Business-focused custom software

Please (I’m begging you) only hire tech resources you can trust

Publication Date: 8/25/2009 3:44:33 PM

I was reminded today of the importance of being careful about the technology resources you hire. This article refers to a survey that suggests that more than 59% of employees who are fired, laid off or quit admit to stealing company data. Yikes! When you trust someone with your technology, you are giving them the ability to do severe damage to your business. Not only do you risk data loss or data theft, but there is also the potential of destruction of your reputation and brand.

Before you hire someone (internally or externally) to work on technology related activities for your business, make sure you do the following:

Verify their credentials and job history
Check their references (all of them)
Listen to your gut. Sometimes you get a bad feeling about someone. Don’t risk hiring someone you don’t feel comfortable with now. It isn’t worth it.

This includes any of the following positions: internal IT staff, software developers, networking/infrastructure personnel, and web designers.

Category:

Tags: Consulting

Comments 6

A. Nony Mous 25 Aug
Picture this: A small family owned business hired a high school chum to be an office manager. The office manager registered a domain name for the business with him as the contact person. He built a website (using MS FrontPage) and had all the web hosting stuff in the company name with him as the contact person. He also set up email addresses and had them feeding into MS Outlook. Only he knew the passwords for the domain name, the hosting site and the email addresses.

Fast-forward 2 years and the accountant finds the "high school chum" was embezzling from the company. The company fires the guy & tries to take him to court. The guy disappears - along with all the passwords to all the website stuff.

Several hundred dollars after paying a lawyer to produce affidavits stating that the owner of the company does really own the domain name & the website - the owners got their passwords changed and a new website built. Fortunately, the embezzler didn't have the inclination to steal the domain name and publish a "hate" site about the company.

Moral of the story: Hire competent staff and know how to access your own system.
Peter Edstrom 26 Aug
You can tell the quality of a company by the quality of the employees it hires. No matter how tight your processes and policies are, a bad employee makes for a bad company. Get the employee right and the rest just falls into place.
Sarah Bray 26 Aug
Sheesh! That's why it's so difficult for me to outsource client stuff. I don't just have to know the person...I have to KNOW know them. Which is tough.

And now you've made me even more paranoid. Thanks! LOL
By Avonelle Lovhaug on 02 Sep
@A. Nony: I wish I hadn't heard that story. And yet I keep hearing it all the time. (Sometimes substitute "cousin of my best friend" or "half brother" for "high school chum".) Ugh. I think there are a lot of people who trust very easily.

@Peter: I think you are right about hiring the right employees. Something I've learned over time is to trust my instincts a lot more. There are objective measures like certifications and tests, but those won't tell you if the person you are working with has integrity. My spidey-sense won't always tell me that, either, but it offers clues and I try to listen to them.

@Sarah: Sorry about adding to your paranoia! It is tough. Plus once they start working for you, you don't them to think you are going to micro-manage them, so a lot of us would give a new employee a lot of lattitude, and then regret it.
Default 17 Sep
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Hire Staff 19 Oct
I'll keep that good tips..Glad you have shared it..

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