Certification Magazine - March 2008 - (Page 33)

There’s no defined skill set for XNET employees other than a varied background, as the company deals with Internet connectivity, complex Web hosting and managed hosting, and co-location. Zards said XNET hires for anything from an entrylevel technical support position to a senior-level systems engineer. “Since we are an ISP, we like a lot of variety if possible in an IT employee,” he said. “In the past we’ve [looked] for Web developers, programmers, juniorlevel network administrators. We run the full gamut of a large corporation on a smaller scale.” XNET needs this level of diversity to be versatile. “Since we’re so solutions driven, we really need people who can cover all facets of the technical Internet realm,” he said. “We’re not specifically focused on just routers or just development or just systems. We need to have staff that can do all those things, and that’s been our challenge for hiring in the past. You don’t have to have full expertise in all the facets, but they have to have familiarity with it.” Because of the need for a diverse skill set, Zards typically looks for more seasoned professionals instead of young, green talent, which is a big change from hiring in the Internet boom. “It’s harder for us to get somebody green trained up with our environment than it is to just get a more senior-level person who can pretty much start with their feet running,” he said. In addition to technical expertise, Zards wants to find self-starters who have a thirst for knowledge. “If they’ve been with a company for a long time, I like to see people who started out as a junior-level something and a year or two later moved up to a higher level,” Zards said. “But I also like variety; if I see someone who hasn’t grown a lot vertically but has grown horizontally, I like that, too. I’ve seen a lot of people who have started out as a software developer and then switch to network administration and now are a systems administrator. I just like the fact that they’ve gotten their hands into different pots of technology throughout that company.” Employees’ responsibilities include but are not limited to general technical support, managing Web clusters, router programming and maintenance, VPN development and network design and administration. Now, with the Monster.coms of the world dominating the hiring field, the one characteristic Zards looks for — passion — has been drained from most job application materials, as candidates submit their cookie cutter resume to hundreds of companies with the click of a button. “Our specifics are usually a little bit different, a little more complex, and we’re never going to find that perfect fit, so we need to find people who have enough experience in different technologies who can pick up on what they need to learn here,” Zards said. Now, with the Monster.coms of the world dominating the hiring field, the one characteristic Zards looks for — passion — has been drained from most job application materials, as candidates submit their cookie cutter resume to hundreds of companies with the click of a button. “It’s too easy for people to submit resumes these days. My qualification process is that I specifically put in the job posting: ‘Please send resume, cover letter and answer the following questions,’” he said. “One of the questions is always relevant to that core technology we’re looking for. Another question would be something more toward attitude; saying what new technology you are excited about. It’s pretty sad that it has gotten to the point where anybody who actually answers those questions gets put in the INTERFACE continued on page 39 March 2008 CERTIFICATION MAGAZINE 33 http://www.monster.com http://www.monster.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Certification Magazine - March 2008

Certification Magazine - March 2008 Editor's Letter Contents Data Stream Tech Careers Academic Connection Dear Techie Virtual Village Mastering IT: Choosing Between an Immediate Job and Higher Education Inside Certification Virtual World Administrators: Service Requests in Cyberspace Interface Boomers in IT: Will the Talent Shortage Affect Techies? Ad Index Endtag

Certification Magazine - March 2008

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