In its short lucrative history, the Information Technology industry has produced millions of jobs in a multi-billion dollar market. Most people acknowledge that jobs in the Information Technology industry are careers for the future. But the diversity and complexity of fields within the industry make entry level jobs difficult to attain.
This article explores the preparation and career management that is essential in order to present yourself as a top information technology job candidate. Regardless of how fancy you make the language in your resume and cover letter you need to produce meaningful and relevant content throughout your entire job application process in order to stand out an exceptional candidate and secure the job offer.
My top five tips in order to supercharge the content of your job application and position you as a genuine contender are as such:
1. Knowledge of the IT Industry
A universal understanding of the entire industry is crucial in order to fully appreciate the duties of the offered role. Let me explain, Candidate #1 understands the basics of a help desk role. He focuses his job application on his Windows desktop and outlook skills. Candidate #2 understands the help desk role from the perspective of the entire organization. She also lists her desktop and outlook skills in her job application documentation, however, she also explains her understanding of the role by identifying that a quality help desk solution reduces the pressure on escalation staff such as systems administrators as well as helping the organization to meet service delivery targets.
2. A job seekers identity
Many job seekers try to list their every conceivable skill in the hope that one of them may trigger the interest of a potential employer. By focusing your application on a single field you can filter out unnecessary skills and accentuate core competences. Unless otherwise specified, there is no need to mention C# skills when applying for a Windows desktop support role. It would be most beneficial, however, to highlight PC hardware experience or Windows operating system experience.
3. A consistent career path
A history of relevant studies, work experience, interests, achievements or club memberships demonstrates developing expertise in the field. This type of prolonged and diverse experience suggests that, besides being capable of doing the job, you may well be able to value add to existing processes.
4. Relevant and focused resume.
As well as highlighting only relevant skills, it’s important that your resume show the history of the development of your skills. This gives your resume a great deal more credibility than isolated sweeping statements such as “I have excellent SQL query skills”. The history of skills development may include studies, home projects, work experience and interests.
5. Talk the talk
Know common acronyms and concepts in the field. Also, make sure that you are aware of emerging trends and that you are able to converse about the potential or the impact of the technology. Cloud computing, for example, may be a topic of conversation. One may express an interest in this concept as it applies to risk management, business continuity and disaster recovery. This allows you to show progressive thinking and organizational awareness of Information Technology challenges.
As you may see, a fruitful way to distinguish yourself from hundreds of similar job applicants is to demonstrate some background knowledge relevant to the offered role. It’s not difficult to do but it does take some planning. If you seek professional assistance to help you find an entry level job, make sure that they are Information Technology specialists. It’s all too easy to get caught up with extravagant language and commanding phrases, but at the end of the day it’s the content of your application that will set you apart from the crowd.