What to do when you can't find people for data roles

First the reminders:

1. dataZED Get Together on 6 September with Alex Plenty, CDO at Lloyd's of London. Click here to sign up

2. dataZED of Data Events calendar. Register an event and View the calendar

3. dataZED Fantasy Premier League, raising funds for Data and Tech Aid. Read more here and Register here.

Having someone like me to accelerate your data governance and quality projects, or to run things on an interim basis, is great, but in the longer term your firm will probably want a perm employee to manage things.

There is a lot of sense to this, and I've even helped clients with the selection and interview process as I'm independent, but finding the right person and getting them through the recruitment process is hard.

This article tackles the three biggest challenges that firms face.

We don't have budget for headcount

This challenge could come from a COO who really wants a data lead; or a data lead who needs a manager; or a manager who needs an analyst.

The person doing the role realises that they are doing a lot of work which could be delegated to more junior (i.e. cheaper) resource, but the budget holder does not have this as a priority.

The challenge here is to make an effective business case, focusing on the value gained by bringing in the extra support.

If your time is now freed up, what extra value can you add?

State it. Quantify it. Validate it.

We can't find someone who knows our industry

Your firm is successful because it is really good at what it does. And that's a specialism established over many years.

So how can someone from outside your special world possibly know how to lead or manage your data?

Sorry to burst your bubble but they can.

These people are not here to do your front-office work of widget making, lawyering, insuring or doctoring; they are joining you to work with your data.

And your data doesn't know what industry it belongs to. It's just letters and numbers.

I agree it's much easier to bring in someone who knows your world.

But you tried that and couldn’t find them, so look wider and get them trained up in the jargon of your world. They are smart people and they'll pick it up.

There's no one else in our business who understands data

You've disagreed with the last section (that's cool, I won't hate you) and insist that the new person has to know your sector really well.

So what about the people already in your business?

At any given time, there will be enthusiastic people looking to stretch themselves into their next role, and their promotion path might not be clear for a while.

Or maybe they don't want to be more senior, they just want to try something new.

And a lot of people are interested by the idea of working in data.

So why not bring them onboard and get them trained up in the relevant data specialism? They already learned how to do their current role.

To discuss this, or anything else around Data Governance and Data Quality, then click here to get some time with me.

And if you think this article might help someone else, then forward this email or share the link with them. It’s through your referrals that I can grow this newsletter and reach more people.

Have a wonderful week,
Charles

Don’t forget!

1. dataZED Get Together on 6 September with Alex Plenty, CDO at Lloyd's of London. Click here to sign up

2. dataZED of Data Events calendar. Register an event and View the calendar

3. dataZED Fantasy Premier League, raising funds for Data and Tech Aid. Read more here and Register here.

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