A Skeptical Approach to Digital Transformation Hiring

When you read in an article from Harvard Business Review how “Estimates of digital transformation failures range from 66% to 84%,” what is your reaction? Do you just gloss over it, thinking it surely won’t apply to your company’s DT initiatives? I can only assume this is what happens for many and is part of what keeps the DT failure rate so high. What it ought to do is strike fear deep into the hearts of every company, especially when it comes to recruitment and hiring for digital transformation. In this article I’ll explain why I think you’re better off taking a skeptical approach to digital transformation hiring.

The DT Labor Pool is Shallow

If you’re looking to make a high-level hire to lead digital transformation at your company, I think a healthy degree of skepticism will serve you well. If the DT failure rate is true, then there should be very few candidates who have a solid track record of DT leadership. If you were to advertise for such a position in the c-suite or the next level down (vice presidents, directors, and so on), I would recommend you give those applicants an especially detailed level of scrutiny. If any candidate claims something such as “successfully led DT initiatives,” a skeptical approach would keep the following in mind:

·        Transformation vs Upgrade: Remember DT stands for digital transformation. A transformation can be defined as a “thorough and dramatic change.” In the realm of DT, it means a digital overhaul of every business process throughout a company. If the DT initiative only had a limited scope, such as one department, then the candidate shouldn’t really be claiming to have successfully led digital transformation at that company—they led a digital upgrade for a specific area in the company.

·        Defining Success: You’d also want to dig into verifying the meaning of “success” if it appears on any CV and is being applied to the candidate’s DT leadership experience. Given the high DT failure rate, there should be very few success stories out there, so how exactly is any given candidate claiming “successful” DT leadership? I don’t mean to say it’s impossible, but I am saying you want to view any such claims with a healthy dose of skepticism. Dig into the details to get a clearer picture of what happened, and check references with this in mind as well.

Alternative DT Hiring Ideas

I’ve previously stated how deep expertise in digital technologies isn’t necessarily the primary skillset you’re looking for when making hires for leading and managing digital transformation. Your company may already have all the digital technology expertise needed in your existing IT department. My radical suggestion here is to be open to the idea of hiring people into DT positions whose CVs do not even include the words “digital transformation” at all!

For the high-level DT leadership positions, there should be very few bona fide DT leader candidates. What there should be a lot more of out there in the labor pool are people with extensive, solid track records in leading large-scale change projects. And if there’s one thing that can be said with confidence about digital transformation, it is a massive change project. If my point about DT staff not needing extensive knowledge of digital technologies holds true, then candidates who lack DT-specific experience but have robust experience leading big change projects may be the most viable candidates you should consider.

At the departmental management level, what you really need in order to make DT happen are people who understand business processes and who have strong business process-oriented problem-solving skills. Once again, I would argue the best candidates for managing departmental DT initiatives might not even have the words “digital transformation” anywhere on their resumé.

The savvy recruiter understands the need for taking this kind of skeptical approach when trawling the labor pool for potential DT candidates. It’s also a very pragmatic approach. After all, given the number of DT positions being advertised on Indeed (more than 30,000), the demand is far greater than the supply. You’ll have to consider these alternatives if you want to move digital transformation forward at your company.

At IoTRecruiter.co, we take the deep dive into the labor pool for you to find the candidates you need for digital transformation positions. Call 303-337-7871 today to explore your options or book a call with one of our consultants.