A change is taking place in the IT Industry that has a major impact on the way organisations should now look to recruit software development people. The so-called ‘hard skills’—such as an applicant’s technology skills, qualifications, and certifications—should simply be an entry requirement and a greater focus should be placed on the ‘softer skills’.

The core competencies that a recruiter should now be looking for are the behavioural skills. Whilst these are sometimes difficult to extract, a skilled recruiter with a competency-based recruitment method should be able to identify applicants who will not only suit new ways of working but also enhance the team. 

What are the competencies organisations should now be looking for?
Competencies such as a team-player, excellent communication and collaboration skills, results orientated, the ability to pick up new skills quickly, to see the ‘big picture', flexibility, someone who embraces change and a ‘can do’ attitude, to name just a few. Some organisations may already feature these as part of their profiles for candidates, however these should now be a prominent part of the recruitment process, with new employees required to perform each to a high level on a daily basis. 

What is driving the change in focus?
The growing adoption of agile software development practices has significantly changed the way project teams work. No longer are they required to work as technical specialists in silos but are now expected to work in cross-functional teams, often with direct customer contact, to understand the business challenges and to enable them to deliver the right solution.

The success of these agile teams is directly related to the ability of the team to ‘gel’ together to deliver high quality software. This way of working is a significant departure from the traditional approaches to software development. The challenge for HR departments is to strategically align their recruitment policy and practices to support software teams and deliver candidates who will not only fit with the new ways of working, but enhance and develop it further to the benefit of the team, organisation and the customer.

About UPMentors
UPMentors helps organisations to successfully deliver and cope with complex software projects by transforming people’s capabilities. Using a combination of consultancy and specific practices such as knowledge transfer, leading by example, mentoring on-the-ground and various training techniques, UPMentors gives software professionals the capability to work more effectively as part of a team and prevent project failure.

As a trusted external resource, UPMentors challenges the mindset of how training is delivered across the business; it removes unnecessary overheads, company politics and bureaucracy while streamlining the entire software development process. The company specialises in several software development processes, including Agile and Unified Process variations.

Founded in 2007, UPMentors works with large enterprises across a wide range of industry sectors; clients include Capgemini, ING Direct and HM Revenue & Customs.  For further information, please visit www.upmentors.com