The Talent Behind The Talent Shortage

In response to Is It A Talent Shortage Or A Salary Shortage? Walterbyrd posts a terrific response on the tough time technologists endure in the job market:

"To a job seeker, it seems that: if employers can afford to be this fussy, there must not be all that great a shortage. To the employers, it seems that, if they can not find somebody with extensive, and recent, experience in all the products that the employer lists (and nothing else) then there is a shortage of IT pros."

Certainly, many employeers see IT services as an expense to be minimized -- it's something many channel companies count on. But they're not stupid (not all of 'em, anyway). Demonstrating intelligence, drive and flexibility will pay off in the long run.

Some approaches to IT job hunting:

• Consider solution providers! They 'get' IT and are more likely to understand how skills transfer.
• Consider smaller companies - they can't afford the compartmentalization that bogs down big companies. On bMighty, Naomi Grossman reports that it seems that many -- or at least more -- smaller businesses are finally listening to their IT guys who have been telling that they have ways to [innovate].
• Be a business specialist. IT is a tool to solve business problems. Knowing a vertical (healthcare, or government, or finance) helps move your interviews to a whole different level.
• Social networking. It's never been a better time to utillize web tools to network and make a strong impression online.
• As Samuel L. Jackson advises in "Pulp Fiction", "Personality goes a long way." Make sure you're coming across the way you want to. Videotape yourself answering interview questions. Would you hire you?

What's working in today's IT job market? How do you keep your skills current when you've got a full time job, or when your full time job is looking for one? Let me know.

Posted by Joe Caponi at 11:24 AM, January 29, 2008

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