How can I attract Senior Database Administrator candidates?

  • I have a few full-time DBA positions open on my team, one of which is for a Sr. DBA. We have had a hard time finding qualified candidates to fill the position and I need the help sooner than later. The salary and compensation package is very good and the ability to advance, in one's career and skills, is great, but we just don't have that many applicants. What am I doing wrong, or what more can I do?

  • Let's start with the job description you are using when advertising the position.

    Next, how about more about the company and benefits.

    I'll will be honest, I'm not looking for a new position as I really like where I am working now. What I am interested in, is finding something to supplement my current income working evenings/weekends remotely.

  • Check the job posting. If it's like the usual ones, it asks for a full set of skills that have nothing to do with being a DBA, as well as decades of experience with SQL Server 2012, and all that kind of thing.

    It will also depend on what market you're in, and whether you're willing to pay (or at least help with) moving expenses if the best candidates live outside normal commute distance from you. Some cities have a lot of good DBAs, some don't, and this varies over time as well.

    Also, keep in mind that skilled Lead DBAs are probably already working. It's a high-demand field with unemployment around 1% nationally (if you're in the US; I don't know numbers from other countries if you're not). So, not only do you need to find someone good, but you need to find someone good who's looking, or whom you can convince to leave a current employer/contract.

    You might also want to get a good marketing copy-writer to look over your job posting and make sure it follows good marketing practices. I've seen dismal results turn into great results by doing that kind of thing (works on both job postings and resumes to treat them as marketing material). Doesn't have to be flashy, but does have to read in such a way that it will generate interest/excitement in the right target-demographic.

    - Gus "GSquared", RSVP, OODA, MAP, NMVP, FAQ, SAT, SQL, DNA, RNA, UOI, IOU, AM, PM, AD, BC, BCE, USA, UN, CF, ROFL, LOL, ETC
    Property of The Thread

    "Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everyone agrees it's old enough to know better." - Anon

  • You can also talk to friends, and ask them to ask their friends. Or look on LinkedIn and cold message some people that fit your needs. Recruiters do that, no reason you can't.

    You can post the description here as well and we can give you feedback. As Gus mentioned, lots of extraneous HR stuff isn't interesting. Why would someone want to come work for you? Ask for real skills and real qualifications, but give them real reasons to answer your ad.

  • I'm genuinely curious to see the actual posting. Can you throw us a link or, if it's not too long, just post it here?

  • bclyde-1080677 (7/25/2012)


    I have a few full-time DBA positions open on my team, one of which is for a Sr. DBA. We have had a hard time finding qualified candidates to fill the position and I need the help sooner than later. The salary and compensation package is very good and the ability to advance, in one's career and skills, is great, but we just don't have that many applicants. What am I doing wrong, or what more can I do?

    I suspect it's simply due to a lack of information. For example, you ask what you're doing wrong above but give us no idea of what you've actually done nor any clue as to where we can see the job description to see if we can help. In the post you made just prior to this one on another thread, you told folks to check the SQL Jobs forum on this site for a great job. Which of the dozens posted there might it be?

    If you want to attract good people, you've got to be a wee bit more forthcoming with information about the job. You also have to trust me that if your the one trying to hire a good DBA in Atlanta for only 75-85K, you'll probably end up waiting for quite a while.

    --Jeff Moden


    RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
    First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
    ________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

    Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.


    Helpful Links:
    How to post code problems
    How to Post Performance Problems
    Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

  • A lot of times jobs descriptions are not descriptive at all. Most of the time employees don't understand the technology and the job posting can be confusing. My advice would be to hire a company to find a DBA for you.

  • My advice would be to hire a company to find a DBA for you.

    Sorry Abel but this is god-awful advice. I recently got involved in a round of recruitment for a new DBA and the companies (agencies) we contacted just could not come up with the goods. When I asked around at the UK User Group in Manchester a few weeks ago, everyone agreed, agencies just aren't the right way to find a good DBA.

    What you need to do is leverage the existing talent in your team to write an award-winning job description, and price it up appropriately - don't be cheap, aim between the mid-range and top pay for the sector. I don't know where you're based, but in London a DBA will earn £35-£50k and a senior DBA £45-£65k. If I were recruiting a senior DBA in London I would pitch the job at £50k and I'd expect to be negotiating upwards with the candidate. Evangelists will earn even more through consultancy. Contract rates fluctuate between £280-£400 per day.

    The job description will need to be very specific in the areas in which you wish the applicant to be competent, but broad enough to cover multiple subject areas. It's certainly not a good idea to go Googling for a standard job spec.

    Bad example:

    * The applicant must be competent with SSRS, SSAS, SSIS.

    Good example:

    * The applicant must have knowledge and experience building SSIS workflows, creating DTS / SSIS packages, and deploying these to a production environment. In addition, the candidate must have experience in designing and building OLAP cubes, an excellent knowledge of data warehousing, and experience in creating custom reports in Visual Studio. Ideally the candidate will hold a Microsoft BI-related professional qualification.

    ---

    Note to developers:
    CAST(SUBSTRING(CAST(FLOOR(NULLIF(ISNULL(COALESCE(1,NULL),NULL),NULL)) AS CHAR(1)),1,1) AS INT) == 1
    So why complicate your code AND MAKE MY JOB HARDER??!:crazy:

    Want to get the best help? Click here https://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/forum-etiquette-how-to-post-datacode-on-a-forum-to-get-the-best-help (Jeff Moden)
    My blog: http://uksqldba.blogspot.com
    Visit http://www.DerekColley.co.uk to find out more about me.

  • I'd also suggest that if you want someone good in the four letter words associated (SSAS, SSRS, SSIS) with SQL Server and you want someone who is a virtual Ninja at T-SQL AND you want a tuning expert AND you want a system expert, that you won't find someone who's actually "good" at all of that. SQL Server and all those things are just too big for one person to be good at all of that.

    If you want an expert in SSAS, SSRS, and SSIS, then you should advertise for a "BI" expert.

    If you want an expert in databases (including effective design and implementation), then you need to advertise for a "Hybrid" or "Application DBA" with an emphasis on T-SQL and tuning with some reasonably good systems knowledge.

    If you want an expert in security and other system level stuff, then you need to advertise for a "Systems DBA".

    If you want someone with ".NET" experience, advertise for a front-end developer.

    --Jeff Moden


    RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
    First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
    ________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

    Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.


    Helpful Links:
    How to post code problems
    How to Post Performance Problems
    Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

  • As someone else mentioned here, posting unrealistic requirements like "10 years experience with SQL Server 2012" is off-putting to applicants. Don't do it.

    I recently saw a job posting at Splunk that did really good work with this. It has since been taken down. Maybe they found the right candidate. Huzzah for them!

    Anyway, the posting said something along the lines of "We know no one person can be great at all these things, so if you're pretty good at even half of them, we want to talk to you". I thought that placed a reasonably good amount of balance on the listing. Had I simply seen the listing with all the requirements they had on there I would have laughed. No decent candidate wants to walk into a position that has so many requirements and responsibilities that it sounds like a job for 5 people.

  • derek.colley (7/26/2012)


    My advice would be to hire a company to find a DBA for you.

    Sorry Abel but this is god-awful advice. I recently got involved in a round of recruitment for a new DBA and the companies (agencies) we contacted just could not come up with the goods. When I asked around at the UK User Group in Manchester a few weeks ago, everyone agreed, agencies just aren't the right way to find a good DBA.

    I'd disagree. In the US, they are hit and miss, but they do hit. Not sure it's better/worse than you doing it alone.

    Use agencies/recruiters, just don't use them exclusively.

  • Steve Jones - SSC Editor (7/26/2012)


    derek.colley (7/26/2012)


    My advice would be to hire a company to find a DBA for you.

    Sorry Abel but this is god-awful advice. I recently got involved in a round of recruitment for a new DBA and the companies (agencies) we contacted just could not come up with the goods. When I asked around at the UK User Group in Manchester a few weeks ago, everyone agreed, agencies just aren't the right way to find a good DBA.

    I'd disagree. In the US, they are hit and miss, but they do hit. Not sure it's better/worse than you doing it alone.

    Use agencies/recruiters, just don't use them exclusively.

    I'll second Steve on this one. I've had recruiters get me into jobs that weren't even DBA work but were listed as such and interviewed as such (which was weird), but I've also had them get me great jobs.

    I've also seen it from the hiring side. The recruiter that got me my current job has provided 6 great team-mates at this place, and 1 complete disaster. The "complete disaster" (a) didn't get very much done, and (b) all of it had to be scrapped and re-done from spec by others, and (c) had ethics issues, and (d) was divisive in the team (tried to create conflicts and blame others, that kind of thing). If that person had been the first one brought on by that recruiter, I can't imagine the company would have ever used that recruiter again, and would probably feel about him the way you seem to feel about recruiters in general. BUT, every other person sent to us to interview by that recruiter has been top-notch, so he's definitely worth working with. (After "the disaster" was fired, we informed the recruiter. That agency won't ever work with "the disaster" again, because their rep matters a lot to them, and he hurt it.)

    So, they can be good, and they can be bad, and even the best recruiters can have an off-day and let an unqualified person through or pick the wrong opportunity for a good person. But my experiences with them have been mostly good.

    - Gus "GSquared", RSVP, OODA, MAP, NMVP, FAQ, SAT, SQL, DNA, RNA, UOI, IOU, AM, PM, AD, BC, BCE, USA, UN, CF, ROFL, LOL, ETC
    Property of The Thread

    "Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everyone agrees it's old enough to know better." - Anon

  • Thanks for the advice and comments so far, I'm very grateful.

    For those who asked for more information, I apologize for that glaring omission on my part. The job information can be found at the following link.

    http://www.pcrecruiter.net/pcrbin/direct.asp?r=l5NdZ4fcNKlJhPwSQqANySryUAJuQ07hlX2UOYMmGqj0rNMJ%2f0m7fDg%2bWLdMdIly%2btqW

  • Jeff Moden (7/25/2012)


    bclyde-1080677 (7/25/2012)


    I have a few full-time DBA positions open on my team, one of which is for a Sr. DBA. We have had a hard time finding qualified candidates to fill the position and I need the help sooner than later. The salary and compensation package is very good and the ability to advance, in one's career and skills, is great, but we just don't have that many applicants. What am I doing wrong, or what more can I do?

    I suspect it's simply due to a lack of information. For example, you ask what you're doing wrong above but give us no idea of what you've actually done nor any clue as to where we can see the job description to see if we can help. In the post you made just prior to this one on another thread, you told folks to check the SQL Jobs forum on this site for a great job. Which of the dozens posted there might it be?

    If you want to attract good people, you've got to be a wee bit more forthcoming with information about the job. You also have to trust me that if your the one trying to hire a good DBA in Atlanta for only 75-85K, you'll probably end up waiting for quite a while.

    Guilty as charged. You can't get much help when you post for advice but don't give any details. I added my company's job posting in a link above, but the job posting here in the SQL Jobs forum is the only one under the heading "SQL Server DBA". It is the Senior Database Administrator for Melaleuca in Idaho Falls, ID.

    And no, this is not for a job in Atlanta, and for a true Sr. SQL DBA we will gladly pay more than what you mentioned.;-)

  • GSquared (7/26/2012)


    Steve Jones - SSC Editor (7/26/2012)


    derek.colley (7/26/2012)


    My advice would be to hire a company to find a DBA for you.

    Sorry Abel but this is god-awful advice. I recently got involved in a round of recruitment for a new DBA and the companies (agencies) we contacted just could not come up with the goods. When I asked around at the UK User Group in Manchester a few weeks ago, everyone agreed, agencies just aren't the right way to find a good DBA.

    I'd disagree. In the US, they are hit and miss, but they do hit. Not sure it's better/worse than you doing it alone.

    Use agencies/recruiters, just don't use them exclusively.

    I'll second Steve on this one. I've had recruiters get me into jobs that weren't even DBA work but were listed as such and interviewed as such (which was weird), but I've also had them get me great jobs.

    I've also seen it from the hiring side. The recruiter that got me my current job has provided 6 great team-mates at this place, and 1 complete disaster. The "complete disaster" (a) didn't get very much done, and (b) all of it had to be scrapped and re-done from spec by others, and (c) had ethics issues, and (d) was divisive in the team (tried to create conflicts and blame others, that kind of thing). If that person had been the first one brought on by that recruiter, I can't imagine the company would have ever used that recruiter again, and would probably feel about him the way you seem to feel about recruiters in general. BUT, every other person sent to us to interview by that recruiter has been top-notch, so he's definitely worth working with. (After "the disaster" was fired, we informed the recruiter. That agency won't ever work with "the disaster" again, because their rep matters a lot to them, and he hurt it.)

    So, they can be good, and they can be bad, and even the best recruiters can have an off-day and let an unqualified person through or pick the wrong opportunity for a good person. But my experiences with them have been mostly good.

    I can't imagine you are going to find many candidates with that level of experience in an area with such a small population, or candidates who are willing to relocate there. You should probably consider candidates who would like to work remotely.

    The job description is pretty unfocused. Several sections are repeated entirely. If I was looking for a job, it would have turned me off by the end of the first paragraph.

    Identify a few critical things you must have and put them right up front, instead of having a 50 line laundry list. Take the rest of the nice to have stuff and put it at the end.

    You really need to give some clue about the potential salary range; "Pay Rate $0.00" is no going to attract many candidates.

    There is a requirement to "Relocate to Idaho Falls, ID", but no mention of relocation expenses, so that will be a big turn off.

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