What should you look for when hiring an LMS admin?

  • 18 May 2021
  • 4 replies
  • 162 views
sophia.jackson
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Userlevel 4

Docebo Community, 

I work with lots of folks who are investing in an LMS for the first time, which can feel quite overwhelming, especially when you don’t have someone designated to manage the solution. 

Often times, as we wrap up the evaluation and the team decides to move forward with Docebo, the business will agree to hire someone to manage the platform. A question I’m typically asked is, “what should we look for in an LMS Admin?” and I’d love to hear from you all; 

:dizzy: What are the skills/qualities/traits needed to be a great LMS Admin? 

:dizzy: How steep is the learning curve if an organization looks to promote someone internally who’s never managed an LMS?

:dizzy: At what point do you feel 1 LMS Admin is not enough to support managing something like Docebo? 

:dizzy: What would be the best advice I could share to help organizations find a great fit? 

Thank you all! 

4 replies

lrnlab
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +7

Hi @sophia.jackson quite a big question…

I have been working on LMSs for over 20 years and have been an admin, managed teams of admins and  been the owner of a few...the skills required can vary depending on the business type but I found a few that, for me, were always most important:

  • Customer-centric focus; an admin should always have the end-user in mind whenever working on content set-up and things like troubleshooting. I always tried to remind my team that what they input into the LMS is kind of like publishing a magazine, website, etc. Accuracy and attention to detail is key
  • Solid organizing skills are important as well.
  • Quality Assurance and attention to detail; make sure your admins have some experience/understanding of what QA and quality control is all about - I cant stress this enough
  • Another important quality for an admin is the ability to question everything; is the current set-up good enough? What can be done to improve it? An inquisitive mind set is a great asset
  • Not accepting the status quo...just because and LMS does this specific thing well, doesn't mean we can get creative in using the standard functionality to do things that are non-standard (again testing is a key component)
  • Another great skill I look for is the ability to do proper root cause analysis. This is very important when your admins also provide end-user support; or have an expectation to log tickets and communicate with Docebo support
  • A background or understanding of what use cases/test cases are and how important they are is also a great quality to look for...this can be help fun when supporting your business and creating a proof of concept for a specific project, etc.

I’ll stop here but could go on...hope this helps...

joanna.lay
Rank
Userlevel 5
Badge +1

Hi @sophia.jackson quite a big question…

I have been working on LMSs for over 20 years and have been an admin, managed teams of admins and  been the owner of a few...the skills required can vary depending on the business type but I found a few that, for me, were always most important:

  • Customer-centric focus; an admin should always have the end-user in mind whenever working on content set-up and things like troubleshooting. I always tried to remind my team that what they input into the LMS is kind of like publishing a magazine, website, etc. Accuracy and attention to detail is key
  • Solid organizing skills are important as well.
  • Quality Assurance and attention to detail; make sure your admins have some experience/understanding of what QA and quality control is all about - I cant stress this enough
  • Another important quality for an admin is the ability to question everything; is the current set-up good enough? What can be done to improve it? An inquisitive mind set is a great asset
  • Not accepting the status quo...just because and LMS does this specific thing well, doesn't mean we can get creative in using the standard functionality to do things that are non-standard (again testing is a key component)
  • Another great skill I look for is the ability to do proper root cause analysis. This is very important when your admins also provide end-user support; or have an expectation to log tickets and communicate with Docebo support
  • A background or understanding of what use cases/test cases are and how important they are is also a great quality to look for...this can be help fun when supporting your business and creating a proof of concept for a specific project, etc.

I’ll stop here but could go on...hope this helps...

 

I agree with everything here and I’d also add that they need to be able to relate to their customer base.  You’re looking for someone who genuinely wants to help when people have problems or just need a bit of support rather than a gatekeeper.

Joanna
danwinter
Rank
Userlevel 5
Badge +1

Hey @sophia.jackson! As an LMS Analyst myself, I find I’ve benefitted the most from at least a working knowledge of coding/development/programming languages - as the LMS is most effective when it can work with other systems, I’ve been able to implement and support solutions to maximize the data stored in the LMS by working with developers on APIs, SAML/oAuth configurations, and a smattering of additional projects. It makes understanding use cases and limitations much simpler, and establishing project milestones and delivery dates much more accurate.

Adam Ballhaussen
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +3

I agree with all of the great advice and ideas shared by others in this thread. There are so many traits/soft skills that are important for an administrator to possess beyond what can be communicated on a job description.

 

With that said, I’ve attached an example job description for others to use as a starting point. I encourage others to share examples of their LMS Admin job descriptions as well!

1 Attachment
Adam B.

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