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Loading ...The one skill that employers will always say ‘Yes’ to
Let’s get one thing straight: I interview IT managers. I don’t hire them. Yet for some reason, the resumes keep pouring in, either to my e-mail account or the general delivery ones we set up for reader feedback. And, sad to say, I doubt I’d call many of the candidates who are applying for technology jobs here, even if there were technology jobs to be had. Here’s why.
It’s not that the people writing in aren’t qualified. In fact, they tend to reel off a laundry list of certifications and system administration experience. Many of them even include some of “12 IT skills that employers can’t say no to,” recently compiled by our counterparts at Computerworld U.S. That list included areas like machine learning, open source programming and wireless networking. What it left out was the ability to write a resume that doesn’t read like a PC owner’s manual.
Apart from generic objectives like “a dynamic position with a company where I can use my talents,” and additional interests like reading, a lot of the IT resumes I see don’t give you much sense of the personality behind the programming languages and troubleshooting expertise. That’s going to become a big problem as Web 2.0 technologies mature and everyday users start thinking of themselves as more IT-savvy than they actually are. If IT managers can’t effectively articulate who they are and how they can contribute to achieving an organization’s goals in layman’s terms, they’re not going to get very far — not that they’d get very far by sending their resume to me anyway.
July 23rd, 2007 at 1:08 pm
I completely agree!
Unfortunately, a lot of IT cultures tend to train people to “stick to the facts” and not let any opinions or “creativity not in scope” into official communications.
Many IT managers (and worker bees too) are very creative, but not used to showing it.
Many IT folk also do not view office applications as “as important” as their accounting systems, databases and web-apps. They often do not care to learn how to use Word etc. properly. I get all sorts of resumes across my desk with such a complete lack of outline structure - that they might as well have done it in paint.
July 30th, 2007 at 2:32 pm
Interesting,
For years I have been telling students and IT colleagues to look at resumes through the eyes of an HMI designer. Let’s face it, a resume is an interface between an applicant and a potential employer that can convey only a limited amount of information. The process of interface design (a skill they should be acquainted with) looks at what information is needed and how to present it in the most effective way. The process should trigger some thoughts about the “user” (potential employer): its profile, the organization he/she works for, its concerns about applicants, the top priority information, and so on. Sure, the analogy has its limits, but it has sparked the creativity of enough people to bring the topic on the table every time I am asked to review a resume!
Don’t you think people (read IT people in this case) ought to start applying knowledge horizontally?