On 18 June 2012 20:58, Charles Matthews charles.r.matthews@ntlworld.com wrote:
But Tom M. hit the nail on the head: don't go the dogsbody route. I.e. if anyone argues as Tom D. does, which strikes me as reasonable, don't define the job in such a way as to offer zero career development. Make it a real job, from the start. Make it so the growth of the work actually looks like an opportunity for the hire to grow also.
This is a good point. It's important to think about what the long-term future of the position is. I can see two things this role could become. There's the plan Mike's mentioned, of them specialising in the area(s) they are strongest in and other tech people being hired to take over their other responsibilities and the work and budget grows. Alternatively, they can be hired with the intention that they will become the Head of Technology and will be responsible for growing their team over time.
The second route means paying more (have you to pay a manager's wage even when they don't have anyone to manage), but it is potentially more efficient and straightforward in the long run. It also removes the uncomfortable situation of hiring someone to be the boss of someone that has been around for a while (if the intention is to have multiple people working on tech stuff then sooner or later there will need to be a Head of Technology).