Job Details
Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Tom. If you have read my job descriptions before, you will know that I like to add a little humor to them from time to time.... You will also know that I am an actual real person writing this. No 'bots' no AI...just a real live person. If you have never heard of me or are new to my job descriptions, welcome to the party.
This is a role where business experience and social fit are almost as important as the technical fit. You will be working with a close personal friend of mine...someone that I have known (and am proud to call my 'friend') for about 8 years. He is an emotionally mature leader (in other words, not someone that is going to scream at you or make you a scapegoat for every problem that comes up), and someone that would never ask you to do something he would not do himself. This is a small team...so that ability to be self-sufficient will be necessary for success.
There are a few key characteristics we are seeking in candidates for this role:
- That ability to not just understand the 'how' when it comes to working in those key Systems Analysis and Development tasks, but also understands the 'why'... So, for example, if we investigating a module of an ERP package or building an API, will my change actually solve the real issue? Or, will it just make it 'ok for now'. This is a firm that thinks of downstream effects of development activities as opposed to just short term fixes.
- We aren't seeking a 'rockstar'. If you can rock out to Stairway, then you could be a rockstar. Here's my point...we aren't seeking someone with a gargantuan ego or someone that believes they are God's gift to application development.
- We are seeking someone that can dig into stuff that they don't necessarily have a ton of direct experience with. For example, these guys use IFS for their ERP. We don't need an IFS guru for this, but we do need someone that can understand how systems interact and behave with one another. We are not really looking for someone that knows everything, the hiring manager for this role will help you learn it all. We are seeking that person that wants to 'learn it all' as opposed to someone that 'knows it all'. if someone comes to you with a question 'We have this problem, can you help us with three or four ways to solve it?'...can you help them solve it (not only drawing upon your experience, but drawing on brainstorming as well). No, we aren't looking for the next Elon Musk..he would probably cost too much anyway....but, if you think in the 'hmm...have we tried this?' type of format, we are definitely off to a great start.
Here is the Job Description...
This one is being done onsite in Waukegan
The official job title is 'Programmer /Analyst' but, really - under the covers - it is a Systems Analyst role with a focus on ERP
We are looking for something of a hybrid of a PM / BA with some ERP experience. You don't need to be an ERP developer. But, if you have some good solid application development skills in your background, that would be wonderful to see. You won't be developing code in this role. Rather, you will be working on requirements gathering, documentation and process flow diagramming while also challenging assumptions and not saying 'yes' to everything. We are not seeking an 'order taker' in this role. Rather, we are looking for that solid BA / PM mix that not only knows how to ask the right questions, but how to pivot off of those answers to get to the key need of what an internal user or stakeholder needs.
The ERP piece comes in from the perspective of understanding how ERP's behave. We do not need an IFS guru (these guys run IFS for ERP), but if you have some solid experience with other ERP's and how they behave (as a PM or BA) that would be right up the alleyway of what we are seeking.
You will be engaging with business and process owners for this mid-sized multi-national. This isn't a gargantuan sized firm, so you won't be pulled 100 different directions every day (they are about 500 users, and currently have about 150 in the US, 120 in Germany, and the remainder in other countries). You are going to learn a lot in your first 30-90 days here, so if you are a 'sponge' and a constant learner, you are going to fit right in here.
Here is what we are seeking:
- Solid requirements gathering, documentation and process flow diagramming experience.
- Experience being the only Systems Analyst on at least 2 projects in your background.
- Any ERP experience would be great to see. This ERP experience should be from a functional perspective...so, how AP, AR, GL, Warehouse and Manufacturing modules 'behave'.
- Any application development experience...this can be as a Java Developer, .net developer, Python developer, etc...