Sometimes I overhear my Business Development team talking to their clients and it's hard not to compare them to used car salespeople.
“You better move fast or this candidate will be gone.” or “This consultant is juggling multiple opportunities and he’s gonna move quickly. You have to make a decision by the end of the day or this person will be gone.”
Now there are many staffing and consulting firms out there that are ‘less then reputable’ and attempt to push candidates down their clients’ throats with veiled threats of availability. And there is a lot to be said for dealing with firms that you have developed a good relationship with and that you trust.
If you are one of the lucky ones that have a staffing firm that you work with that you trust, then PLEASE listen to them when they tell you that their candidates will move quickly and you risk losing a good resource. Today’s marketplace is being driven by the limited supply of experienced consultants that are available. Projects that cannot pay the going rate for quality resources are being passed by. Short term assignments are often ruled out for longer and ‘sexier’ projects.
Elite resources, such as SAP or PeopleSoft consultants, are demanding higher rates and longer term assignments. And guess what… They’re getting what they want. With the advent of SOA models moving into the ERP space (Fusion and NetWeaver), projects are also becoming more exciting for available resources.
So my message to anyone looking to bring on resources for an upgrade, implementation or any other type of development project is to act quickly. If the consultant you are speaking with is interested in helping with your pending project, then pull the trigger quickly and lock them up for as long as possible.
Is this self-serving? Most definitely. But more projects are stalled or killed due to lack of qualified resources and the ability to act quickly to bring on the necessary talent. Shortening the on-boarding process will go a long way to making your project a success.
