ITCareerCoach Training - Coaching » Recession http://www.it-career-coach.net How To Take Your Career To The Next Level Mon, 06 Feb 2012 01:09:27 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 How To Break The Unemployment Cycle? http://www.it-career-coach.net/2010/03/07/how-to-break-the-unemployment-cycle/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2010/03/07/how-to-break-the-unemployment-cycle/#comments Mon, 08 Mar 2010 05:50:43 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=2863

How To Break The Unemployment Cycle

How To Break The Unemployment 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.“.

I will preface my solution by saying that unemployable people will find that their situation results from either not having the right skills or not knowing how to market their skills or both!

Disregarding folks who can’t work because of disability or medical issues, you will find that most people can find work, if they pay enough attention to their skills, hands-on experience or their marketability.

How To Break The Cycle Of Unemployment Facing The USA

The solution to unemployment is embracing a lifestyle of learning new technology. For your career or skills to be marketable, what you know must be tied into a facet of technology that is currently in-demand in your industry.

Why should you care about technology?

Technology in one form or the other creates or eliminates jobs and drives the entire economy forward. When you ride the wave of technology, your career is in-demand and when your skills are behind the technology curve, your employment prospects start to dwindle!

So, one of the biggest challenges facing unemployable people is that their skills are behind the technology curve.

Read about the dependency between modern-day careers and technology in this article titled: “Always Be Learning“.

Here are some pointers or indicators of having skills out of touch with today’s technology.

  • College Band-Aid

    You have a college degree and you think that makes you employable. Or you don’t have a college degree and you think that is the reason why you can’t get a job!

  • The Gold Watch Syndrome

    You are too focused on racking up years of service or retiring with a gold watch at the end of your career.

    Losing your job forces you to face the unpleasant reality that employers don’t care about years of service anymore!

  • Certified Incompetent

    You view certifications as the roadmap to career success and so, you buoy your career up with them.

    Only to lose your job because your employer eventually sees through your certified incompetency.

A long-time ago, having a college degree guaranteed an entry-level job at a great company. Once you were hired, you would stay at that one job and build your nest egg.

Today’s employer hires for sharpness of skills or breadth of experience and not for old-school reasons. And you have a job, only for as long as your skills are in-demand or you stay-ahead of the technology curve!

How To Be Employable

  • #1 – Bridge Technology Gaps by Learning New Skills

    Learn skills that are in-demand by employers.

    Don’t just learn the skills you like or want, develop skills that are actually being posted in real-world job descriptions.

    Don’t wait for employers to lower their requirements and don’t plan on finding work with obsolete skill-sets either.

  • #2 – Stay Ahead Of The Technology Curve By Constantly Updating your Skills

    Plan to update, improve or become an expert at what you do.

    Don’t assume that what you learned 1 year ago is still current … because it’s not.

    If you sharpen your skills constantly, you will become a highly skilled or sought-after technology professional.

    If your skills are sharp, you will be highly employable and in-demand … even as employers compete for your services and not the other way round!

  • #3 – Always Be Learning

    Invest time, money and effort on a continuous basis in your career development.

    Don’t bet on making a one-time investment that will keep you employed for the rest of your life because that is no longer realistic.

    What is realistic is an expectation to “get out of your career … only what you put into it“.

    So, invest money, time and effort into learning new skills or updating skills continuously and you will be sought-after or in-demand in your industry.

  • #4 – Market Your Skills Better

    A number of unemployed people can get jobs if they just learned how to market their skills better.

    If you hate to hear the “marketing word”, here how to market your career without being a shameless promoter!

    • Build Your Brand Or Become A Leader

      Start by doing what you love and then convey your passion at job interviews.

      This last point is important because hiring managers or employers love to hire passionate IT professionals who really care about their skills, their careers or their industry. Because there are so many people that are out to just get a job … your passion will stick out in a crowded job market!

      If you can’t find something that you love, then go into a career that you can eventually become really good at.

      Finally, build a brand around networking with people and solving the problems facing your industry.

      The approach that I’m talking about is explained in an article titled: Become A Leader And Get The Job You Want!

  • #5 – Choose A New IT Career

    Let me wrap up by saying that this post is intended for Information Technology (IT) professionals (business analysts, computer programmers, database professionals, software testers, project managers, etc).

    If you’re not already an IT professional or you need help with evaluating your IT career choices, I suggest that you get a copy of the THE BLUEPRINT – YOUR ROADMAP TO CAREER SUCCESS E-BOOK + WORKBOOK. Starting with the e-book and finishing up with the workbook, you will learn how to make better career choices.

Finally, unemployment is not based on education or age but on how well-aligned your skills are with the current technology. If you choose the right career, improve your skills constantly, and market your career better, your skills or services will always be in-demand.

You Deserve A Good Life … Go Get It :D

Read additional thoughts on employment, job prospects and technology titled: “Always Be Learning“.


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]]> http://www.it-career-coach.net/2010/03/07/how-to-break-the-unemployment-cycle/feed/ 0 How The Starving Artist Achieves Career Success Using Social Media http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/09/24/how-the-starving-artist-achieves-career-success-using-social-media/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/09/24/how-the-starving-artist-achieves-career-success-using-social-media/#comments Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:24:30 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=2543

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 1756 – 1791

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 1756 – 1791


Have you ever heard of “The Starving Artist”? It’s an often used cliché that describes talented, skilled or creative folks like writers, painters, musicians or others who starve while doing what they love.

The idea behind the Starving Artist is “an individual who works for pennies and then dies broke doing what he or she loves”.

Some of history’s renowned or talented artists like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Antonio Vivaldi and Van Gogh lived in poverty, misery or debt because their society didn’t care for or reward them.

But wait a moment, do skilled, talented, creative folks like you and me, have to work for pennies all our lives … just because we want to do what we love or is that just another myth?

Long Live the Media Age

On the contrary, talented, skilled or educated folks run the world because the media age, the internet and social media has changed the way we do business forever.

In the media age, anyone who’s skilled can making a living by leveraging the full power of Social Media Networks like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook.

In the era of the Starving Artists, the creative or common folk couldn’t afford to show, present or air their works to mass markets because that investment required the purse strings of a King, Queen or Financial Baron.

However, in the Media Age, you can communicate your resume, your profile or your brand with the push of a button called “Publish”.

Many professionals including those in academia use the “Publish or Perish” strategy in furthering their careers and now you can too!

Publish or Perish, Which Do You Choose?

Your career is bigger than your job, employment or paycheck because your career is the problem you’re solving or the value you’re creating at an intrinsic personal level.

Don’t make the mistake of always looking for the next job or the next employer or the next hot career.

Look inside of you and identify the core problems you’re willing to solve or values (goods, services, solutions) you’re willing to create for society on a long-term basis.

Then use Social Media to communicate your new mission to the mass market.

That is how to achieve career success using PULL techniques as introduced in the post “Become a Leader“.

Here is how to get the job you want or stay employed using PULL rather than PUSH techniques:

  1. Become a Leader in your Industry: Identify with your Industry outside your 8AM to 5PM work day. Start solving a thorny business problem or creating a valuable idea, good or service that benefits others.

  2. Build your Brand: Create a message around the value you’re creating for everyone. Let your message transcend your day job. Build your identity around your core message and include that in your resume.

  3. Market your Brand: Distribute your brand using the full power of social media networks. Don’t wait till you need a job before you start marketing because you need to build your social network before you need it.

Becoming a Leader is a powerful PULL technique that advances your career for the following reasons:

  1. Industry Recognition: Being constantly visible in your industry sends subtle reminders to hiring managers that you’re the best person for current or future employment needs.

  2. Better Positioning: Staying in constant contact with colleagues or decision managers using Social Media puts you in a better position compared to an unknown professional whose only contact is an application for a job.

  3. Power Networking: You own or belong to a social network, the members of the network are your friends and you care about their business or solve their problems. Your social networks are in your debt and are willing to return favors by getting you hired.

Learning how to become a leader is important because it actively protects you from layoffs or downsizes and does more by actively promoting or advancing your career behind your back.

Don’t be a “Starving Artist” … a professional whose only communication with hiring managers is when a job is posted.

You can do better that a “starving artist” by building your own brand and your own network of potential employers using the power of Social Media.

Leveraging the full power of social media protects you from becoming a starving artist, an un-employed professional whose career is at the mercy of the job market!

So, what are you waiting for? Click here to get more information on How To Become a Leader” or learn how to get the recognition or type of employment (coaching, consulting or full-time) you deserve!


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]]> http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/09/24/how-the-starving-artist-achieves-career-success-using-social-media/feed/ 0 Did I Mess Up My Career? http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/08/02/did-i-mess-up-my-career-part-2/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/08/02/did-i-mess-up-my-career-part-2/#comments Sun, 02 Aug 2009 23:39:02 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=2185

Ask IT Career Coach

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”.

What To Do About making Wrong Career Choices

I think I did myself well careerwise by reading for a degree that bears no inclination to what I am trying to aspire to in life.

The programme entitled: Degree in Computing with Management Studies is embeded with C++, COBOL and Report Programme Generator (RPG) courses.

The final year I underwent a gruelling course in Artificial Intelligence that I haven’t started to utilise in anyway in my career path.

What I strongly desire is a competence in database management and its integration with records management and design.

Regards

Career Transitions Are A Fact Of Life

Hello,

I feel your pain because I have been in your shoes – in a similar situation.

I’ve had to transition career several times from Chemical Engineering to IT Sales to IT Consulting to IT Career Coaching!

I’m reasonably sure that my last transition is permanent … but that doesn’t mean much because I expect my IT Career Coaching skills to change so much that I would literally be re-inventing myself every year!

Think about it for a moment. The world around us is constantly changing and we have to remain flexible and adaptable or we become as dead as the DoDo!

Fact is … “career transitions are a part of life“!

What I’ve learnt that I would like to share with you is this: “march boldly in the direction of your dreams!“

Start by forgiving yourself thoroughly.

Forgiving yourself is really not as easy as it sounds … put some effort into giving yourself a break because you did the best that you could based on the information you had.

Don’t be too hard on yourself; make sure you take out some time to love on yourself before you do the next big thing.

Now, having done that, “follow your call wherever it leads without any hesitation“!

Since your heart is saying that you need to become a database professional, do exactly that!

“Jump into the water with both feet and don’t be afraid of getting your feet wet”.

What I mean is: “pursue your dreams fearlessly, follow your heart wherever it leads and don’t be afraid of making mistakes”.

You owe yourself the pursuit of “life, liberty and love”.

What Should I Do with My Life?

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!”

So, if you find yourself doubting or regretting the choices you’ve made for your career or work, do these:

  1. Do What You Love; Start building your career around what you love or enjoy doing. Be honest with yourself by finding out what type of work fulfills you and doing it.

  2. Discover Your Strengths; Don’t spend your entire career or life building on weaknesses by doing what you don’t love.

    Discover what you excel at doing and then pursue opportunities that align with them.

    Use a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) Analysis to reposition your career.

  3. Follow Your Dreams; It’s never too late to discover or follow your dreams, aspirations or happiness.

    Don’t deny yourself the right to pursue life, liberty and happiness because everyone including your dear self, deserves better!

  4. Develop A Positive Mental Attitude; Don’t let past mistakes or career choices hinder you from making better decisions going forward!

    Believe that “you can do better and you will” because “if you think that you can, you can!“

  5. Learn From Past Mistakes; Don’t be reacting to past failures, learn from them!

    We all do the best that we can, based on the information we have. Now, re-invent your career by making better, informed decisions based on your past failures!

  6. Plan to Succeed; Now prepare a step by step plan for transitioning to a your new career!

    Start with a SWOT Analysis that addresses specific issues like “how you will learn new skills” and “how you will gain hands-on experience“.

    You need to plan your career transition because “failing to plan is the same as planning to fail!”

  7. Now, Do What You Love; You’ve learnt from past mistakes and planned a better career transition, now start doing what you love.

    Stick to doing what you love even when it’s tough on your purse or ego.

    Because a day will come when you’ll start reaping the financial and emotional rewards of “Career Nirvana!”

How To Achieve Career Nirvana

You’re not alone in making wrong career choices. But you must overcome the past by learning from it and by making better, informed decisions going forward!

This post answers a question posted by a reader who needs advice on “what to do about making wrong career choices”!

If you have a question about your career or are facing a challenge, be sure to post it as a comment on this page and I will answer it for you!


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]]> http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/08/02/did-i-mess-up-my-career-part-2/feed/ 5 How To Get An IT Business Analyst Job http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/02/26/how-to-get-an-it-business-analyst-job/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/02/26/how-to-get-an-it-business-analyst-job/#comments Thu, 26 Feb 2009 22:25:17 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/02/26/how-to-get-an-it-business-analyst-job/

How To Get An IT Business Analyst Job?

How To Get An IT Business Analyst Job?

On of my readers needs help with finding a business analyst job, so I am posting the information I provided to him in this article.

If you have any questions about this or about your business analyst career, post it as comment at the end of this post and I would also answer or address it for you.

Here is the business analyst career question posted by my reader:

Hi – my greatest challenge is the fact that I’ve never held an IT Business Analyst position.

I’m convinced I can do the job based on my experience, but I have not had any interviews outside of my current employer.

I had a few interviews in my current company but was being sabotaged by my former boss so I never got the job.

As the economy has dived over the last few months, I am not getting any offers for interviews. I’ve given up trying to get into the IT Bus Analyst field for now.

What do I need to do to get back into the ‘hunt’? And, how do I convey to potential employers that I am the man for the job?

Here is how this business analyst can address the situation facing him:

Why Do IT Managers Hire Business Analysts?

IT Managers hire business analysts with skills, training and experience matching specific jobs.

IT Managers list a wide range of business analysts skills in job postings including UML, Use Cases, Requirements Elicitation.

IT Managers Are Looking For Hands-on Business Analysis Experience

The Key to getting a business analyst job is to find out what employers or hiring managers are looking for and then give it back to them.

This sounds quite easy and simple, but believe me, it is not that easy. There is a lot that goes into following this straightforward advice.

What are IT Managers hiring for? IT Managers are looking for hands-on skills, experience and expertise in specific knowledge areas.

You may already have some of the requisite skills and experience based on your previous or current job experience.

Some of the most frequently asked for skills are included in the business analyst course curriculum listed here …

Tailor Your Resume To Business Analyst Jobs

You may already be able to do a business analyst job based on your current experience so, why not also work on improving your current resume so that it reflects the experience or skills you already have in business analysis?

Begin by highlighting and expanding on the business analysis tasks you have performed in the past.

Put more spotlight on the skills you utilized, the business analysis roles and responsibilities you held (formally or informally) and the results you achieved.

You want to joggle your memory and bring out every relevant detail. Imagine that you are making your case in front of a skeptical judge.

Your prosecutor is the list of job candidates that would make a better presentation than you. The arguments in your favor is your resume.

Your business analyst resume has to be very convincing for you to get the job.

Improve Your Business Analyst Resume

The strongest argument that you can make will be along the lines of experience, resume and skills.

So, you want to marshal all your arguments forcefully on your resume because if you don’t, you may never get a second chance.

If your resume is not convincing, you may not get a second chance or a follow-up phone interview or a face to face interview or the job or an offer or the ability to pay your mortgage … you get the picture?

Add More hands-on business analysis experience to your resume!

The fastest way to get hired for an IT business analyst job is not your educational qualification or your business analysis certification but your hand-on business analysis experience!Are you surprised about that?

IT Managers know that certifications can sometimes be gamed!

There are horror stories about job candidates who have the perfect certifications and the perfect scores and then fail to perform on the job after they are hired!

These sorts of candidates have damaged the credibility of the certification market! But experience cannot be gamed

It either you have experience or you don’t. Because IT Managers are looking for hands-on experience, your can cut to the chase by getting a lot of hands-on business analyst experience such as that offered through the business analyst boot camp online training here:

There are other ways to gain hands-on experience and I discuss this next:

  • Start again by volunteering for non-profit organizations. They are plenty of them around and in this recession they will be needing your help even more!

  • Do a good job and ask the non-profit organization to provide you a reference for for the work you’ve done for them.

  • Use your spare time in the evenings and weekends to rack up your experience and references.

  • Then go on a job hunt. Start by sending your resume to multiple recruiters (not just one or two recruiters), telling them that you are in the market for a business analyst job. Then just sit back and wait for them to line up business analyst job interviews for you.

  • That is all you need to do. Take massive action towards landing your dream business analyst job and while you are on it, forget about the economy or the recession or your manager who denied you the opportunity to move ahead.

FYI: Stephen Covey in “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” mentions that proactive people do not worry or focus on factors or things over which they have little or no control … instead they focus on their “Sphere Of Influence” … those factors or circumstances over which they exercise control.

So, while you may not be able to change the past or the economy or the recession, you can dramatically improve:

  • Your Business Analyst Resume

  • Your Business Analyst Hands On Experience

  • Your Business Analysis Job Interview Skills

If you have any question or challenge about your business analyst career, go ahead and post it as a comment at the end of this article and I will address it for you.


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]]> http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/02/26/how-to-get-an-it-business-analyst-job/feed/ 40 Recession Proof Your Career – How to Survive In 2009 http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/01/29/recession-proof-your-career-how-to-survive-in-2009/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/01/29/recession-proof-your-career-how-to-survive-in-2009/#comments Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:34:25 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=685

recession-economic-downturn

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.

If you haven’t been laid off already, there is a real possibility that it may happen to you. It’s time to hunker down and prepare for the worst. The good news is that even in a recession, there are still jobs out there.

To offer you some hope and prepare you to be successful in the economic downturn, I will be writing a series of articles packed with tips to help you get through the current recession/depression.

These articles will help you prepare to sail right through to your next position if you’ve been laid off and prepare to not miss a beat if you do get a pink slip.

In addition, I am scouring the web to bring you the best of what’s been written about surviving the current tough economy.

Here are two great articles from Robert Scoble chock full of tips for holding on to your job and getting a new one right away if you do get laid off.

If You Are Laid Off, Here’s How to Socially Network

What to Do If You’re Laid Off in 2008 recession

And on a more humorous note:

7 Essential Steps to Surviving a Post-Layoff Existence

How To Recession Proof Your Career

Check out the ‘IT-Career-Coach’ Resume, Job Search and Interview training program that walks you through the process of finding a new job immediately.

You’ll Learn Step-by-Step

  • How to Run an Accelerated Job Search

  • How to Find Unadvertised Jobs

  • What Employers Want to See on Your Resume

  • How to Be the Best Candidate in a Technical Interview

  • Advanced Techniques that 98% of Job Searchers Don’t Know (This Means You’ll Be Ahead of the Game)

How the Coaching Works

  • You Get Step By Step Video Training that Shows You How to Get Hired Fast!

  • Your Resume and Cover Letter are Reviewed to Ensure They Match the Positions You’re Applying For.

  • You are Coached on How To Be the Top Candidate by Selling Yourself During Your Technical Interviews.


Click here for more information


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]]> http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/01/29/recession-proof-your-career-how-to-survive-in-2009/feed/ 2 Recession Proof Your Career – Eat Lunch With Co-Workers http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/01/29/recession-proof-your-career-eat-lunch-with-your-team/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/01/29/recession-proof-your-career-eat-lunch-with-your-team/#comments Thu, 29 Jan 2009 14:47:54 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=676

business-lunch

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.

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.

By networking within your company, you will pick up on the organizational culture within your company. You’ll learn about job openings within the company and in other teams, organizational changes, information on mergers and sales, new technology strategies and software purchases.

7 Ways to Build Your Network and Get in Loop at Work

  1. Go to Lunch with Your Team: Invite a co-worker out to lunch, or join other co-workers who regularly go to lunch together. The relaxed atmosphere at lunch is a great place to pick on tidbits about what people are working on.

  2. Attend Company Functions: Company parties are great places to strike up friendships with people in other departments and find out what’s interesting on their teams.

  3. Read Company Newsletters and Reports, Research Industry News: Read about the organizational changes and industry trends that may affect you or bring about new opportunities.

  4. Help Others: Look for opportunities to do someone a favor within and outside your team. You’ll need to have started talking to others, first. As you begin to get information, find ways to solve problems. If your boss mentions that the higher ups plan to move to another software platform, do some research for her to help her impress her bosses.

  5. Stay in Touch With Ex Co-Workers: When you leave a company, or someone leaves your company, ask for their contact information. Stay in touch. Send a card at Christmas. You never know when you’ll need a job reference or a job referral.

  6. Tell or Teach People What You Know: Share the information you have. Give tips, ideas and suggestions to others. Giving is a great way to get in the loop.

  7. Ask Questions: Become curious about what’s going on in the workplace. As questions about the direction your company is moving in. Your performance review is a good time to ask your boss the same questions he asks you: Where do you see this team going in five years? What goals do you hope to achieve this year?

As you begin to interact regularly with people on the job, you will find that you are slowly building a network of people who like and rely on you, thus expanding your options for moving ahead in your career.

How To Recession Proof Your Career

Check out the ‘IT-Career-Coach’ Resume, Job Search and Interview training program that walks you through the process of finding a new job immediately.

You’ll Learn Step-by-Step

  • How to Run an Accelerated Job Search

  • How to Find Unadvertised Jobs

  • What Employers Want to See on Your Resume

  • How to Be the Best Candidate in a Technical Interview

  • Advanced Techniques that 98% of Job Searchers Don’t Know (This Means You’ll Be Ahead of the Game)

How the Coaching Works

  • You Get Step By Step Video Training that Shows You How to Get Hired Fast!

  • Your Resume and Cover Letter are Reviewed to Ensure They Match the Positions You’re Applying For.

  • You are Coached on How To Be the Top Candidate by Selling Yourself During Your Technical Interviews.


Click here for more information


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]]> http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/01/29/recession-proof-your-career-eat-lunch-with-your-team/feed/ 0 Recession Proof Your Career – 7 Signs a Pink Slip is Coming http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/01/28/recession-proof-your-career-7-signs-a-pink-slip-is-coming/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/01/28/recession-proof-your-career-7-signs-a-pink-slip-is-coming/#comments Wed, 28 Jan 2009 20:50:36 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=647

Pink Slip

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.

While it is always difficult for a manager to let an employee go, sometimes it is an opportunity for them to weed out those people who have been dragging the team performance down. If you’ve had trouble with your manager or co-workers in the past, that’s a sure sign that you may be one of the first to go.

Other times, there’s no good reason for you to be chosen as the sacrificial lamb. You’ve worked hard and been a team player; however, you still get the boot. There are signs that can give you a heads up that this may happen.

Here are the warnings that you are being considered for a layoff:

  1. Your workload suddenly becomes very light. If there are no new projects coming your way, it may be a sign that your employer plans to let you go.

  2. You have consistently been an underperformer on the job. You miss deadlines and your work is under par. Your lack of energy or application of commitment and creativity to the tasks your team faces will make you a sure pick for a layoff. If you’ve been hovering around the fringes of productivity, this is the time to do a 180 degree turn and start contributing in major ways to your team. Get to work early, stay late, stop surfing the web during work hours. Go over and beyond the call of duty. You may just save your job.

  3. You don’t get along with your co-workers or with your boss. In a downturn, your manager is more likely to keep his or her favorites around. It’s just the way life is. Most organizations value a team player over a star player. If you’ve had problems in your interactions with co-workers in the past, this is a good time to patch up. Reach out and be likeable.

  4. Your manager starts to micro-manage you. He requests status updates on all of your projects and tasks. In this case, you may be scheduled for a layoff and your manager is trying to get a handle of what’s on your plate.

  5. You only perform one task or one function for your company. You need to evaluate how much value you are creating for your company. The junior business analyst who only works on documentation is less valuable to an employer than the mid-level business analyst who interacts with the customers, gathers requirements and performs requirements analysis. Make yourself indispensable to your employer by gaining new skills fast. Find out the functions needed in your area that you currently don’t have the skills for and read a book, go for training or get certified.

  6. Your boss gets laid off. This usually happens when a company plans to get rid of a division or department altogether. I heard from an in-house software developer for an IT staffing company whose boss got laid off. She was kept on to complete her project and was laid off the day after she wrote the last line of code. Keep your eyes and ears open and start working on your resume and job search plans if you see any hints that your company is cost-cutting.

  7. Your company or company division gets sold or merged with another. Mergers and division sales always create an at-risk situation for jobs. The new company may choose to replace all the employees from the former company with their own people. If your company is in the middle of a merger or sale, try to find out as much as you can about the terms of the deal. Either way, get your resume ready to find a new job if you need to.
How To Recession Proof Your Career

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]]> http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/01/28/recession-proof-your-career-7-signs-a-pink-slip-is-coming/feed/ 0 How To Beat The 2009 Recession By Improving Your Skills – Top Predictions http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/01/26/how-to-beat-recessions-by-improving-skills-top-2009-predictions/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/01/26/how-to-beat-recessions-by-improving-skills-top-2009-predictions/#comments Mon, 26 Jan 2009 19:12:16 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=632

jobs-employment-recession

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 …

  • Saul Carliner, Graduate Program in Educational Technology, Concordia University, Canada: … as organizations try to stretch their learning budgets in hard times, e-learning will become an attractive option …

  • Roger Schank, John Evans Professor Emeritus of Computer Science, Psychology, and Education, Northwestern University; CEO Socratic Arts: … A ruined economy will demand trained workers and college degrees will matter less than real abilities. Schools will have to offer to train students to do actual jobs, and they will do this online. … Real education, according to the second president of the United States, John Adams, “…is about learning to live and learning to make a living” an idea that got lost between the late 1700s and today. High schools and universities have simply failed to teach what needs to be taught. This will change in 2009.

  • Richard C. Larson, Founder and Director, MIT LINC-Learning International Networks Consortium, USA : … this will open opportunities for new technology-enabled educational innovations in which the repetitive routine lecturing, administrative and related repetitive tasks are replaced with e-learning options, and the teachers-though fewer in number-will have more opportunities to serve as student mentors. This combination of personal mentoring plus tailored e-learning environments for students could-if we are imaginative-will usher in an age of personalized learning analogous to the movement toward personalized health care.

  • Inge de Waard, eLearning advisor, Ignatia Webs, Belgium : … In the past, the budget of training departments got cut when an economic crisis erupted, but this time investing in learning will make or break companies and organizations. The world is evolving from an industrial age into a knowledge age, so content will become key in 2009. Social media use will increase because it saves money as it keeps knowledge in a central place (quick retrievability, international access,…) …

  • Matt Bovell, Vell Group, USA: … there are three reasons why e-learning will continue to grow in 2009: (1) The economy is tanking. More and more companies will be attempting to achieve cost savings using e-learning technologies. (2) As students attempt to make better use of their time and money, they will continue to avail themselves of e-learning opportunities. (3) As more and more companies try to establish a reputation for being eco-friendly, they will use e-learning as part of their green initiatives.

  • Peter Parker, Owner, EPCoT Systems Ltd and Management Consulting Consultant, UK : … see the current credit crunch as a time when more money is spent on training. The reasons are: (1) Good companies (particularly in the financial sector) use training as part of an exit package. Hence, as people are released, budgets are provided for the release packages and some of this is spent on training. (2) Individuals want to distinguish themselves from the market. This means they have to spend money on training to provide that differentiation. Many training companies see this time as challenging, but not a time to expect a large decrease in training revenue.

Note this prediction by Roger Schank, John Evans Professor Emeritus of Computer Science, Psychology, and Education, Northwestern University; CEO Socratic Arts:

… a ruined economy will demand trained workers and college degrees will matter less than real abilities. Schools will have to offer to train students to do actual jobs, and they will do this online. … Real education, according to the second president of the United States, John Adams, “…is about learning to live and learning to make a living” an idea that got lost between the late 1700s and today. High schools and universities have simply failed to teach what needs to be taught. This will change in 2009.

Editor’s Note

In the next set of articles that we will be posting the step-by-step tools, techniques and strategies for beating the 2009 recession. Stay tuned.

Your Opinion?

Do you have any opinion about this article? … post it as a comment below … do you have any topics that need to be covered in the recession set of articles? …. post it as a comment below.


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]]> http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/01/26/how-to-beat-recessions-by-improving-skills-top-2009-predictions/feed/ 0 Tech Predictions for 2009 http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/01/05/tech-predictions-for-2009/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/01/05/tech-predictions-for-2009/#comments Mon, 05 Jan 2009 17:00:34 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=328

2009 Tech Predictions

2009 Tech Predictions

Happy New Year!! Here are some technology predictions for 2009 that are worth a read for software developers, business analysts and database developers who want to position themselves for success in 2009:

1. Pay attention to Social Media says CapGemini:

“2009 will be the year when use of social networking tools within companies will be the talk of the town. Yes, it has been around for a while but to be honest, nothing much has really happened apart from that Serena Software uses Facebook internally.

So when our global heads of Capgemini Consulting visited Sweden office last week and started talking about the power of social networking only five minutes into the talk I felt that something had changed. For the better. Substantial growth is predicted in web 2.0 for the enterprise within the next five years.”

2. The economy looms large says PCWorld:

“Ultimately, economic conditions will play a huge role in how 2009 pans out for the developer community. When customers aren’t buying, tool vendors don’t innovate — so don’t expect many groundbreaking new technologies to debut this year.

Among enterprise customers, tightening budgets are likely to put the kibosh on many an ambitious new project. But smart companies will realize that process automation is one of the best ways to reduce costs in any business.

Now may actually be the ideal time to revisit old software schemes that got shelved back when staffing budgets were flush. Layoffs and hiring freezes will mean there are fewer developers to go around, however, which could make smart projects infeasible for the time being.”

3. Agile development is a must says Barry Gervin:

“Many of my customers began large-scale re-writes of their key software assets in 2008, many of them against my recommendations. For most of my key customers in 2008 and into 2009 I’m an advocate of providing incremental value in short iterative releases, not major re-writes that take 6+ months to develop.

Even if your application is written in PowerBuilder 6 or Classic ASP, avoid the temptation to rewrite any code that won’t see production for 4 months or longer. We can work towards componentized software by refactoring legacy assets and providing key integration points so that we can release updated modules towards gradual migration.

It is difficult for software teams in this economy to produce big-bang, “boil the ocean”, build cathedral type projects. We simply can’t predict what our project’s funding will be in 4 months from now, or if we’ll be owned by another company, scaled down, out sourced or just plain laid off. That is of course unless you work for the government.

Government spending will continue if not increase in 2009, but still, try to spend our taxpayer money wisely by delivering short incremental software releases. It allows you to build trust with your customers, mark a line in the sand and move onward and upward, and let’s you move quickly in times of fluid business requirements and funding issues.

Incremental, Value-Based software development isn’t easy.
It takes lots of work, creative thinking, and much interop and integration work than one would prefer. It might easily seem like an approach that costs more in the long term, and in some cases you could be right. But if a company has to throw out work in progress after 6-8 months or never sees the value of it because of other changing business conditions, then what have you saved? Probably not your job anyway.”

For more technology predictions for 2009, Bob Stumpel has an impressive compilation of tech predictions from around the web here.


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]]> http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/01/05/tech-predictions-for-2009/feed/ 0 How To Keep Your Job In A Recession http://www.it-career-coach.net/2008/12/10/how-to-keep-your-job-in-a-recession/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2008/12/10/how-to-keep-your-job-in-a-recession/#comments Thu, 11 Dec 2008 01:41:03 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/2008/12/10/how-to-keep-your-job-in-a-recession/

Laid Of In The Recession

No doubt you already know how the recession affects the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Unemployment Rate or Stock Market. So, I won’t waste your time by repeating all that bad news.

What I would talk about is what really matters:”how you or your loved ones can protect your finances by staying employed in this recession!“

The best way to keep your job in a recession or to find a new job easily is to become “The Most Over Qualified, Under Paid Professional” on your team.

Here is why becoming over-qualified and under-paid work hand in hand to protect your career:

  1. The Least Qualified Professionals Are Laid-Off In A Recession:The employees at risk of being down-sized are the least valuable professionals (business analysts, software developers, etc.) on the team.

    The least valuable professionals are the least effective, productive, skilled, trained or experienced people on their jobs.

  2. The Most Over Paid Professionals Are Laid-Off In A Recession:The other type of employee at risk of being down-sized are the over paid software development professionals (project managers, web designers etc.).

    The over paid information technology (IT) professionals typically earn far above their contemporaries with the same skill sets or far above the historical costs associated with a position in a specific business. Firing over paid workers qualifies as cost savings for managers concerned about cutting payroll costs in a recession.

  3. The Better Qualified, Least Paid Employees Keep Their Jobs In A Recession:

    The employees who keep their jobs or get hired easily in a recession … are the better trained, highly skilled and relatively inexpensive employees.The employees who advance their skills though hard work and training without always asking for more money … tend to stay employed even during recessions.

The Secret To Staying Employed Even In A Recession

The best way to stay employed especially in a recession … is by training to “become the best skilled person … and not the best paid!”

You need to cultivate the attitude of champions … “who train daily to be the best!“.Champions do not obsess about money! Champions understand that … proving their mettle is the only thing that really matters!

Champions are rich, famous and successful … because they ignored the pursuit of money … to become the best

So, will you accept this challenge: “to recession proof your career” … by training to become the best or are you going to leave your career at the mercy of the coming financial storm?

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]]> http://www.it-career-coach.net/2008/12/10/how-to-keep-your-job-in-a-recession/feed/ 0 How To Recession Proof Your Career http://www.it-career-coach.net/2008/02/06/how-to-recession-proof-your-career/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2008/02/06/how-to-recession-proof-your-career/#comments Wed, 06 Feb 2008 17:22:14 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/2008/02/06/how-to-recession-proof-your-career-part-1/

Recession Proof Your Career

Recession Proof Your Career

Is the US economy already in a recession?

Will the weakened US economy affect the global economy leading to a recession in Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia and perhaps other international markets?

Should you really care about a recession and how it will affect your career, job or income?

How About A Refresher Course On Recessions?

If you do not quite realize what a recession looks like, perhaps you can do with this refresher on the last recession to hit the US economy in 2001.

In the beginning, no one seemed to be quite sure that the recession was going to happen. Some pundits felt that the US economy will perhaps weaken but not really experience a full blown recession. Other experts felt that the economy was already in a recession. Then all of a sudden all the pundits and experts and news media outlets seemed to be screaming in unison, we are in a recession!

Fortune 500′s Laying Off Employees In The Thousands

Fortune 500 corporations where laying off employees in the thousands! There where daily announcements of job cuts leading to tens of thousands of full-time employees hitting the streets with their last pay check! Smaller businesses could not be out competed too! If you read your local newspaper, you will see the same daily roll call of local employers laying off workers.

No Jobs for Highly Skilled Workers

The recession got so bad, that even highly skilled and highly qualified employees with post graduate degrees couldn’t get jobs. The news media was awash with news on how the middle class and the white-collar workers could not even get job interviews.

Salary and Wage Cuts

Some of the fortunate white and blue collar workers who still had jobs after all the job cuts and layoff announcements, had to stand in line for salary cuts. Freezes on wage increases and benefits beame common. Vacationing was a taboo word and as if that wasn’t bad enough, the senior, experienced, highly-skilled workers where being offered an option between either working for entry-level wages or getting the dreaded pink slip.

Dog Eat Dog Market

I recall recruiters telling me horror stories of how they would put up a job advertisement and get 500 resumes of highly skilled and qualified people within 24 hours contrasted to how they used to get a few weak resumes per week for their job postings. The irony of the situation, was that the mailboxes of hiring managers and recruiters got filled up within hours of putting up a job posting. Hiring managers and recruiters who couldn’t deal with the flood of resumes literally had to abandon checking their voicemails and inboxes for other covert (black ops) methods of hiring.

An Employers Market

The job market situation worsened as those employers who could still hire, realized that they literally had the whole employment world at their fingertips. Then things got really ugly as employers start getting really picky about resumes, credentials, qualifications, experience, level of expertise and level of technical training of job applicants. I recall the horror story of a techie who had to contact about 10,000 employers to get 2 job interviews and one job offer.

How To Protect Yourself From The Next Recession

Hopefully, you get the picture now. The point of these horror stories is that, yes you should care about the ongoing debate between pundits and experts about whether the US economy is in the beginning or middle of a recession.

The big question is really “what should you do immediately to protect yourself and your loved ones from a national or perhaps global economic recession?“

Here are a few tips recession proofing your career:

  1. Become A Highly Skilled Worker Now

    In a recession, the unskilled technical worker is obviously more at risk than the skilled technical worker. While the highly skilled technical worker may get downsized to a lower paying job, the lesser skilled technical workers are the weakest in the tech food chain and are the ones most at risk of losing their jobs.

  2. Take Your Technical Training Now

    Now is the time to take your technical training and not in the middle of the recession when jobs are difficult to get. First, when you take as much technical training as you can, you reduce the chances that you will be laid off because technical training increases your competitiveness.

    Also, it is much harder to pay for your technical training if you are laid off and in the middle of a job search than while you still have a job and an income. What typically happens to laid-off workers in a recession is that their first instinct is to cut down their expenses and cost of living including out-of-pocket training costs. Unfortunately, that doesn’t really help them because this is the time when they really need to be competitive.

    Note: some employers get picky in a recession and will question your judgment by asking you why you waited until you where laid off to take your technical training seriously.

  3. Polish Your Resume Now

    Now is the time to take your resume and update it with all the latest and greatest technical skills (recruiter speak for cutting edge technology) . If you are in a computer programming career, now is the time to master the latest versions of the most popular software development languages (I have listed them in my “how to learn programming book“).

    If you are a business analyst, now is the time to ensure that you have learnt and mastered full life cycle software development practices. Whether you a tester, project manager, quality assurance analyst, data analyst or database developer, now is the time to look outside the windows or confines of your day to day job and ask yourself the question, “what critical skills am i lacking on my resume?” or “how do I take my career to the next level?.”

    For your sake and the sake of your loved ones, do whatever it takes to gain the critical, leading edge skills that you need to take your career to the next level and then put those skills, experience and training on your resume now, so you are not caught in the deadly grip of a recession.

    Don’t forget to polish up your technical interviewing and job hunting skills and finally do whatever it takes to look after your employer or clients now and they will be more willing to look out for you when you need their help.

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About The Author

My name is Kingsley Tagbo and I?m a technical expert living in Saint Louis, Missouri. I write about the training, coaching, mentoring and personal development of software development professionals including business analysts, computer programmers, testers, project managers, web designers, data analysts, report writers, software developers and other information technology professionals .

My firm, Exacticity, performs software development consulting and training for clients throughout the United States, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. If you are in need of software development help or training, click here to contact me.


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