A couple of posts we came across today in the blogosphere made us think about the type of people we hire at SAGE.

Since its inception over ten years ago, SAGE has always hired engineers and staff that are not only experts in their field, but excellent communicators, take the initiative, and place a premium on customer service. We feel that this has been instrumental in SAGE’s success, and why our OnSight service is taking off. You would expect communication and customer service skills in the great folks who man our OnSight Support Center, but it is just as important for an engineer to explain the business and operational implications of complex technical issues and understand the customer’s needs, usually expressed in completely non-technical ways.

This is the culture SAGE has fostered over the years. It doesn’t matter whether one works in IT, law, final services, or the restaurant business. Check out restaurateur Danny Meyer’s hospitality quotient for new hires (via Signal vs. Noise). Meyer sees the hospitality quotient as 51 percent of the job, the other 49 percent being technical ability. For the most part, this is what SAGE looks for in its employees.

• optimism and kindness,
• curiosity about learning,
• an exceptional work ethic,
• a high degree of empathy, and
• self-awareness and integrity.

We also look to our people to take the initiative, because many times they are on-sight at the client and must react quickly but intelligently. We don’t hire sheep. Seth Godin explained the perils of hiring sheep in this screed against what he has termed: “Sheepwalking.” It is a great read for any organization.