A Champion’s Perspective: Hire for anniversary dates, not just fill rates

With every tech hire there’s a bigger question: are companies hiring for speed, or for staying power? KC TechBridge Champion Matt Sharple, founder and CEO of TriCom Technical Services, shares his perspective on why organizations should focus less on filling roles quickly, and more on hiring people who will still be thriving on their first, second and third work anniversaries.

Q: You work across dozens of client companies each year and place hundreds of IT professionals in roles ranging from help desk to cybersecurity, both locally and nationally. From that vantage point, where do you see the biggest disconnects between the tech skills employers request on paper and the candidates who are actually available and qualified?

Talent evaluation overall has been a somewhat imperfect practice with many organizations setting up their own internal evaluation processes meant to find the best and brightest. 

According to statistics I've seen, the startling point is that almost half of all newly hired I.T. professionals leave within the first year or two of their employment. To me, this is the biggest disconnect. Client companies rarely, if ever, pan out widely enough to check how well they hire. Each year, companies should ask “who’s been hired, are they good/great at their jobs, and are they still here at the end of their first year, second year, and beyond. Hire for anniversary dates, not just fill rates.

Secondly, the individuals usually making the yes/no decision on hires are becoming less sure of themselves, wanting to hit the bullseye with every tech hire. This risk aversion tends to focus more on current experience with a certain tool over a person’s ability to learn, solve problems, and keep learning. The tools are changing at an ever more rapid pace; it is more important to focus on the “the who” aspects of a potential hire than on finding a “hit the ground running” candidate with certain check-the-box tech skills. It rarely, if ever, exists anyway. And many times, what is listed as “required” on a particular job posting isn’t as much required as it is preferred.

Q: Your model goes beyond the resume with face‑to‑face screening, independent skills assessments, and reference checks to reduce bias and hiring errors for IT roles. What patterns are you seeing in those assessments (technical or soft skills) that signal either an emerging surplus or shortage in specific kinds of talent?

Complex problem solving and the ability to communicate effectively with co-workers of varying levels of technical aptitude are in high demand with less surplus of those types of IT professionals. 

Interpersonal communication, collaboration and conflict resolution are also in short supply in a more distributed workforce model that most companies have now adopted, whether in a hybrid or fully remote environment.

Q: How do soft‑skill gaps show up differently across early‑career candidates and career changers, and what could educators do about that?

Early-career candidates, especially those who don’t have firsthand examples of tech professionals in their inner circle, have an extremely difficult time finding that first rung on the tech ladder. Getting real-life exposure and stories about how various tech pros started out would be invaluable.