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My question is about where to look and/or how to find talented technology consultants for hire (ideally full time).

Detail: I run a company that has a lot of talented software programmers and engineers. We also have some staff who handle product and project management and client relationship roles. We are interested in finding someone who has a background in consulting (not freelancing or contract programming) who also has strong technology skills.

I know how (and where) to go to hire programmers of many skill levels (including stack overflow!). And we've found good people with consulting skills (client relationship building, issue definition, business requirements development, estimation, planning, etc), but we haven't had good luck finding someone with technology skills alongside those consulting skills - basically we've found one person by luck, and they've worked out great (they used to work at a big 5 consulting firm, which is where they got these skills).

So my question is: where should we look / advertise to find talented technology consultants? (Our company is virtual so we can hire anywhere in the world). Other answers involving process for successfully recruiting people with these skills may also be upvoted and/or accepted. Thanks!

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closed as off-topic by Fattie, gnat, virolino, Sourav Ghosh, IDrinkandIKnowThings Apr 10 at 13:17

  • This question does not appear to be about the workplace within the scope defined in the help center.
If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.

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    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because Steve, I believe this question does not fit in the remit of the site. (I fear the answer anyway is "it's impossible to find those!" :) ) – Fattie Apr 10 at 0:25
  • One of the most important things is to be crystal clear about what you actually need and then dismiss the surrounding preconceptions, with which you question is counter-productively laden. When you can state clearly and exactly what you need this person to do for your organization and you will have the start of the search process to find them. – Chris Stratton Apr 10 at 5:39
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    What's stopping you hiring more people away from the Big 5? – Philip Kendall Apr 10 at 6:15
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    I think you will have difficult time to find a Person to match this particular role with this conditions. See it from the employees perspective: Why would you want to work full-time with that skillset at your Company as Consultant? There are so many other Options, your Job posting will probably drown in the mass. Now to adress your Question: Your best Options are probably Tech-Talks/Meetups where you can talk to such People in an informal manner. Test the water and find out if you can provide a reason/benefit for that individual that he migth not find elsewhere. – ndcHunter Apr 10 at 7:18
  • @PhilipKendall - that's a big part of my question. How do I get my job offer in front of people working there, or who used to work there? I think the flexibility of this job will really appeal to certain pretty senior people who want more work-life flexibility (maybe they have a couple of kids under 10, or want to travel personally) - but I don't know how to reach these kinds of people.. – Steve Midgley Apr 10 at 16:04
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One way is by attending meetups that are relevant to the work you do. The people who typically attend meetups are more engaged overall, and more likely to possess the consulting skills you're looking for. Most of the meetups I've been to explicitly ask who is looking for work, and who is hiring.

Another place is Hacker News, specifically the "Who wants to be hired" series:

Or the "Who is hiring" series:

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