Certification Magazine - October 2007 - (Page 20)

CERTIFICATION Rebooting Your Career Development TEGAN JONES Go to college. Get a job. It’s that easy, right? If things ever were that simple, those days have long since passed. Today, companies expect their employees to possess more than a college degree and a strong will to work — they want their IT pros to be informed about industry trends, confident about their career paths and in command of a wide range of technical and business skills. If you’re afraid you fall short of meeting these requirements, fear not. You’re not alone. According to a recent CareerBuilder.com survey, 46 percent of IT hiring managers say they have difficulty finding qualified workers. These companies are looking beyond degrees and certifications, searching for individuals who can apply the skills they’ve learned to the specific job function for which they’re applying, said Tanya Flynn, CareerBuilder.com career adviser. “What they’re really looking for are candidates who can position themselves on their resume and in their cover letter for a specific position and make an effort to relate their skills to the job at hand,” Flynn explained. “It demonstrates that they will be able to do that on the job.” Understanding how to apply your skills to a wide range of technological and business functions will become even more critical in the future, as IT pros increasingly are expected to partner with business leaders on corporate projects. To prepare for a career that involves strategic planning, as well as systems analysis, techies need to create a two-pronged development plan to enhance both their high-tech and soft skills, said Jeannne Beliveau-Dunn, Learning@Cisco senior director. She also said the most common soft skills IT job functions require are project management, communication and business analytics. Even if individuals are primarily interested in working on the technical side of their organization, they need to be able to communicate the value of that technology to nontechnical business leaders. “You need to be able to look at what a technology can do, how it can support other applications and different ways to design and configure that technology to make it effectively meet the overall company’s goals,” Beliveau-Dunn said. “Being able to marry company goals (whatever those are) to a specific technology — to be able to really understand those ties, communicate those connections and do the analysis — is very important.” 20 CERTIFICATION MAGAZINE October 2007 http://CareerBuilder.com http://CareerBuilder.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Certification Magazine - October 2007

Editor's Letter Contents Data Stream Tech Careers Dear Techie Academic Connection Virtual Village Rebooting Your Career Development Inside Certification Forensics Investigators: Cybercrime Fighters Interface Building Your Skills Through Security Tools Ad Index Endtag

Certification Magazine - October 2007

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