10 Tips For Finding An IT Job

Whether you are looking for a new position or just want to hone your skills to be more marketable, it pays to keep on top of what the market wants. We asked solution providers, vendors and job placement firms for tips on what attributes they felt were most attractive to job hunters. From specific certifications to personality traits, here's what they had to say.

"The combination of management skills, breadth of technology understanding and depth in one or two areas of technology or business domains is what we look for. While knowledge of specific IT skills, such as SAP, .Net or RIA technologies are needed, we find that project, process and program management skills as well as enterprise architecture, solution architecture, design and modeling, test and verification are equally important skill areas. And, some niche areas like assembly language programming never seem to go away!





"Focus on fundamental competencies -- and not just new technologies, but more on learning new technologies. Today, the hot topics may be in areas such as security, Web 2.0/3.0, cloud computing -- but bear in mind we will all see three to four technology generations in our work careers. The ability to see the big picture and knowing when and where to apply core principles and current implementation tools are important."

"Right now I see that the No. 1 certification is PMP [Project Management Professional] certification. It's a detailed process, much like the bar exam. When the client sees applicants with PMP, they know they are what they say they are. Also, being a CISSP [Certified Information Systems Security Professional] goes a long way in networking and data. With the new health-care initiative, electronic medical records, it's big. Security certifications are starting to carry a lot of weight. A lot of Microsoft's latest development certifications -- like SharePoint-- are tough.





"Right now, there are a lot of people to choose from. Clients can look and see who has background. But with Michigan having the highest unemployment rate in the country -- 15 percent -- clients are open to candidates who are not working. My placements this year are at around 50 percent for those without a job. In Michigan, if you've been out of work around six months, it's not viewed negatively."

"Employers are looking for versatile workers who can wear many hats in the workplace. More and more, individuals will be required to demonstrate leadership skills and the flexibility to adapt quickly as the pace of change accelerates. Job seekers can best position themselves for a job with a well-respected company by gaining what we call a 'T-shaped skill set.' This implies that companies are looking for experts with high degrees of creativity, problem solving, communications, customer relations, computing, collaboration and teamwork in the 21st century workforce.

"Individuals with these skills will have a competitive advantage when pursuing careers in the fast-growing service sector, which represents some 80 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product."

"Information technology hiring remains stronger than other sectors, but hiring is expected to be conservative for the remainder of 2009. Employers are particularly looking for candidates with specific skills such as Java, SAP, Linux, C++, .Net and Python. There is particularly strong demand for professionals with experience in network, desktop and application development, as well as those with military security clearance. Experience with Web application development technologies and server-based applications is particularly beneficial."

"It varies across VPs, but I look for someone who understands the channel and who has that channel loyalty. That is hard to learn. Someone can learn products and technology. But it's hard to ingrain channel loyalty and what being in the channel means. If you don't have that, you don't fit into our organization."

"The key to success for IT professionals today is to not only have a solid technical background, but to also truly understand how to support their internal and external customers' needs. In the world of off-shoring and outsourcing, if you don't understand the companies' overall goals and strategies, then you are not valuable and your job can be replaced. The most in-demand skills are data management specialist (database and business intelligence), ERP/CRM developers, business analyst and project managers, Web 2.0 developers/analysts (portal, social media and content management) and network security engineers.

"The best candidates have the right balance between hard technical skills and the soft skills. Communication and presentation skills with the right mix of personality and attitude will make someone land the job and be successful advancing their career faster than the run-of-the-mill 'techie.' If you can not translate technical jargon to business language and vice versa, then you will struggle in the future."

"We look for a can-do attitude. People who do what they say they will do. We are successful at executing. We will execute regardless of circumstances. So a good work ethic and attitude are important. We are more focused on that than on the resume.

"If there is another intangible trait, it's that we look for bright people who we believe have a high degree of intelligence, and not just an educational background. We look for people who are exceptionally bright." -- Dan Bemis

"You can find out even over a quick phone call whether engineering is their passion. They're either treating it like a job, or it's their passion." -- Patrick Foxhoven

"I've seen a trend in the last year that companies are 'top grading' their IT departments with the surplus of good talent available. This means they're upgrading their current staff with more experienced and better-educated talent.



"Candidates that stand out from the crowd are the ones who have a four-year degree (BSCS or BSEE) and those who have a nice job tenure and career progression. Job-hopping is a big deterrent. Security certifications such as CISSP are more in demand, as are MCSE and CCNA certifications. The economy has spurred virtualization, making VMware Certified Professional (VCP) a hot and coveted certification today."

"The question being asked more often is not, 'What have you done in the past?' but rather, 'What can you do in the future?' Organizations are much more interested in how a candidate thinks, how quickly can they adapt and learn new ways of problem solving? With the competitive landscape and accompanying technologies changing so rapidly, they value the candidate who is proactive, hungry for knowledge and who is comfortable with a state of constant evolution as the ideal employee.



"Proactive participation in supportive online technical communities such as TopCoder, where new skills can be learned at low risk, is a key step in keeping current and preparing for the future."

"Having domain or previous sector experience in one of these 'hot' sectors -- clean technology, mobile, consumer Internet/social media, and infrastructure software, particularly virtualization and cloud computing technologies including companies like VMWare or Citrix Systems -- absolutely positions you better than the next candidate, but functional expertise is also of great importance. I have observed the most demand within the following areas. First, in revenue-producing roles, i.e. sales or services experience where executives have continued to sell and/or work with smaller teams despite the poor buying environment.





"Second, upgrading existing management teams. Because this is considered a 'buyer's market,' many companies view now as a time to recruit top talent that they may not have been able to attract in the past. And third, there is demand for newly created roles within emerging technology sectors where domain expertise is niche and difficult to find. For example, specialists in clean tech who have biology or chemical backgrounds and can commercialize products. Or, someone who has proven he/she can drive revenue through the Internet by leveraging the latest social media tools."