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We were executing a project for one of our esteemed clients. This project was to be done in one of the niche skills, which our organization did not have. The project was related to a document management system, but most part of the product we were using had to be customized.

First we met with the client and finalized the requirements, when we delivered the Proof of concept ( POC) , the client was not quite happy with the work and wanted lot of changes. We realized that we had to hire an experienced person in this technology if we had to complete the project.

We searched in other departments and tried to hire sub-contractors, could not find the right guy. Then we reached out to some online job search portals . I found a person exactly matching the skills , he had done similar work and would be able to handle the complexity of the project.

I discussed with HR manager to arrange for an interview, we decided to offer best possible package in case we found this person suitable in interview. I even worked out a career path for him to excite him after he clears the interview

First one hour was the technical interview, as expected he was brilliant in the given skill. Next I entered the room and explained to him about the project. He asked few questions but I did not sense any excitement from his side. I asked him what his expectations were.

What do you think can go wrong in this situation?  Everything seemed aligning and we were willing to pay the price.  What the person told me taught me a lesson. He said that he generally associated the firm with good cutting edge work however the project was not interesting to him. The complexity was due to the fact that our organization did not have required skills, otherwise for him it was run of the mill work as he was working on the given skill for 6+ years. His main intent of coming for interview was to do some good work in our company.

Obviously if the work did not excite him there is nothing more one can do. You don’t want a person joining an implementation project who is half motivated. We had to let the person go.

Lessons we learnt –

1.       Today people may be looking for exciting work. This needs to be considered when hiring.

2.       Niche skills does not necessarily mean complex work. The client was unhappy with our POC since we were not experts in given skill.  Before taking project in niche skills , organization must be fully prepared with talents.

We did mediocre job with the project but finished it somehow. The client was not too delighted, however we covered up later when were able to recruit people during later stages of project.