3 Red Flags: How to spot a dodgy IT Contractor
IT Contractor = An expert in their field. Comes in delivers the job and then moves on. Shares knowledge to help the hiring organisation work in a more productive way.
IT Contractors are expensive but are sometimes necessary for IT projects but when you get a good one, they’re worth their weight in gold. However, get it wrong and it’ll cost you in the long run. (Trust us, we’ve been there and got the f*king invoice.)
Whether you’re hiring for a Project Manager or a Technical Engineer if you notice any of the following points below, sack em off and get a new one.
Do this sooner rather than later before they’ve eaten into your budget and more importantly created a silo around themselves, which means you’ll be stuck with them, haemorrhaging money and wishing you’d never taken on the project in the first place.
1. Does not listen to requirements
We had a project that needed a data analyst, off we went making initial phone calls to data people, some contractors and other perm staff who wants a side hustle. After 9 attempts, we found that the £500+ a day contractor didn’t once take onboard the simplicity of the project and budget, they wanted to develop a new system that would cost £20k. Which was neither in scope nor budgeted for.
In the end we found the perm staff who wanted a side hustle listened to the requirements and could work to the agreed budget. Which got us thinking about mindset, but thats another blog post.
2. Offers no explanation
Ever been in a technical call, that is led by the technical expert who is presenting a powerpoint and taking you through each slide explaining how their design solution fits together but afterwards you’ve noticed that there was no real technical explanation at all, now you’re left wondering how the hell it all works still?!
This should raise alarm bells, especially if the solution is bespoke to the contractor, as you’ll find it near impossible to replicate with someone else. Which brings us nicely onto the next point.
3. Creates a Silo
Not explaining their work and not creating documentation in order for their work to be replicated in the future means they’re wanting to create a silo effect around themselves, so they’re the only ‘go to’ person who can create, fix and manage the solution.
To us this is the ultimate in weak contracting, but it happens so often that it’s common knowledge, another thing that makes us laugh is the contractor doesn’t seem to think the client notices this behaviour. They do but they’ve just swallowed this flaw as ‘every contractor’ does this (They don’t, just many do) and it’s usually made by the type of contractor who doesn’t listen to requirements.
We haven’t figured out why these types of contractors exist, they definitely don’t get repeat business! Avoid hiring them by spotting the red flags early. If in doubt, play it safe by hiring our team, we will help you avoid a lot of disappointment and stress as all our staff are fully vetted otherwise, we wouldn’t hire them.
