Certification - May 2008 - (Page 30) INTERFACE Listen for Employment Clues: How to Get in at FrontPages Web Hosting Network KELLYE WHITNEY Today’s job market favors the knowledge worker. They have experience, solid educational background and the polish to communicate well with customers and seek out opportunities for growth and development within their organizations. These same characteristics prompt the knowledge worker, an intrinsically savvy job seeker, to improve his or her odds of landing a position by researching a potential employer to gain whatever information advantage possible. Most technology companies will happily share what they’re looking for in potential employees. Why not? They’re in the business of finding talented IT professionals, and information can be a great differentiator for both parties looking to discern proper fit and the likelihood of a beneficial employer-employee relationship. Consider FrontPages Web Hosting Network, a division of Amp Technology LLC. Rob LaMear IV, president and CTO for Amp, said his organization is all about hiring. The organization expects to double the number of employees in its St. Louis headquarters by the end of the year. More than 50 percent of its staff work in junior and senior systems engineer positions in two main areas: data-center maintenance and help-desk support. LaMear said, as the company launches its aggressive recruiting efforts, problem-solving ability and analytical skills rate high on the list of qualities it screens for in potential IT candidates. “We actually test for those metrics so that we have a baseline, if you will,” he explained. “There are standardized IT tests, you can test industry or role specific, and there’s also some standard analytical testing you can do. But everything is built off of problem solving and analytical thinking. We’re a Microsoft technology company, a gold partner, so we look for those core services: Exchange server, Windows server, SharePoint, SQL, etc.” Soft skills and project management skills also are important considerations. LaMear said, while interviewing potential employees, he often finds candidates who are qualified engineers, but few who can communicate well and manage projects effectively. This is problematic for his organization because 80 percent of FrontPages engineers communicate daily with the end user, and the company has more than 5,000 enterprise customers. Potential candidates also should be able to work effectively in a team environment because most tasks at FrontPages are created for this dynamic. LaMear said teamwork also is a way to help smart people get smarter — enabling them to bounce ideas off others — and he tries to keep an open, collaborative environment in order to move people along the learning curve faster. “There are some engineers out there who would prefer to work by themselves, but in our environment, it’s critical that they play well with others,” 30 CERTIFICATION MAGAZINE May 2008
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