more expertise in a desired skill a higher wage than someone that didn’t. Offering more money to those with higher skillsets would also ensure employees are seen as potential resources for the future (199).
Gershon, Ilana. Down and Out in the New Economy. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2017. Print.
