How To Break The Un-Employment Cycle?
Sometime ago, Glendal (a project manager on this website) asked me to suggest a solution for the current unemployment crises facing the USA. While still working on an answer to that, the same question was again popped to me in a recent interview with Dice.com.
Since this is a question weighing on the minds of people … Today, it will be my pleasure to answer the question: “How To Solve The Unemployment Crises Facing The United States of America.“.
How To Boost IT Skills Rapidly Or Get Hired Fast
Learning a skill is one thing … knowing how to market, a skill a completely different thing!
That is why for example, some qualified business analysts fail to get a job that other less experienced business analysts succeed in getting.
Don’t assume that because you know a skill through self study, formal education or training, you can just go out and get a job … because there is more to finding a job than that!
Some people are really good at selling themselves … even when they know little about the subject at hand.
Is Mindless Resume Submission Working?
Finding a job is just a numbers game, so submitting my resume to several job postings will get me hired … says a business analyst!
This is the mindset of some IT job seekers who approach the business of finding a job as if it is purely a numbers game.
But is a successful job search simply a numbers game or is there more to getting a job than that?
Business Analysts Learn Computer Programming
Are database development, computer programming, data analysis or web development required skills for Business Analysts?
Perhaps you’ve seen, heard about or applied for jobs asking for a broad or seemingly impossible range of skill sets?
Like those job descriptions for business analysts requiring computer programming skills or those for PMP Certified Project Managers with 5 years of software development experience!
This post addresses “how to bridge the gap between business analyst skills and unfair job descriptions written-up by Information Technology (IT) departments”
Ask IT Career Coach
Po Bronson, author of “What Should I Do with My Life?” listened to more than 900 people who dared to be honest with themselves about their line of work or careers!
In the end, he discovered that it comes down to a simple gut check: “You either love what you do or you don’t.“
With that in mind, here’s question posted by a reader who needs advice on “what to do about making wrong career choices”.
Miracle Worker?
A Mainframe Programmer who “received zero (0) interest” after hiring someone to rewrite his resume for Microsoft.NET Jobs is wondering why his resume rewriting strategy is not working!
So, the question is “are resume writers miracle workers or are there situations where hiring professionals to rewrite a resume will not help“?
Why Would You Hire A Resume Writer?
Let’s look at some of the reasons why you may want to hire a resume writer:
Ask IT Career Coach
This question was posted by a reader who needs advice on “what to do about making wrong career choices”.
If you need help with a Question or Challenge, be sure to ask it as a comment on this page and I will answer it fully just as I am answering this reader’s question below!
Please, send this post to your friends using the “Tell a Friend” Button button below. You earn points or cash each time you refer an article to your friends using the Tell a Friend Button.
Beat the Recession
You’ve got a
college degree, a
good looking resume and an
impressive listing of Information Technology (IT) skills but can’t seem to find an IT
job.
Finding a Job doesn’t have to be a traumatic, nerve racking or frustrating experience filled with rejection, fear and pain!
Just follow this article series to find out what’s wrong or get back in control of YOUR job search.
How To Boost IT Skills Rapidly Or Get Hired Fast
I discovered the power of practice tests in 1999 after I aced a job interview test with a score in the mid-nineties and got hired fast!
Over the next few months, I mastered how to boost my skills rapidly using the technique that I will share with you in the rest of this article.
Research has shown that practice tests or quizzes improve your retention, recall or understanding.
Research that studies how people learn skills effectively also demonstrates that students who study and take quizzes have better long-term recall than their colleagues who study without taking quizzes.
How To Slam Dunk Your Next Job Interview
This post is an answer to a question asked by Chris who is attending his tenth (10) job interview. You may click here to read the original question or add your own question or comment to the discussion.
The original post is a No Holds Barred Discussion on challenges, problems or issues facing my readers. If you have a Burning Question or Challenge you need help with, be sure to add your question to that page and i will answer it fully just as I am answering Tom’s question below!
This post is an answer to a question asked by Tom Moore about how To Get A Good IT Job. You may click here to read the original question or add your own question or comment to the discussion.
The original post is a No Holds Barred Discussion on challenges, problems or issues facing my readers. If you have a Burning Question or Challenge you need help with, be sure to add your question to that page and i will answer it fully just as I am answering Tom’s question below!
It’s not news anymore. We are officially in a recession and people are being laid off everywhere. At first, it looked like the IT sector was going to come through this relatively unscathed, but that is no longer the case. Microsoft, IBM and Intel all announced job cuts this week.
In 2008, the US economy shed 1.2 million jobs. 10% of those jobs were Information Technology jobs. As of December, over 100,000 IT jobs had been lost and it doesn’t look like the situation is going to get better any time soon.
The current economy makes it a bad time to be isolated at work. Many job cuts are being announced every single day, making it critical that you build your network of co-workers, colleagues and acquaintances up to provide a safety net if your job situation is ever in jeopardy.
You Need People and You Need Information
Are you missing out in information at the office that could be critical to your career? You may be a hard working employee who eats lunch at your desk and prefers reading another IT book to attending company parties.
However, knowledge is power. Networking within your company prevents you from being the one who is always the last to know about major changes that may impact you, your team or the organization.
Pink Slip
Being laid off usually comes as a shock to most people that it happens to. This is even more the case if your company does not make a public announcement of its intentions to cut jobs.
However, the layoff decision is rarely made the morning you get your pink slip. Managers are often given weeks within which to select the people who will be laid off from their teams.
2009 is proving to be a big year for online learning as more tech professionals enroll in web based, video based, distance learning programs to improve their skills and employment prospects.
I have compiled some predictions from learning experts, coaches, trainers, educators and training providers published in the eLearn Magazine
-
Allison Rossett, San Diego State University, USA: … today, in these harsh economic times, there is pressure to reduce costs. Technology is favored over registrations in hotels and hours in classrooms away from customers and clients …
In the computer programming industry, experience is King.
Real world, hands on, practical programming experience is valued more than computer programming certifications, software development diplomas or even programming job titles.
What you know is much more important than how you obtained the knowledge!
The next time you read a computer programming job description and you feel overwhelmed by the list of degrees or certifications required, just remember that the job market for computer programmers is not really that formal.
Learning and improving your business analysis skills is a must. Sometimes you can get so caught up in your current business analyst job that you miss the boat on new skills in the industry. Browsing and reading job descriptions can help you create a career development plan that keeps you on the leading edge of the business analysis industry.
Employment Job Search
A good way to find out what employers are saying they are looking for in a business analyst is to browse job descriptions. Unfortunately, you will quickly find out that many online job descriptions are very vague. Reading some of them, it would be hard for a business analyst to gauge his or her skill level against the requirements of the job description.
Creating a Business Requirements Document is Not the Mark of a Business Analyst
Here is an excerpt from one particularly bad business analyst job description I found:
Entry Level Job Search
Read Part One of this Article
Once you’ve determined that Business Analysis is your dream job your next steps will be to get trained, get networked and get your entry level business analyst job.
Get Boot Camp Style Training
The next thing you will need to achieve your goal of becoming a business analyst and at the minimum, getting an entry level job, is to get trained. The business analyst profession requires a wide range of soft skills, technical skills, analysis skills and a good business understanding. Even when you do have these, your learning will be continuous throughout your career.
In this post I will discuss why some people are affluent and successful in their careers while others seem to struggle with minimum wage or low paying jobs and despite their hard work, intelligence and personality can not earn enough money to pay their bills.
The reasons why people struggle with earning enough money to pay your bills and afford some of the nicer things of life include:
- Lack of a Top Paying, In-demand, Marketable Skill
- Lack of Focus and Inability to Follow a Proven Successful Plan
One of the challenges I faced when I peeked inside my first programming book more than 15 years ago was the difficult of understanding the programming concepts taught in the textbooks I was reading. Think about it for a moment – if you walk into a store and buy a book on “how to master a programming language”, you should be able to read the book once or at most a couple of times and understand it correct?
Well, I’m afraid that’s not how it works in real life. Computer programming books are notoriously scary and difficult to read.
Your technology, resume and interviewing skills are the 3 keys that drive your computer programming career.
If you are formula minded, you can express my career determining statement as:
TECHNOLOGY + RESUME + INTERVIEWING SKILLS = SUCCESSFUL COMPUTER PROGRAMMER
Here is how the computer programming industry works:
- Technology: Your choice of programming language can make or break your career. If you choose a programming language that’s not in-demand like COBOL, your career is PRETTY MUCH dead. If you choose a programming language that’s in high demand like Java or C# your career is headed for the STARS.
I am taking more questions on computer programmer careers in today’s tutorial.
If you have questions you need answered, email it to me or post it as a comment to this article. Here are the questions I am replying to:
- I am interested in learning more about the program that will help you get a job fast
- How long does it take to learn programming?
- How can I learn programming fast?
- Is it hard to get a programming job?
The answers to these questions are hidden in the amazing short story I am about to tell you next.
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