When an IT Expert Needs a Job
An IT person must approach the challenge of finding a new job in a very particular way. Because your skills are specialized, you are not going to apply to every job that is in the newspaper. The approach you should take to find good jobs and then how to craft your resume and your strategy are all just as peculiar the IT industry is and as unique as you are. But if you approach the job search right, you can cut through a lot of the confusion that hunting for a job can bring and get to the good jobs fast.
Stealth Job Hunting
The frustration of job hunting is that the job market is a huge jumbled mess. The last thing you want to do is compete for the perfect job with hundreds of other people who are not as qualified as you are. It is even worse to find yourself applying to job after job that are not the perfect next step for you. You need some stealth job hunting tactics that can get you to that perfect next step in your career, even if you are unemployed at the moment.
Those tactics are right at your fingertips and you may not even know it. Most IT professionals are part of groups and associations that cater to your particular specialization and skill set. Whether you are a web designer, a data base administrator or a project manager, there is an organization that is out there that is full of people with your same career focus.
Those groups are also natural magnets for businesses who need people with that skill set. The people in your own IT specialization are the ones who will be aware of openings that are out there or about to happen. If your company paid for your membership to some of those organizations, keep up those dues. Then use the collective power of those groups to look for your next job. Because they know exactly what you do, they can guide your search and plug you into job openings that are perfect for you.
The Power of the Network
Just as potent as the groups who make it easier to do your job are the people in your immediate IT world who know you well. Any expert in finding a new job will advise you that your first strategy is not to file for unemployment or even go home after losing your job to pout about it. Your first and most important strategy is to network. Your network are the other people in your specialization who may be able to direct you to another job in town that can use an IT specialist just like you.
Your network is also people you worked for including bosses and clients who admired your work. If you served other businesses as part of your work, those businesses might be eager to "snap you up" when you are cut lose from your current job. So by all means, get snapped up.
Networking is not something you start to do when you are suddenly out of a job. If you still have your position, work at building that network every day. It is a natural thing to do because you are in a professional position with peers on your IT team, supervisors who can witness how good you are at your job and customers who come back for more every time you deliver good work. Those social groups are teaming with networking opportunities.
IT professionals sometimes have a reputation of being socially retiring. That may be true if you prefer to sit and crank out code instead of going to a party. But networking isn't about a popularity contest. It is about taking advantage of the close professional relationships you naturally develop with other technical people like yourself.
Your networking web is everywhere. It is at work, in your family, at the bowling alley or at church. When you are looking for that next great opportunity, throw the doors and windows open for your network to go to work for you. If you do that, the network of people who know you well are the ones who can do the most to plug you into that next great job.
What a Resume Isn't.
It is smart to keep your resume up to date all of the time. You don’t have to wait until you are unemployed to update your resume so it is ready to go to work for you to get you that next great job opportunity. In fact, you don’t have to wait until you are unemployed to put your resume into circulation. If you get in a mindset of always having your radar up for a great new opportunity and also keeping your resume ready to go out at a moment's notice, you may be the one moving from job to job on your terms rather than waiting for your employer to make that decision for you.
If a resume fails, it is because people put too much in it or too little. A resume is more than a skeleton review of your career with dates and addresses. But a resume is not a chance for you to write the story of your life either. To find the right balance, be aware of the job the resume is out to accomplish for you.
The resume has one job. That job is not to get you a job. That is what happens in the interview. Your resume should not set out to talk a potential employer into hiring you. All it has to do is make him or her interested in talking to you. You will take it from there when you get to the interview phase of the project of getting a job. So to be successful, your resume's job is to leap past human resources and past the final cut where the person doing the interviewing picks the people to talk to and rejects the rest.
There is a secret to getting past human resources that your résumé must use to get to the person making then decision about that job. That secret is two words - key words. There are certain key phrases that summarize what the person hiring is looking for. So when you write your résumé, scan the text describing the job being filled. Look for key phrases and use them exactly as you see them in the job ad. Phrases like "outgoing and personable", "knowledgeable professional" or "creative and outgoing" will give you the keys to getting the job you want. Also, acronyms of your profession and key job description phrases like "data base administrator", "web development expert" or "project manager" are key words that will get your resume to the final cut.
The reason key words are important is that when an employer is taking résumés, they will either use job screening software or a person in HR who will weed out a lot of resumes before they go to the decision maker who will send out invitations for interviews. The Human Resources person and that software may have no clue what your job is. They will have a list of key words to look for in the résumés they are reviewing. If those key words are there, you make the cut. If they are not, your résumé hits the big trashcan in the corner. Stay out of that trash can and use key phrases to get past screening software or the Human Resources department so the person dong the hiring has a chance to appreciate how great you are.
By taking advantage of your professional associations and by networking, you can find the great jobs that are out there. That saves you a lot of aggravation because you don’t have to pound the bricks going after dozens of jobs that are not right for you. Then by being clever in how you organize your resume, it will cut through the mass of resumes and get right to the person who is filing the position. From then on out, the rest is up to you. But if you can get an interview for the perfect job where your skills will be utilized perfectly, landing that job should be a snap.
Failing all that- you could always kick off your own startup... Here's a few thoughts for starters...
Filed Under: Jobs in Technology
