Is Your IT Career Suddenly Off Track?

Recently, I was interviewed by Rich Hein of CIO.com regarding 8 ways to get your IT career back on track. One of the things that came out in the article was first how to identify when you might even be off track. For many tech professionals, that is often the hardest part to recognize. We typically struggle to see ourselves objectively, and we often think that the stresses and problems we face in our careers are short-term issues, not necessarily signs of long-term career issues.

Thanks to Rich for including me, and I encourage you to read the article. As much as we might not want to face it, getting an accurate assessment of where we stand in our careers and of where to go from here is priceless:

8 Tips for Getting Your IT Career Back on Track

Your Way Out of the Resume Jungle

When it comes to the job search process, there is a lot of frustration, to put it mildly. But perhaps one of the greatest sources of frustration has to do with the resume itself. People seem to have all sorts of opinions about them, from what they should look like to how long they should be to whether they are even necessary is today's market. And the plethora of advice out there often seems contradictory at best.

A lot of the problem begins with (1) lack of understanding of current job market, (2) lack of understanding of current job market in specific industry, and (3) inability to write for target audience. On top of that, how a candidate plans to use the resume is another big factor.

It's why at both ITtechExec and NoddlePlace we have put together our prospectus that not only outlines our approach but also details how we stay on top of the market so that we can advise our members properly without all the frustration. We've also worked hard to build in job search solutions that allow us not just to create another resume but to use it to build momentum in the job search process.

Your Way Out of the Resume Jungle from Stephen Van Vreede

Have You Really Thought Through Your Job Search Plan?

If you're familiar with our company background, then you're probably already aware of how our company has evolved from first a "resume-focused" firm into a "resume with personal branding" firm into a "full-service resume/branding and job search solutions" firm. The reason for our evolution has been simple: We want to help our clients in tech to be more successful in overall career management and we want to remain relevant with the current job market, not with what worked 5, 10, 15 years ago.

With professionals switching jobs every 3 to 4 years, that means they have to get better at conducting a job search. And it means that we as a company have to do more than just write resumes and send people on their way.

Therefore, as part of that effort, we have begun to work with our client members to plan better for the type of job search they are going to conduct. It is our goal to make that often exhausting process more simple for them. So we have created the following survey as part of our Strategic Visioning Intro Session, where we put together a strategy for how to focus your job search based on your goals and parameters.

Job searching is not a mystery, for sure, but I have found it is often one of the least prepared things we do. We spend thousands and thousands and thousands on degrees and certifications, and then we move forward hoping all this education will sell itself or that this job board or that will be effective. I've witnessed people waste a lot of investment in education and experience as well as give up on career goals and advancement often for lack of preparation or knowledge on how to best conduct their search.

Our survey won't design a strategy for your job search (that's something we do for our members), but it will get you thinking about how you plan to go about it:

Forget Knowledge; "Professionalism" Is What Really Matters...?

So I was reading through the latest survey data to come out on world of work trends, and I came across this information from the Center for Professional Excellence from York College of Pennsylvania. After surveying about 400 HR professionals, this infographic shows an overview of their results. What struck me the most was the "Top Characteristics of Today's Professional" section. With "knowledgeable" sitting at the bottom of the list, I found that an interesting stat, particularly if you apply that in the tech sector, which is crying out daily for more and more knowledgeable talent.

I wonder what the stats would look like if you interviewed key decision makers and not HR. Where would knowledge rank then? At least above appearance?

Tech Jobs Remain on Top

In this infographic of the top 12 jobs in 2014 from Job Cluster.com, we see tech positions continuing to rank on top with double-digit growth in most of these positions from 2010 to 2013:

 

Tackling the Multigenerational Workforce

We've talked quite a bit about the marriage of the multigenerational workforce in today's market (Baby Booming to a Millennial Beat and Will Gen-Xers Please Speak Up?), and I thought this infographic through Monster.com provided some good data to add to that discussion:

 

IT Enterprise Architecture Director (in MN) Candidate Profile

Technology Leader with 18 years of Enterprise Architecture, IT Governance, SOA & BPM Experience:

• History of progressive technology career accountability, supporting healthcare and financial services operations
• Successful in leading teams through all aspects of technology strategy roadmap design and execution
• Adept at creating scalable and repeatable infrastructure solutions
• Effective in engaging internal IT and business teams as well as end customers
• Strong resource planning, expense management, and project leadership experience

Want to know more?

For the full resume or in an introduction to the client highlighted here, contact Stephen at Stephen@ittechexec.com directly.

 

Innovation Is Rarely Sexy

I came across this infographic on Pinterest, and I thought I would share it as "innovation" seems to be the workplace word of the hour.  

Right up there with "culture," the desire to be "innovative" rolls off of corporate and self-employed tongues like it is the answer to the latest fairytale ending.

 

As a career strategist, I must hear the word used at least 20 times a day. Suddenly, everyone is declaring themselves to be innovative and they want everyone else to know it. They want their companies to be innovative, and their companies want them to be innovative.

It all makes HR very happy as they run off and produce more "innovative" leadership training seminars. Certification and degree programs are beyond happy because they've convinced everyone that innovation and credentials somehow go hand in hand.  

But in all this merriment and "sexy" idea of what innovation is, I can't help but feel that the true meaning of the action "to innovate" isn't somehow lost.

Throughout my career, I've been in corporate leadership, earned an MBA, earned a Six Sigma Black Belt, earned advanced career strategist certifications, attended numerous seminars and leadership conferences, served in political office, and started a successful small business from the ground up (that offers several different "innovative" job search and branding solutions), and it's all been valuable in different ways. But I'm pretty sure that none of it has really spurred innovation. It's added to my credibility and the credibility of my team members. It's given me lots of letters to place after my name. It's taught me some interesting theories. It's allowed me to meet some interesting people and open some interesting doors....all great things...but innovative?

Instead, here are the things that I would attribute to making me more "innovative," whether it was in my corporate days or now as a small business owner:

1. Listening, listening, listening
2. Paying attention to the market and then paying attention some more
3. Understanding that I must benefit the least
4. Failing
5. Failing some more (called "Experience")
6. Not overly focusing on what others think
7. Not pretending I've reinvented the wheel
8. Not thinking so much about what it means to be "innovative"

Now you don't often see these things on a list of Innovation How-To's. For one thing, they are somewhat solitary, not exactly the collaborative utopia today's working environment is going for. For another, they take a lot of time...a lot of time making mistakes. Basically, they aren't very sexy.