Business Technology is on the rise and is only growing in importance. Since companies are using more enterprise applications than ever, hiring the best BT talent is necessary for streamlining operations at an organization and accomplishing high-level business goals.
There’s no doubt that BT is responsible for moving an organization forward—the real question is how to evaluate candidates and determine if they would be a good fit for your BT team.
We talked to our community on Systematic, the largest online community for Business Systems leaders, to see if they had any insight, and we heard from a Business Systems Architect on his four go-to questions:
1. Can you tell me about a time when you have streamlined a business process via technology and what the impact was?
This question can give you insight on a candidate’s capacity to identify process pain points across the organization and implement a solution. The interviewee’s ability to articulate the impact this had is essential—whether they can point to a quantifiable improvement or a colleague’s rave review, it is good to know how their work changed the business for the better.
2. Can you tell me about a time when you worked with a business stakeholder to translate their functional requirements into technical requirements that were used to build something?
The BT team is presented with the difficult challenge of translating business problems into technical solutions, so it is important to test a candidate’s ability to collaborate across the organization to understand business needs. This question can help you see how a candidate chooses tools that can both provide a solution and have the ability to scale. You’ll also hear about how candidate maintains relationships with their colleagues, which is extremely important for alignment.
3. What factors do you consider when determining whether to build a system/application or buy one?
From hiring to applications, the build vs. buy debate is a constant question when faced with a business need. By asking this question, you’ll see how a candidate approaches a real business situation. Really encourage the interviewee to walk you through their decision making process to gain insight into their ability to anticipate various outcomes and make a big decision for the company.
4. What’s the most technical thing you’ve built?
Determining a candidate’s technical background and seeing what level of complexity they’re comfortable with is essential to understanding how they will contribute to your team. BT professionals build things: Let the candidate flex their experience a bit while also evaluating their abilities.
The rest of these questions were ideated by our team to test a candidate’s ability to respond to some of the biggest challenges facing the BT industry today: keeping data secure, navigating rapid company growth and evolution, and maintaining a high-level of technical knowledge in a constantly changing field.
5. What certifications do you currently have and how have you applied them at previous roles? Are there any certifications you would like to get in the next year?
While a candidate’s certifications will be listed on their resume, asking this in an interview can give you more context on their familiarity with various applications and their reasons for choosing these certifications. This can also give you a good chance to see how a candidate approaches their personal career growth. Take it a step further to see how open they are to continuing their education—especially if your company has a learning stipend, check in to see where the candidate would like to grow next.
6. What steps have you taken to implement data security measures in your previous positions?
Data governance is at the top of everyone’s mind right now, especially as organizations have expedited their moves onto the cloud during this era of remote work. In a study conducted by Deloitte, 58% of IT leaders cite security and data protection as the first or second most important reason for cloud migration. Test your candidate’s ability to engage with this critical issue and hear more about steps they’ve taken in the past to avoid security breaches.
7. If hired, what would you change about this team?
Bringing a new perspective onto your team is beneficial for many reasons, one of which could be your new teammate’s ability to spot bottlenecks and pain points that the rest of the team might not see. By checking in on their ability to identify process or application-specific issues and seeing if they can give you feedback in a constructive way, you can learn a lot about their communication style as well as their ability to improve your organization.
8. What have you failed at lately?
Forbes columnist and consultant Terina Allen cites this as the single most important question you can ask a candidate. While this question might seem cliché, it is a great way to assess how willing the candidate is to take a risk. Quickly-growing companies need out-of-the-box solutions to scale operations, and that begins with innovative BT talent.
Want to find out what else Business Systems leaders are saying about hiring the best BT talent? Join the conversation by becoming a member of Systematic, the largest community for Business Systems professionals here!
