HIGHFIVE LINKEDIN PROFESSIONAL

Bolivar, explained that employees are encouraged to take courses to improve both soft and technical skills.

HIGHFIVE LINKEDIN PROFESSIONAL

They believe if they hire PHDs and give them additional customer service training that they will offer best-in-class support.Д«oth Williams and Bolivar foster a culture of constant professional development and growth. The ethos at LinkedIn is centered on - and borderline obsessive about - hiring the smartest people they can possible find. Williams said the same is true during his teamвЂ™s all-hands. LinkedInвЂ™s CEO Jeff Weiner begins the company all-hands meeting with the same discussion every week: talent. He attributes much of his teamвЂ™s success to the soft skills that every IT employee develops, but he also points to the focus on hiring talented people. вЂњGTSU is really focused on some of the softer side aspects of emotional intelligence, customer support and attitude,вЂќ he said. WilliamsвЂ™ team began offering customer service training through a program they started a few years ago called Global Technology Solutions University. Anything else they donвЂ™t know, we can teach them,вЂќ he told me. We hire people with huge hearts and drive.

вЂњItвЂ™s the type of person that weвЂ™re looking for. When I asked BolivarвЂ™s counterpart, Craig Williams, another IT Director at LinkedIn, the same question during a phone interview he had a similar answer. Then LinkedIn looks for the ones with вЂњPHDвЂќ, a term the company coined, which stands for Passion, Heart and Drive. The program teaches these young people skills like customer service, technical skills and leadership. In fact, one of their most successful recruiting channels has been YearUp, a program that offers business training to disadvantaged youth. The GTSвЂ™ hiring requirements say nothing about a previous background in IT. It turns out they look for people who are personable, not just IT experts. And the tech behind the help desk counter was just as warm as the IT engineer in the midst of a project.ДЄfter speaking with a few team members I asked Bolivar where they found talented IT candidates with such great people skills. The employees that Bolivar introduced me to were also quick to smile and immediately dropped what they were doing to chat for a few minutes. Walking through the office, Wil Bolivar, Director of Global Technology Solutions (GTS),В was quick to hold the door and say вЂњHello,вЂќ to passersby. It starts with the leadership, as it usually does. ItвЂ™s a story of success that any IT Director can respect. The story of LinkedInвЂ™s Global Technology Solutions (GST) teamвЂ™s success is rooted in the culture they have carefully crafted. However, the story of how LinkedIn built one of the best IT teams isnвЂ™t about their beautiful office, or the fact that like many tech companies, they offer unlimited amounts of gourmet food. I thought this was just another Silicon Valley culture story-an amazing workplace with the amenities youвЂ™d expect from a company that has a market cap just north of $25 billion. The receptionists welcomed me with smiles and then pointed me to their fully staffed coffee shop. There were cafeterias on every floor and the bean bag chairs seemed to outnumber the desks. When I first walked into LinkedInвЂ™s office to interview Craig Williams and Wil Bolivar about how they built a highly successful IT team, I thought I had found my answer right away.

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