The Hiring Game

Overseeing 400 employees within her department, Katherine (Kathy) Tamer, vice president and CIO of NASA contractor United Space Alliance (USA), has some serious experience with hiring. Tamer recently shared some of her experiences hiring qualified team members with CIO Magazine. Her principal rule: consider the team dynamics. She notes that while there may be capable candidates for a position, unless candidates are in-sync with existing team members, she will probably not pursue the hire.

When hiring senior level managers, Tamer invites a panel of three people (generally made up of internal customers for whom the candidate will provide services) to interview the prospects. "Last year, when one of my direct reports retired and I needed to hire a replacement, I had two of my key customers-the vice president for safety, quality and mission assurance and the deputy program manager for ground operations out of Florida-as members of my three-person hiring team," she said. Typically these three panelists make the final selection.

In terms of mistakes, Tamer says that her biggest mistakes have occurred when she did not go with her gut instinct when making a hiring decision. "As a result, I got someone who looked excellent on paper. The person had the skills and experience and could do the job but not take it to the next level. The person maintained the status quo."

Like many CIOs, Tamer faces an aging workforce and is focused on building and growing her team of the future. In addition to science fairs and mentoring math and science students, her organization partners with an organization called GenesysWorks, a nonprofit in Houston that works with high school students from economically disadvantaged environments. She has supported 29 GenesysWorks students over the last five years. Of those 29, 28 have gone to college. It's likely that her group will then hire these students when they graduate.

For more on hiring trends:
- see the article [1] in CIO