Start Your Career in IT: Is The “What” More Important Than The “Who”?

Last month we looked at how to go about gaining experience in the information technology field as part two of the mini-series titled, Start your Career in IT. Welcome back and thank you for continuing along in this series with part three.

Part 3: So Who You Know, Not What You Know – Right?

Before diving into a depressive freefall because you may not have the best of connections at the moment, let me put your mind at rest and answer with a maybe. Of course who you know matters especially when starting a career in any profession. But who you know will never be enough and obtain a job without merit most certainly will not be as rewarding as you might imagine. I would argue that building your professional network is a far more important component to beginning your career.

When beginning my career I heard the phrase, it’s not about what you know but who you know, almost every week from many different sources. Yet now that I find myself on the other end of the recruiting table, I can say with certainty that your skills and abilities are most important. In fact, the who you know comes into play more toward the end of the process when making final determinations given equally qualified candidates in the form of a reference. 

Build a Strong Professional Network

The opportunity to build solid relationships both now and throughout an entire career is a daily process. You cannot afford to be the introverted IT nerd whose meaningful relationships exist in some world of Warcraft or Call of Duty game room. You build long-term relationships by getting to know those you come in contact with every day in routine places like work, school, church, a neighborhood, and other social type settings. This effort will open doors you cannot imagine and as you learn about others’ lives, they will also learn about yours and what you are passionate about. This allows for opportunities to ask questions and provide information that may be passed along to others. Consider that some estimates point out that anywhere from 60% to 75% of job openings are filled as a result of references through professional networking.

Speaking from personal experience, this cannot be taken lightly as I have seen this play out in a very surprising way in my own career recently. Serving in local government, I have the privilege of working with many elected officials daily. In a former role many years ago I provided IT support for a large manufacturing corporation. As it turns out, one of the individuals I supported during this time won a local election where they now serve as a board member that oversees the organization I serve in as an executive leader. Lesson: be mindful and never take for granted one of my favorite leadership lessons as stated by Andy Stanley, “Your present will become your past and it will show up in your future.”

At the risk of aging myself, I must admit that when I began my career the social networking tools of today did not exist. How fortunate now that you can easily get involved in local chapters of specific technology interest as well as professional networks that consist of job seekers like yourself. These groups serve to encourage one another, provide valuable feedback, and expand your potential reach far beyond what you could do within just your local community.

LinkedIn is one of the primary tools that I use professionally. This social media outlet is an excellent tool providing a resume type public profile in addition to an easy method of connecting with former colleagues (who can provide public professional references). One of the most useful components to this site is the ease in which you can join one or more of the social groups numbering in the thousands and specifically created for just about any professional interest. 

Just Get To the Who So They See the What

At the end of the day the goal really is to find your way out of the human resources screening process so that your resume lands on the hiring manager’s desk. Before jumping into traditional job seeking efforts, consider the following information:

• Many career studies and surveys point out that only 15% to 20% of jobs are filled through job board postings. Translation – chasing the Monster (pardon the pun) is not the answer.
• Some studies reveal an estimated 50% to 80% of job vacancies are never even publicly advertised.
• Many employers today will receive hundreds of applications for every job posted.

Try following the guidance below, even if only for a period of 30 days and you might be surprised at the results:

1. What Do You Bring To the Table? Consider what you bring to the table in terms of talents, skills, and unique qualities that stand out among other candidates. What is your passion? What is your story? What can you offer an organization that others might not? 

2. Stop Doing What Everyone Else Is Doing. Abandon that approach of throwing everything against the wall to see what sticks. I introduced some very important topics in Part One of this series, in that understanding yourself and what it is you are seeking is an important first step. Your job seeking efforts must be focused and methodical, therefore I recommend that you create a simple document to get started. The document should contain the following information:
   1. A 45 second statement sometimes referred to as an elevator speech, describing you in vivid but short detail (Incorporate information from previous step). Memorize and always have this ready.
   2. From Part One of this series, you should have a good idea of specific areas of IT that you are most interested in such as actual job titles and an understanding of each.
   3. Summary of the ideal company and work environment you desire in no uncertain terms.
   4. A researched list of at least 20 organizations that best match up with the previous step. Spend time gathering as much information as you can on each.

3. A Dissertation Will Go Right To File 13. A boring resume thrown together with a cookie cutter template that the other 200 applicants used is toast. You have about 25 seconds to capture resume reviewers attention; make it count. 

4. There is No Universal Resume and Cover Letter. There is not a one size fits all and following this method screams out that you most likely have not researched the position, organization, and more than likely just randomly applying for every job posting you find. I have actually received cover letters addressed to other companies and/ or for other positions. Understand the position, duties, requirements, and organization at which point you will then tailor your cover letter and resume to speak to the heart of what is being requested. 

5. Consider Working with a Recruiter. This can be very beneficial and provide you with someone to work on your behalf, provide advice, assist with your overall presentation, and these professionals typically have strong relationships a network of inside sources with several organizations. Make sure you research this first and obtain references on the recruiter. There are typically terms, conditions, and expectations should be agreed upon up front. 

6. Do Not Play the Waiting Game. When applying for positions posted, as most often this will be a formal process required to be considered for employment, follow up. You can easily obtain the name of the hiring manager, the human resources recruiter, contact information for each, and suggest a time that you will follow up with them if you have yet to receive a call back concerning your interest.

We will wrap up this series next month in the final article posting. Until then you can always contact me for further information or assistance by visiting www.davidwhicker.com or simply follow me at the Twitter handle @davidwhicker.