Marketing yourself can be a challenge in many of the different domains of the IT industry, but you do have tools available at your fingertips. Consider getting started by connecting with former employers and others in the IT field on LinkedIn. If you aren’t already an active member, you need to consider joining. There are over $250 million members using LinkedIn — it’s a professional networking kingdom.
Think of your resume as your marketing document. It should be tailored specifically to the job that you are applying for. This does not just include credentials, but also core competencies and past achievements in this type of position.
Train yourself to ace an interview and get over any interview angst. Know going into an interview that an employer will be judging you heavily. The best way to go in relaxed is to go in informed and prepared.
Do your research and remember, Google is your friend. Find the business value of your skills and apply them to the organization with which you are interviewing. Speak in terms of money and efficiency.
Look at the credentials and experience managers are asking for and apply those to your professional and academic career tracks. For instance, if you want to work on a service desk and you currently hold the CompTIA A+ certification, you might be in a pool with a lot of similarly qualified candidates.
Most service desks now expect their technicians to have an MCSA in Windows 7 along with other credentials and experience. Find what you need, and find a way to slightly improve upon it. Make yourself stand out from the other candidates.
Translate Experience into Resume Builders
Find ways to convert your real life experiences outside of your work day to your professional life, and do not over-volunteer information on your interview. For example, suppose a family member calls you with an issue regarding his computer not connecting to the Internet. You walk him through troubleshooting his network connection without being able to access the workstation, and you manage to restore the connection in the end. The correct way to present this in an interview is to say that you have remotely assisted users in system problem resolution. The incorrect way to say this is that you helped your dad fix his problem over the phone. You managed a project at school? You still managed a project. Do not volunteer that it was at school. You designed and built computer systems for your family? You still engineered a system by assessing the needs of the end user and applying it to their budget.
Many interviewees sink themselves through over-volunteering information or thereby claiming they have no experience at all.
Victor Johnston is a contractor for the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
