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The Hiring Manager Interviews: David Price Knows Exactly What He Wants and Needs from Candidates for His IT Department

The National Multiple Sclerosis Society's EVP of internal operations looks for personable individuals with good communication skills, energy, curiosity and experience managing large-scale systems.

By Jane Howze

February 14, 2008 — CIO — He may not admit it, but David Price has a knack for hiring good people. He's demonstrated it since day one. The first person he ever hired when he was a manager with Arthur Andersen in the late 1980s was a computer science major from the University of Virginia—who eventually became a partner with the firm. Sure, Price has made his mistakes (who hasn't?), but he's learned valuable lessons from them, and he shares those lessons in this Q&A.

Price, who is stepping down this month from his position as the National Multiple Sclerosis Society's executive vice president of internal operations to start his own consulting firm, DVPrice & Co., says he relies on "proven techniques" for sussing out candidates. He's a rigorous reference checker. He involves as many peers and staff members as he can in the hiring process and values their input. Rarely does he override their opinions. He knows exactly what he's looking for in candidates for various positions. And he tries to spend some time with candidates outside his office in a more relaxed setting, such as a restaurant, to get a better understanding of the candidate's true personality.

"None of these techniques are ground breaking," says Price. "They are fundamental techniques that have served me well."

Hopefully, they'll serve you well, too.

Jane Howze: You have been a hiring manager in several different industries: not-for-profit, management consulting and financial services. Do you hire differently for different industries?

David Price: Financial services and nonprofit organizations couldn't be more different. Yet, I have found that key hiring principles apply to both industries. For example, it is important to make sure that the goals of the organization are aligned with the personal goals of the candidate. Second, there are characteristics—such as being proactive, having strong problem-solving skills, attention to detail, communicating effectively and showing respect for individuals—that a candidate has to have regardless of industry.

Does a nonprofit attract different types of IT professionals than a for-profit?

If someone has a connection to our mission, they're certainly going to be attracted to our environment. Other than that, we are a geographically distributed organization, which poses certain interesting technology and systems challenges. For example, the National MS Society is made up of 54 chapters across the country and a home office. This makes rolling out systems much harder than if everyone was located in three or four sites around the country. Complicating matters is the fact that every chapter is different, and the home office cannot dictate what happens in each chapter. We attract people who are interested in solving those types of problems.

 

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