In Today’s Job Market, Prospective Employers Want It All

I was just musing on the state of the current job market, where it’s not unfair to say that there are a lot more people chasing jobs than there are jobs chasing people. Once again, I find myself pondering the “Big Three’ ingredients that all employers consider when selecting among multiple applicants for any IT position, as must surely be the case with so many IT professionals pursuing (or trying to remain in) a shrinking pool of jobs:

• Education: In today’s market a bachelor’s is no longer a “nice-to-have” credential. As a gifted but undegreed colleague and occasional co-worker of mine has learned several times to his loss in the last 6 months, a degree of some kind is often required just to be considered for any kind of IT position nowadays. Add points for an MA, more points for an MBA, Masters in Science and Engineering, and still more for any kind of PhD. Going back to school, and adding degrees nearly always results in a payoff, says everybody from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics to compensation specialists like David Foote of Foote and Associates.
• Technical qualifications/Certifications: Though not all technical qualifications result in certification, certs are probably the best-recognized example of this type of “tangible technical training and achievement” category. But in this case, perceived (high) value and distinctness are also important. An MCP, CCNA, any CompTIA cert, and other entry level credentials have become must-have checkbox items for many IT positions. It’s the harder-to-earn and scarcer credentials like CCIE, CISSP, and SAP certs that open eyes–and doors to new positions. Increasingly this means earning entry level certs aggressively, and treating them like the stepping stones they’ve become, then stepping up to higher rungs in cert ladders to earn recognition, increased opportunities, and better pay.
• Experience: This is still the king of the IT job qualification hill. Direct, documented, and substantial experience with the tools and technologies that companies use, need, or wish to invest in still trumps the other two items when employers look for differentiation among otherwise similar candidates.

But the problem with a buyer’s market is that an abundance of candidates to choose from means that employers can become extremely selective about whom they’ll bring on board to fill open positions. Hence my point for this blog (and its title): given the situation, employers want real stars who’ve got depth in all three areas. That means advanced degrees, serious certifications, and lots of direct relevant experience are what it takes to get through the door and on board these days. That means we all have to be looking for ways to address these concerns and to convince prospective employers we’ve got the chops to do the job, whether or not we can claim to max out in all three categories!

MS Keeps Up Its Training Blitz

About the same time my MS Partner Program “Learning Curve Newsletter” hit my inbox this morning, I also got some e-mail from MS PR with reference to their latest salvo in the training and certification arena. Get ready: this week–that is, the week of March 9-lucky 13, 2009–is “Microsoft Skills Week,” wherein Microsoft will orchestrate nearly 200 partner-led events in the US and Canada. This latest effort is supposed to help IT pros and software developers improve upon and validate their skills, and allow them to mingle with industry leaders, and make progress toward MS certification. This week’s activies are to kick off a whole series of events that will ultimately reach their conclusion in May at Microsoft’s annual Tech•Ed shindig (in LA this year, breaking with long standing residence in Orlando). In fact, there’s a whole Web site for this initiative, from which I shamelessly snip the front-page logo here:

Micrososft Skills Week Branding/Logo

Here’s what’s going on during Skills Week this week:

• Access to Career Assist: I won’t go into this any further here, since I’ve already blogged about it on February 6 when details of this program were first leaked.
• On-site study sessions called “Exam Crams” (hey! That’s a very familiar phrase to me…) where exam candidates can bone up for immanent exams.
• Live Meetings (by which I presume MS means online, Web-based audio/video encounters) with MS technology specialists  and trainers who will demonstrate training assist technologies (yawn) and answer questions to help them prepare (hooray).
• Exam Discounts: Take exams on-site at events, and save 40% off the usual price (use discount code NAM40UP to qualify).

Out of not-so-idle curiosity I clicked on the “Find an event near you!” button on the Skills Week web page (whose URL is www.certificationweek.com, and hints of more stuff to come between now and Tech•Ed) and compiled these factoids:

• There will be 10 Web-based events (“Live Meetings?”) this week from numerous national training companies, of which New Horizons is the most active participant on subjects ranging from general certifcation hoo-rah to coverage of exams 70-642, .NET 3.5 MCPD stuff, 70-643, 70-620, and 70-647.
• 1 Event in the Austin Metro area (within 50 miles of my ZIP), which also corresponds to all events in Texas this week (c’mon MS: what about Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio, the three largest cities in TX?).
• No events featuring a Microsoft Across America Truck anywhere in the US or Canada (why mention it until something is ready?)
• A total of 80 events that will take place this week are currently visible on the Events Page as I write this blog, including study sessions, overview/introduction sessions, Live Meetings, and more. Looks to me like about half are marketing oriented, the other half include technical substance.

For those who need to take exams soon, looking into onsite activities is worthwhile because of the $60 savings it means on MS exams. It’s possible that some of this content might be worthwhile as well (I’ll check out the New Horizons Vista stuff on Thursday at 11:30 AM Central because I can gather info for this blog and my Vista blog at the same time). A note of warning/info: if you want to attend a Web session, better sign up soon because it’s by registration and I’m guessing total available slots will be capped.

But so far, there’s a lot of infrastructure here for  relatively small set of content offerings. Makes me think more must be coming soon or MS wouldn’t have proffered so much hoopla and such a serious media blitz.

Lots of Buzz, and Another Cisco Press Item to Ponder

We’ve gotten such a great response to my last posting, that I’m going to extend the contest for the Flashcards and Network Simulator through Friday, March 13 (duh! duh! DUH!!!). Cisco Press also kindly volunteered another item for giveaway–namely Flashcards for the CCNA Voice 640-460 exam.

Chris Olsen is the author of this Flashcard deck

As before, anyone who posts a comment to this blog that provides the following information will be eligible to win:

• First name, last initial, and approximate location (for example: “Ed T, Central TX” in my case).
• Exam of interest (that means either 640-460, 640-822, or 640-553; limit: 1 per poster)
• When you plan to take the exam by month and year (for example “April, 2009″)
• What other study materials you’re using (for example “Exam Cram, practice tests, and CCCure.org“)
• Employment status (for example “working at a small private company doing IT,” “unemployed,” or “full-time student”)
• A brief statement as to why you think you should get this award (for example “nearly ready to take the exam, and could benefit from some additional review materials”)

Next Friday, March 13, I’ll post three finalists for each item, and ask them to contact me by e-mail to get their winnings. So far, I’ve gotten 7 genuine responses to the original posting. Let’s go for more this weekend. Thanks to those who’ve already posted comments. To those who haven’t yet done so: Remember the old adage of the Texas Lottery “You have to play to win!”

Thanks, and have a great weekend.

–Ed–

Cisco Press Supplies the Prizes, I Decide Who Gets Them!

[Updated 3/11/2009: see update info at end of post!!!]

On February 9, I blogged about Pearson/Cisco Press’s CertFlashCardsOnline offerings. One of their publicists contacted me to let me know they’d seen the post, and offered me a pair of free licenses to a couple of different products:

• CCNA Security 640-553 Cert Flash Cards Online by Brian D’Andrea

CCNA Security flashcards

• CCENT 640-822 Network Simulator (author credit attributed to Pearson Certification)

Network simulator for CCENT exam

Though the publisher is ponying up the licenses I get to decide who earns them. I’m hereby declaring a competition to earn these items, and will award them one week from today on March 11. In the meantime, anyone who posts a comment to this blog that provides the following information will be eligible to win:

• First name, last initial, and approximate location (for example: “Ed T, Central TX” in my case).
• Exam of interest (that means either 640-822 or 640-553, but not both, please)
• When you plan to take the exam by month and year (for example “April, 2009″)
• What other study materials you’re using (for example “Exam Cram, practice tests, and CCCure.org”)
• Employment status (for example “working at a small private company doing IT,” “unemployed,” or “full-time student”)
• A brief statement as to why you think you should get this award (for example “nearly ready to take the exam, and could benefit from some additional review materials”)

Next Wednesday, I’ll post three finalists for each item, and ask them to contact me by e-mail to get their winnings. Stay tuned! I’m curious to see what kind of response this will provoke.

–Ed–

[Update 3/11/2009]: While the contest was supposed to end today, thanks to Cisco Press’ generous addition of Flashcards for exam 640-460 CCNA Security, I extended it until this Friday, March 13. Please check back that morning to see if you’ve won, and also see my blog for March 6 for more information about that addition. You still have two more days to post to any of these blogs to enter yourself for consideration. I’ll be giving at least three copies of each item away, so don’t be bashful!!!

When Job Fairs Aren’t Completely Fair Affairs

I heard a very interesting news story on NPR this morning about job fairs in the Midwest. As you might expect, attendance at such soirees among employers is down for the time being, while attendance among those seeking work is way up, especially for unemployed people. Check out the story by Adam Hochberg online: it’s entitled “Job Seekers Find Long Lines, Little Payoff At Fairs”

What suprised me was hearing that many companies currently attending job fairs may actually not have any positions open. Here’s the quote that caught me off-guard lifted straight from the tail-end of the aforementioned story:

And some of the firms accepting applications didn’t really have any openings. Rather, they were trying to improve the quality of their work force — by searching for people who might do a better job than the employees they already have.

Wow! Talk about a chilling signal of a buyer’s market for employment. Presumably this means that if some candidate were to present him- or herself at a job fair, and be significantly better qualified than a person currently occupying some particular position, then the current job-holder might be laid off or let go to create a space for that person to fill. The very notion sends chills racing up and down my spine.

I got one of my best-ever corporate jobs at a job fair, working for a company called Excelan as a networking consultant from 1987 to 1989, at which time the outfit was acquired by Novell, for whom I continued to work until 1994. I’m pretty sure that nobody was let go to make room for me during that downturn in the economy (we were coming out of a recession back then), but you never know. Kind of makes me rethink the whole politics of attending such events, but then, those who do attend them usually do so because they feel they must, rather than really wanting to go.

Does Certification Help? Some interesting numbers to ponder…

A perennial question among IT job seekers might be succinctly summarized as “Does certification help?” Anne Martinez and the crew at GoCertify.com posted an interesting set of numbers in January, 2009 that tally the job postings at Dice.com and Monster.com that make mention of specific credentials. These include MCSE, MCITP, CISA, CISM, CISSP, CCNA, CCNP, and CCIE, Citrix CCA, CompTIA A+, RHCE, PMP, and GIAC (which lumps a large number of certs under a single category).

This article is entitled “Job Openings for the Certified,” and offers some interesting opportunities for observation and analysis. Despite its advancing decrepitude, the MCSE still leads the pack (M:839; D:1050, where M = Monster, and D = Dice). Other heavy hitters include the CCNA (M:566; D:751), CISSP (M:496; D:722), and PMP (M:572; D:1106). Of course, it’s not always clear that possessing the certifications in question is all it takes to get a job that asks for such credentials, but it’s at least an indication that some employers find them valuable enough to include them in their required or desired characteristics when describing open positions.

But as the GoCertify article itself concludes “Certification is a capstone to your skill set, not a replacement for skills that you must also have.” As I’ve said in this blog many times, the most important things about finding work include not just your milestone achievements (degrees, certs, honors, and so forth) but what you can do, what problems you can (and have) solved, and what skills you can bring to work with you when you walk in the door.

About IT (Un)Employment: It Could Always Be Worse

For a quick take on the US Government’s view of the current employment situation, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Situation Summary always provides a pretty current view. In reading over the most recent report–for January 2009, dated 2/6/2009–I got a strong sense of where much of the recent doom and gloom in our economic outlook comes from. Baldly over-simplified this report might be summarized as “Jobs are down all over.” Big surprise, right?

Top-line numbers certainly are scary:

• The number of unemployed persons is up to 11.6 million and the unemployment rate is up to 7.6%. This is an increase of 4.1 million unemployed over the last year, and an increase in the rate by 2.7%.
• Long-term unemployed persons count is holding steady at 2.7 million (people who’ve been out of work for 27 weeks or longer), and has gone up by 1.3 million in the last year.
• Unemployment numbers by category are also on the rise: adult men is up to 7.6%, adult women to 6.2%, whites 6.9%, blacks 12.6%, and Hispanics 9.7%; for teenagers that number is unchanged at a whopping 20.8%.

All this said, there is a glimmer of hope in these number for IT professionals. Though many other employment sectors lost significantly more ground in January (retail trade 45,000 jobs; transportation and warehousing 44,000 jobs; financial activities 42,000 jobs) professional and technical jobs were down “only” by 29,000 for the month. We IT geeks may be sucking wind, but at least we’re sucking less wind than some other sectors! On the upside, health care employment is up 19,000 (11,000 less than the average for 2008), and private education is up 33,000.

For another dash of salt on the wounds, nonfarm numbers for November were revised downward from -584,000 to -597,000 for November, 2008, and from -524,000 to -577,000 for December, 2008. All I can say to my fellow IT professionals and colleagues is “Hang in there!”

Microsoft Scores Again with “Elevate America”

With somewhat unusual timing, Microsoft announced on Sunday, February 22, a new job training program called “Elevate America” that aims to proffer technical skills training to lots of Americans (as many as two million according to an annoucement-day news posting on CNET) over the next three years. Readers curious about the program can check it out at www.microsoft.com/elevateamerica (the actual URL is linked to this abbreviated “pseudo-URL” here).

The primary components of this program may be described as follows:

• a phased roll-out, starting in Microsoft’s home base in Washington state, that includes free certification and training, with an emphasis on the unemployed, underemployed, and high-school and college level student populations. According to the CNET story, “Microsoft is working with state and local governments and hopes to offer 1 million vouchers for e-learning and certification classes.”
• An online Website that describes basic skills related to crafting a resume, sending e-mail, and computer literacy training of all kinds. Microsoft will offer this material primarily through local partnerships with non-profits and government agencies at all levels, though some free training is also available online as well (for example Computer Basics, a listing of all basic courses is available on the Course Topics page, and instructor manuals and materials are also available).

What’s not yet clear is how much material will be available online and how much will require interaction with the “Unlimited Potential Community Technology Centers” (CTCs) that Microsoft plans to designate as its local training delivery partners all over the country. Of course, the program is one day old as I write this blog, so there are lots of things left that need to be worked and spelled out in more detail. It’s an interesting and promising start for a program that shows uncommon sensitivity to the current economic situation here in the US, even if it is backed up by a shrewd appreciation that training in specific tools is likely to spur their continued use in the workplace thereafter.

“Elevate America” should be an interesting program to watch, though–and watch it I will!

A Reduction in Pay Beats a Reduction in Force

Back when I worked for the Feds in the 1970s, the acronym for layoffs was RIF (reduction in force). These days, the downward spiral in the economy often involves belt-tightening of all kinds. If you’re lucky enough to avoid layoffs, downsizing, right-sizing, or any of the other euphemisms for being let go, you may still have to deal with a pay cut. Hence the title for today’s blog: where less pay beats no pay hands down.

When it comes to dealing with pay cuts, you have to understand what is being cut and for how long. Paul Barada, a salary and negotiation expert for Monster.com makes the following recommendations in his recent article on this painful but sometimes unavoidable subject:

1. Find out how long pay will be reduced, if you can. Given the uncertain state of the economy, the answer may be “indefinitely” or “until further notice.” It’s best to find this out up-front, rather than wondering if each subsequent pay-check will be the same size or not.

2. Find out if other reductions or changes are involved. Primarily this means benefits, especially health insurance (behind wages and salaries, this is the second largest cost in personnel-heavy organizations). In some cases coverage may be reduced; in other cases, deductibles and co-pays may go up.

3. Timing is everything: it’s essential to understand when pay and/or benefits reductions will go into effect, so you can plan and manage your expenses to follow suit.

4. If you must swallow a reduction in pay, talk to your boss about a reduction in working hours if you feel comfortable doing so. Warning: not everybody may be so bold, however, so be prepared to deal with consequences of this discussion when things get back to normal. Managers remember who kept plugging away for 40 hours or more during the downturn, and who reduced workload to match reduced pay.

In case you don’t think this kind of thing is going around, think again. Then, check out this Google Search where you’ll find thousands of stories about planned, pending, or actual ongoing pay cuts in force in government, industry, education, and elsewhere.

Not All Training Programs/Institutions Are Created Equal

If you want a real eye-opener about some companies that operate in the post-secondary technical training market, check out Linda Briggs 2004 story: “Federal Probe Targets ITT Tech.” In particular, you must read the comments that accompany the article, where students wax lyrical and profane about their learning experiences. Interestingly, the federal probe cited in this story found no evidence of wrongdoing, and the company’s stock continued to trade in a range from $50 to $70 from mid-2005 until October 2008. It’s still trading at about $42 as I write this story, in fact.

I’m not trying to single out ITT as a “bad actor” in the training industry, particularly for IT subjects; rather, I’d like observe that it’s important for those looking for IT training or degrees to check all aspects of a provider’s posture and reputation–financial, technical, quality of instruction and curriculum, instructor/faculty credentials and ratings, facilities (especially access to state-of-the-art computing labs), and graduate and former attendee ratings and rankings–before signing up for any programs. I’d urge parents (where involved) and prospective students alike to be particularly careful before committing to programs that require students to accept multi-term engagements, either implicitly or explicitly.

One of the posters in the 54 pages of comments (!!!) that the ITT article provoked makes an incredibly telling point: he or she indicated that by attending a local community college, the same coverage and possibly better instruction would have been available at considerably less cost. Throughout my blogs and my career, I have been a big proponent of community college programs, and have taught repeatedly for my local institution, Austin Community College. Not only do community colleges work closely with local employers to build programs to provide qualified workers to fill their ranks, community colleges must also meet local, state, and federal requirements of all kinds just to operate on tax money.  These govern everything from quality of education, to availability of financing and grants, to openness, accountability, and quality. Also, community colleges are more or less transparent to those willing to take the time and expend the effort to research their offerings, graduation rates, instructor and program credentials, student demographics, and so forth.

If the current economic climate has you thinking about a return to school, or actively seeking a training, certification, or degree program of some kind, I urge you to include local community colleges in your search pool, even if you have neither the desire nor the intention to actually attend one. This will still help you to establish a basic benchmark against which other, more expensive programs can be evaluated at a minimum, and may provide you with some valuable training or learning experiences as you take to the classroom. As you evaluate other alternatives keep asking yourself “What value adds does this program offer that a community college does not? How do these value adds justify higher costs?” This is particularly important when evaluating online programs (like those from the University of Phoenix, Cappella University, and yes, even ITT itself) which often seduce students with promises of convenience and easy access, and entice them into expensive, long-term programs that they may come to question later on. Again: I’m not trying to start a witch hunt into distance learning programs, either: I’m just trying to urge some caution and investigation into programs that will involve significant amounts of time, effort, and expense to complete.

As with so much else in life, apply the old and sometimes detestable adage “Do your homework!” before signing up for training, certification, or degree programs–especially those that involve commitments of more than one academic term. Better to make a deeply informed decision than to find oneself saying “It seemed like a good idea at the time” sometime down the road.