Certification - August 2008 - (Page 30)

INTERFACE MWH Global Looks for Complete Package of Skills LINDSAY EDMONDS WICKMAN There’s a vast time difference between Denver and Christchurch, New Zealand. If you have IT service centers in both locations, how important is it that you hire professionals who are versed in global etiquette? At MWH Global Inc., an environmental engineering firm that operates in more than 20 countries and can trace its roots back more than 100 years, CIO Micki Nelson doesn’t just look for technical skills when she’s hiring. She looks at the whole individual and whether he or she can function in a global environment. “IT is different now than it was 20 years ago when you locked them in a back room and pushed food under the door,” Nelson joked. “It’s more than just technical skills. They’ve got to have such a broad range of softer skills: communication, customer interface, teamwork and collaboration [capabilities]. IT has permeated every aspect of our lives, so you have to have good, quality people supporting [it].” MWH’s IT department is composed of 160 full-time professionals, and there are three primary service centers in Denver, Christchurch and Warrington, England. A fourth soon will be added in Pune, India. Because the team uses a “follow the sun” support model, it is inevitable that IT employees will traverse the distance virtually and communicate with counterparts in other centers. Because IT at MWH is about more than just technical skills, certifications can help get a candidate in the door, but that’s about all, Nelson said. They don’t impact the hiring decision. “Certifications [are] attention-getters on a resume,” she said. “If we’re looking for a network engineer and they have all the right certifications, it’s certainly going to get them in the door. But we always make our decision on our technical and soft-skills interviews, regardless of certifications. [They] were far more important 10 years ago than they are to me now, and unfortunately, I’ve seen people who have great certifications and can’t work their way out of a paper sack.” She added: “I tend to lean toward a college degree, even though it’s not necessarily required for the “College forces people to experience areas that they might not experience if they did a pure technical certification or a two-year technical course.” — Micki Nelson, CIO MWH Global entry-level IT roles. College forces people to experience areas that they might not experience if they did a pure technical certification or a two-year technical course.” To determine if a potential hire has the pluck to make it in the global organization, MWH uses a threepronged interview process. First a candidate has a verbal technical interview, in which two or three employees with senior technical skills ask ques- According to the department’s 2007 social network analysis, 88 percent of MWH’s iNET team talked to a team member in another region every week, and 39 percent did so six or more times each week. “We have a small percentage of people who never talk to someone in another region,” Nelson said. “It’s usually because they are in a region-specific role, and those roles are becoming fewer and fewer every year. [In a] global environment, where project teams span across oceans, teamwork and collaboration are important, and our IT team [has] to be willing to reach out and engage others.” 0 CERTIFICATION MAGAZINE August 2008 http://www.mwhglobal.com/

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Certification - August 2008

Certification - August 2008 Editor's Letter Contents Data Stream jVirtual Village Tech Careers Dear Techie Troubleshooting Academic Connection What We Like Look Ahead The China Boom United in IT: Tech Culture Breaks Down Barriers Abroad Interface Digital Home Technology Integrator: Specialized Skills for the Smart Home Inside Certification Ad Index Endtag

Certification - August 2008

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