Revised December 5, 2011
Recruiting Computer/Network Consultants (paid or volunteer/pro bono)
There are two reasons mission-based organizations (nonprofits, non-governmental organizations, and public sector agencies) need to recruit recruiting computer/network consultants, paid or volunteer/pro bono:
- Staff at mission-based organizations such as nonprofits, NGOs, schools and government offices have a great deal of expertise in a variety of areas, such as health care, child welfare, environmental management, community outreach, human resources management, microfinance, emergency logistics, and on and on. But, often, such staff do not have expertise in computer hardware, software, and technology-related networks. That means that staff at such organizations often have to rely on consultants, either paid or volunteer, for such expertise. Staff's lack of high-level "tech" expertise can leave them feeling at the mercy of such consultants. Staff can feel a sense of both awe and fear about tech consultants -- that whatever the consultant says goes. Staff may feel unable to understand, question or challenge whatever that consultant recommends.
- An organization needs to recruit paid or volunteer / pro bono consultants to participate in its program delivery to clients or the public: an organization that helps nonprofits build accessible web sites, for instance, or a community center that helps the low income community it serves regarding computer literacy may want these consultants to design and lead classes.
What can mission-based organizations do to recruit the "right" consultant, whether paid or volunteer, for "tech" related issues, one that will not make them feel out-of-the-loop or out-of-control when it comes to tech-related discussions or the delivery of tech-related services?
First: write a detailed description of what it is you want as a result of this consultants' work. What will success look like for your organization as a result of this consultant's/these consultants' work? Think less about how to get there are more about what the end result should look like - for every user of the system or tool to be developed. Then sketch out how many hours a week you expect the consultant to work, how many weeks you expect the consultant to commit to the job, documentation the consultant will be required to produce, etc. This must be in writing, to ensure that, once you do choose a consultant, he or she knows exactly what you want and expectations are clear.
Only after you have the task description in writing are you ready to recruit:
- Contact other organizations of a similar size and budget to yours, to seek recommendations for possible candidates (remember, both paid staff AND volunteer consultants), and to gather success AND horror stories. Ask the staff what they liked about a tech consultant they may recommend, what the results of this consultant's work was, and what advice they might have that could help you prepare to work with such a consultant. Even if you end up looking for consultants elsewhere, you will have a better understanding of what a successful tech-related consultancy looks like -- and what kinds you want to avoid.
- Post a notice to your web site saying that you are looking for this particular tech consultant. Be as detailed as possible about what you want the tech consultant to accomplish, per the detailed task description you wrote before you started recruiting.
- Send an email to all of your current volunteers, including your board of directors, letting them know about this position. Include the URL of the job description on your web site.
- Use social media - your Facebook page, your Twitter account, etc. Your message should point back to the page on your web site that details the paid consultant or volunteer need. But don't just say,
We need volunteers, see this web page:
That message isn't at all enticing. It doesn't motivate me at all to want to volunteer with an organization. By contrast, check out this tweet from @GoGirlGo4IT, or Go Girl Go for IT, of Melbourne, Australia, "A fun, free, interactive IT careers showcase for Secondary School Girls Years 8-11":
Celebrate #IVD by becoming a volunteer with Go Girl.
We are a very friendly bunch. And we dance while we work. bit.ly/w4cvQa
I *love* this message:
- I knew from the Twitter account name that this org has something to do with girls and IT - a subject that I'm passionate about.
- They need volunteers, but instead of saying "We need volunteers", they leveraged International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development as a recruitment message
- They throw in a fun comment like "And we dance while we work."
- If this is a paid position, post it to the appropriate section of Craigslist. If it's a volunteer / pro bono position, post it to the appropriate section of Craigslist, as well as to whatever third-party online recruitment tool that's most used in your area.
- Send the position announcement to area university career centers, university volunteer centers, and specific university departments related to computers and technology.
If that doesn't result in candidates for your position, have a look again at your position description. Are you asking too much of a candidate in terms of time? Are you asking too much of a volunteer - do you need to make the position paid in order to be able to get someone who has the expertise and will need the financial support in order to provide the time required? Do you need to break the assignment up into smaller tasks, and recruit a team rather than just one volunteer? Does the task just look like a long list of work to do, never mentioning how this work benefits the nonprofit or the community it serves?
As for screening candidates:
- For paid positions or high-responsibility volunteer positions (where the volunteer will be in charge of an entire project, supervise employees or volunteers, etc.), look for candidates who have worked with organizations or departments that are the same as the size of your organization or department -- similar numbers in staff size, budget, geographic area served, etc. A consultant who has a lot of experience with large, well-funded organizations may not have the skills and expertise needed by a small agency with very limited resources; someone with a lot of nonprofit and volunteer experience might be better suited for a task than someone with only for-profit experience at large high-tech companies.
- Be committed to the idea of talking to at least three candidates for paid positions or high-responsibility volunteer positions. Talking to more than one candidate will help you further identify your needs in a consultant, and will give you a more clear understanding of qualities you do want, and don't want, in a consultant.
- In the interview with each potential consultant, tell the candidate about your tech needs and ask how he or she would approach them, or what the candidate's thoughts are about what it is you want regarding technology or support. Does the candidate explain his or her approach in a way you can understand? Do you feel like the candidate is really listening to you?
- Don't be bedazzled by jargon. Just because a candidate uses words or phrases that sound like he or she is in-the-know does not mean the person really is the expert you need. Don't be afraid to ask for clarification at any point. And when the candidate is giving you clarification, consider how he or she makes you feel. You are getting insight into his or her work style -- do you like it?
- Ask for samples of work for paid positions or high-responsibility volunteer positions, such as a technology plan the person authored. If confidentiality is an issue, ask the person to insert a "dummy" name for the real name of the organization for which the plan was developed, and a "dummy" name for any software or hardware recommendations the consultant feels are proprietary. If the work sample is a piece of software, ask the candidate to do a demonstration for you.
- Tell the candidate that the chosen consultant must document ALL of his or her work, with an eye to someone being able to step in at any point if the consultant cannot continue. Ask the candidate how he or she feels about this, and what the person's experience with such has been in the past. If possible, ask for an example of documentation this person has done (see previous bullet).
- Ask the candidate how he or she will include the organization's employees and volunteers in the tech development or upgrade process, as opposed to the consultant working entirely independently.
- If the candidate represents a company or group, make sure the person you talk to in the interview is the person who is actually going to do the work.
- Ask candidates for references and CALL THEM. In particular, ask questions regarding the candidates ability to meet deadlines, to document his or her work, and to train others.
- If the consultant is going to work remotely, you can still do all of the previous steps, via phone or live video conferencing, but ALSO do some interaction via email. Pay attention to how quickly candidates respond to your emails, how well they write, and how well they communicate via the written word. How the consultant acts via remote communication processes is an excellent indication of how he or she would act during the actual consultancy.
- If the consultant is going to have access to private information about paid staff, volunteer or clients (home addresses, social security numbers, pay rates, ages, etc.), do a criminal background check on any seriously-considered candidate, and put the final candidate through a confidentiality workshop to affirm your organization's policies on such. If the consultant balks, find another candidate.
- Watch out for inappropriate agendas and conflicts of interests. For instance, is the consultant promoting a specific software or hardware solution because he or she, or one of your board members, will benefit financially from the sale of such?
- You may want to put the following list, which starts with "A good tech consultant, whether paid or working pro bono (as a volunteer) will...", on a separate paper and give it to each candidate, and ask each candidate his or her feelings about each point.
The goal in the interview process is to get a sense of how this person works. The interview should give a good indication of this person's work style, and ability to explain tech-related information and approaches.
If you are looking for a consultant for a paid project, be careful that during the recruiting and interview process that you are not asking candidates for free consulting. Many consultants have felt that an hour or so interview ended up being a free advice session, as the organization quizzed the consultant about various possible tech needs and approaches, took notes, and then was able to implement the consultant's "free" recommendations without involving the person further.
A good tech consultant, whether paid or working pro bono (as a volunteer) will:
- Talk to your employees, staff and clients in such a way as to help them understand the solutions or approaches he or she is offering. The person won't "talk down" to staff per their relative lack of technology knowledge compared to him or her.
- Will learn your organization's system, and be able to talk about its strengths and weaknesses. The consultant will offer a variety of suggestions for improvements, not just one suggestion to throw out all systems and start over with something else (that may be one of the suggestions, but should not be the only one).
- Will provide you with more than one option to choose from, and an informed assessment of the strength and weakness of each.
- Will respect your budget and staffing limitations.
- Will respect your deadlines.
- Will work to build capacity in your organization, not to build increasing reliability upon the consultant. He or she will include staff in the development or upgrade -- not merely present the finished product after weeks or months of working alone.
- Will document ALL of his or her work, with an eye to someone being able to step in at any point if the consultant cannot continue.
- Will provide regular updates, in writing, and will not become defensive when asked for more detailed information about his or her work so far.
Finally, respect the consultant's time: high on the list of complaints from consultants, including volunteers, who try to help mission-based organizations with technology issues is that staff at the organization don't provide the consultant adequate task and need descriptions, don't provide enough face-to-face time with the consultant, don't start meetings on-time and aren't actually ready to work with a technology consultant and, therefore, can't undertake the consultant's recommendations or allow the consultant to proceed.
TechSoup has more more information about finding and working with tech consultants.. They also Working with Technical Volunteers: A Manual for NPOs - it's free to download.
But What If You Need To Let the Consultant Go?
Sometimes, you need to let a tech staff member or consultant go, even when that person is a volunteer (if the volunteer is not meeting the requirements of the written job description, isn't following your policies and is engaging in activity that is detrimental or destructive to the organization, he or she needs to go). When firing a consultant, in addition to appropriate human resources practices, and regardless of the reason you are letting the person go (even if the split is, in your mind, amicable), make double sure you cut off the person's email address at your organization and network access at the same time you hand the person his or her walking papers, and have changed ALL passwords the person might know.
Also see:
Short-term assignments for tech volunteers
There are a variety of ways for mission-based organizations to involve volunteers to help with short-term projects relating to computers and the Internet, and short-term assignments are what are sought after most by potential "tech" volunteers.
Non-IT Staff Taking the Lead on the Exploration of Technology Use
IT professionals, acting as IT managers or consultants, play an essential role in helping mission-based organizations use technology to meet the goal of the organization. That said, however, an IT professional is not always the best person to *lead* at a nonprofit organization regarding use of information communications technologies (ICTs) to meet the organization's mission and help staff members do their jobs.
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