7 Important Qualities Required When Hiring Product Managers

As a tech hiring manager, it’s essential that you hire individuals into your product team who will thrive, which in turn allows your business to grow. There are 7 Important Qualities Required When Hiring Product Managers.

The ‘right’ hire can make all the difference, just as hiring someone who isn’t exactly what you’re looking for can be harmful to your team and ultimately your success.

The Recruitment and Employee Confederation (REC) estimate that the cost of making the wrong hire at management level (with an approximate salary of £42,000) can be as high as £132,000 – yes, you have read that right.

No business wants to spend any more time, resources or revenue than is necessary on their recruitment process.

In an ideal world, you could make the best hire the first time around – every time. Unfortunately, in real life, it’s not as simple as that.

However, as a leading company in the IT industry, there are ways that you can mitigate hiring problems and challenges in your organisation. High on the list is only hiring individuals with certain high-performing skills.

Today, we share the 7 top qualities to look out for in your recruitment process – hire employees with these attributes to attract the success you want for your business.

​1.    A Great Communicator

​Communication is the number one attribute all great IT employees have; possessing great skills is one thing though not being able to communicate effectively with your team stops everything in its tracks.

In any organisation, no matter how small, the way employees interact with each other is the key to a successful team, and this has only been increased in our new physically distanced world.

Since the rise in remote working, possessing excellent communication skills has never been more critical. Sending an unclear email or miscommunicating a message over messenger bots or on the phone can cause all manner of problems for the entire team.

The most successful teams are full of great communicators – so look for this attribute when interviewing potential new employees.

​2.    Autonomy

​In a busy organisation, you need a team who can work independently outside of the initial onboarding period.

Your employees need to be able to manage time effectively, balance their workload and ensure that deadlines are met.

Additionally, autonomy is a contributing factor to high engagement, productivity and work satisfaction – so when you employ and encourage autonomy in your team, both you and your employees will benefit.

To find out if candidates have high levels of autonomy during the recruitment process, ask them how they feel working independently and if they have experience of working on their own – particularly from home – and look out for how confidently they talk about being self-driven. ​

3.    Leadership Skills

​Another key trait to look out for is their leadership potential.

In our ever-changing world, you must know that your team can step up when needed. Additionally, when you recruit IT talent with leadership potential, this is a long-sighted growth strategy which can save you time and money in the future.

Leadership qualities involve a variety of soft skills including communication, confidence, delegation and being able to give and receive feedback.

​4.    A Positive Mindset

​A positive mindset is essential in IT organisations, and unfortunately, it’s not something that can be taught easily.

Some individuals approach challenges with a ‘can-do’ attitude, are always able to look at the positive in a situation and can consistently bolster others – and these are the type of people you need in your organisation.

Individuals with a negative mindset will find it harder to thrive and move forward, as they find it challenging to see past obstacles. Unfortunately, their negativity can quickly spread and bring other members of the team down too.

Additionally, positive individuals have an ability to adapt to change with ease – which is going to be essential in organisations moving forward.

​5.    A Team Player

​As with a positive mindset, being a team player is a crucial trait for IT employees to have.

Be on the lookout for employees who have plenty of experience of working as part of diverse teams, as working with lots of different people and personalities is a great way to develop the skills needed to be an excellent team player.

Team players contribute by listening to their colleagues, offering a different perspective, they help to strengthen bonds and trust within the team, and they are essential when things get tough.

6.    Emotional Intelligence

​Emotionally intelligent individuals possess the interpersonal skills needed to help your organisation to thrive, and they do this in a few ways.

Building on the great soft skills we have already mentioned in this article, emotional intelligence allows employees to exhibit the following:

• Self-awareness – the ability to prioritise, manage time and resilience to stress and anxiety during busy times.
• Self-regulatory behaviours – they are always in control of their emotions, and they are good at resolving conflict.
• Empathy – they can understand different members of the team, which allows them to work well with everyone.
• They can take feedback constructively – they don’t let it affect them personally, and they learn and grow from the experience.

An ideal IT team is full of people with high emotional intelligence, and it is such a necessary trait it ranked sixth in the World Economic Forum’s list of the top 10 skills that employees will need to thrive in workplaces of the future.

​7.    Agility

​And finally, since the enormous changes that have happened to our world due to the pandemic, flexibility is essential.

Never before has the skill of being able to work outside of our comfort zones been necessary. It is now essential for all IT employers to be sure that their team are able to pivot to the ever-changing needs of a post-pandemic world.

Some people are great and adapting to change, whereas others find it more challenging, and some are unwilling to try.

7 Important Qualities Required When Hiring Product Managers

How have employees coped with the recent changes to our world? Have they been happy to embrace new ways of working and living? Agility comes with a growth mindset, one where employees are always looking to develop and to grow, and this is the only way continued future success is possible.

​Finally

I hope you enjoyed our blog on 7 Important Qualities Required When Hiring Product Managers.

​If you are looking to employ new Product Management talent into your organisation, these are the skills that you should be on the lookout for.

If you’re looking for help, get in touch by calling James Shenton Managing Partner for Technology on 01580 857179 or send us an email here.

Opus Resourcing recruits world-class SaaS, technology, commercial and executive talent for companies ranging from seed-stage start-ups to Fortune 500 companies within the UK, Europe, and the US.

Book a Call with James Shenton

How to Increase Staff Retention in Your Tech Organisation

​As we are now living in a world that has been changed by the pandemic, your employee retention strategy must be better than ever.

A pre-pandemic Retention Report by the Work Institue (2019) found that “one in three workers would voluntarily leave their job by 2023”. And this has only increased due to significant shifts in the market due to Covid-19.

The effects of the pandemic are going to be felt in organisations for years to come, and so employee retention needs to be a key focus in order to ensure you are keeping your team engaged and satisfied in their roles.

Hiring for replacement team members is not something any organisation wants to be doing right now, and so an excellent employee retention strategy is essential.

The following 8 strategies will help you focus on How to Increase Staff Retention in Your Tech Organisation

​1.    Discover Who You’re Overlooking

​To ensure you are providing excellent leadership for your entire team and making them feel valued, first, it is essential that you find out if you are overlooking anyone in your team.

IT teams will naturally include individuals with all manner of skills, experience and personality types.

But in most teams, there will also be team members who shine brighter than others – extroverts tend to get noticed more than introverts, some team members are more likely to speak up if they have a problem whereas others will try to work through challenges on their own.

As a leader, it is essential that everyone is getting the right amount of support that they need and that you are not overlooking anyone.

Leaders in the IT sector will naturally look to middle managers and other higher-profile employees, but to be a great leader, you must ensure the highest level of employee retention – remember that each and every team member must feel valued and supported.

​2.    Create Unlimited Opportunities for Growth

​According to a recent LinkedIn Workforce Learning Report, 93% of employees would stay longer with their employer if they invested more in developing their careers.

Many employers will get to the point where they have a great team in place and think that their job is ‘done’.

But continual training and development is a key part of every employee retention strategy, and we find that talented candidates who look for new IT roles often cite a desire to develop themselves and their career further as a reason for leaving.

No-one wants to be stuck in a role where they feel as though progression is an unlikely possibility.

So invest in robust training and development for your team – it can be anything from personal development training to allowing them time to learn new skills.

​3.    Demonstrate Excellent Values and Ethics

​The most desirable IT employees are looking for employers with impressive values and ethics.

And this has been accelerated by the pandemic. We are all thinking much more about what is really important to us, and working for a company they believe in is high on every employee’s list of priorities.

IT employees are more empowered than ever, with social media and online review culture creating an environment where the need to be honest and transparent is more crucial than ever.

How active is your company at demonstrating your values and ethics? Do you champion diversity and inclusion? Are you financially transparent?

Fail to demonstrate excellent values, and you risk losing your employees to a more ethical company.

​4.    Give Employees a Purpose

​It is not enough to give employees a fair remuneration package – employees are increasingly looking for a greater sense of purpose in their work.

The best way to find out if your employees feel a sense of meaning and purpose in their work is to talk to them.

Ask them what is important to them in their roles, and make any alterations you can to help them feel a greater sense of purpose. This could involve introducing tools to make their jobs easier, and thus, more valued, or working together to improve your products or services to give greater customer satisfaction.

And create a mission statement which helps employees to understand how their work positively impacts the world.

​5.    Enhance Your Employer Brand

​Your employer brand is the thread that links employees to the organisation – all employees want to work for a company which they feel aligned to.

Look closely at what your competitors are doing – if you slip in terms of promoting and maintaining an excellent employer brand, this gives employees the opportunity to look elsewhere and to be tempted to leave to work for a brand with a better reputation and culture.

Your digital footprint is key in creating a strong employer brand which your employees will feel proud to be a part of.

Think about what you post and how often. IT employees like to see that their employer is actively engaged in current topics, is invested in the wellbeing of the team and is a transparent and communicative employer.

Get your employees involved in team strengthening events, use your social media to champion your current employees – celebrate birthdays, life events and little wins within the organisation.

And finally, let’s look at how a great recruitment strategy is always essential when it comes to employee retention.

​6.    Get Your Recruitment Strategy Right

​Employee retention all starts with your recruitment process.

When you start your employees off on the right foot with an excellent recruitment and onboarding process, this sets the tone for a mutually beneficial employer-employee relationship.

Studies reveal that the better the onboarding process, the lower the turnover.

A shocking 20% of employee turnover happens within the first 45 days, and this is mostly down to a poor onboarding process.

Onboarding is part of the recruitment process, and yet many employers believe that recruitment stops the moment the candidate accepts the job offer.

Invest in your recruitment and onboarding process, and you will start to see a higher rate of employee retention.

​Finally

​A certain amount of staff turnover is unavoidable.

But follow the steps in this guide to improve unnecessary employee turnover in your tech organisation.

It’s never easy to lose a great employee, but when you work with a specialist IT recruiter, they can help you create the right recruitment and onboarding process to ensure your retention rates remain high, increasing employee engagement and lowering your overall costs of recruitment.

I hope you found our blog on How to Increase Staff Retention in Your Tech Organisation insightful, and a useful guide for your tech business.

If you’re looking for help with your recruitment strategy, get in touch by calling James Shenton Managing Partner for Technology on 01580 857179 or send us an email here.

Opus Resourcing recruits world-class SaaS, technology, commercial and executive talent for companies ranging from seed-stage start-ups to Fortune 500 companies within the UK, Europe, and the US.

To find out how we can help you find your next IT talent, get in touch with us on 01580 857179 or email us here.

Book a Call with James Shenton