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.

1. Think carefully about your last review, then answer these questions.

• How does your recent performance compare to the period before that encounter?
• What kinds of objectives were set for the current review cycle? How have you done in meeting or exceeding them?
• What about stretch objectives? Have you made any progress there?
• What kinds of learning experiences, problem-solving adventures, or professional development have you been through since your last review that may not fit into your goals or objectives? How can you speak to these in your next review?
• What about remedial goals or objectives? If you were given areas or tasks in need of improvement, how can you demonstrate progress or more positive results, attitudes, and so forth?

2. Think about your company’s or organization’s review process, then answer these questions:

• Have you received any accolades or recognition from your manager or others within your company or organization since that last review?
• Any significant accomplishments or completions to report?
• What have you done to add, enhance, or create value for your employer?

The best way to get a positive review is to prepare for that encounter as often and as obviously as you can in the review cycle interval that precedes it. Particularly when you have areas in need of improvement or remediation, you should speak regularly with your manager about such things on your own initiative, if your manager doesn’t do so with you. Even if you don’t have problems in need of fixing, or areas where improvement is required or desirable, regular contact and conversation about review related goals, objectives, progress and accomplish is a really smart way to gear up. You should also document such encounters via e-mail, and save them in a folder, so when your review comes you can print them out and bring them with you to the review situation. It’s also a good idea to document any kinds of recognition you get for your work, and to follow up with emails on those as well (same reason: creates a compact, portable record you can use during the review process to add substance to your side of the story).

In general, preparation will really help you get more comfortable with the review process. It will also give you a better sense of how you’re doing on the job, and help you identify areas where improvement will help you and those you work with. Also, if you can show substantial signs of development, progress, and a growing skills and knowledge base, if only to yourself, you’ll have a much better indicator of when it’s time to think about moving on when you fail to get the recognition or raises you deserve.

–Ed–

PS: Having exceeded my monthly blog quota with this item (the thirteenth for December) I’m going on hiatus until after New Year’s. Happy holidays to all, and my best wishes for a safe and prosperous 2009.

At any rate, as I found myself assembling various more-or-less-challenging children’s toys yesterday in the wake of a frenzied gift exchange and marathon unwrapping session, I also found myself pondering the work/life balance. I have a nearly-five-year-old son, who “needed” his slot car race set, a couple of cool but poorly documented Hot Wheels stunt sets, a modular set of marble raceway blocks, and a 125-piece parking garage set-up put together yesterday. Some of these tasks were pretty straightforward and just required mechanical assembly; others required visual analysis of operation, so that vital adjustments could be applied (one of his Hot Wheels stunts involved a battery powered race cage, triggered by a car arriving from a another stunt; it took me about half an hour to figure out that rocking the car launch forward in its mounts was the only way for the car release trigger to work properly).

As I chugged through these exercises, sometimes solo, and sometimes with the welcome participation of my sharper-eyed wife, Dina, I couldn’t help but think about this kind of work (the kind that helps families bond, creates good memories, and turns boxes of parts into precious playthings) versus the other kind of work I’d probably have been doing on just about any other Wednesday during the year (the kind that pays the bills, requires thinking about career and personal/professional development, and planning for continued employability and viability).

My ruminations led me to some interesting realizations:

• It’s far too easy to devote too much time, energy, and effort to working life, without always recognizing that “the other life” (family, leisure, personal and spiritual growth, or whathaveyou) has to suffer in that exchange.
• It’s also far too easy to believe that effort on “work work,” especially for those who work very hard and seek to better themselves, their families, and their life circumstances, provides some kind of exemption for the “life work” side of the equation. Alas, it doesn’t, and far too often getting ahead professionally or materially also means falling behind in other areas.
• Building and improving quality of life involves much more than what we do for a living. Stressing work over the other parts is sometimes inevitable, but can’t become an exclusive focus or even a partial obsession.

As we plan and plot out our working lives, and seek to climb the next rung, master new subject matters, and better ourselves and our situations, it’s important to remember this means expending thought, energy, and effort outside the work domain as well as inside its boundaries. Today, I’m thankful for my family, for the crazy and energetic paroxysms of competing goals and objectives, and for the love that suffuses the interactions and play that family life with small kids involves. Going forward, I want to protect and nurture those things as much as I want to keep the work and cash flowing into the working part of my life. That’s what represents balance to me: I hope you’ll think about what it represents to you, and seek to strike a better equilibrium in the year ahead.

–Ed–

To a large extent,this phenomenon is a function of the way life’s focus tends to back off from work to other things during this time of year. To some extent, it reflects a disinterest in hiring new people and then having to give them several days of mandatory vacation time more or less right away. Then, too, many budget cycles end along with the calendar year, and IT departments have either used up their headcount or are saving it for next year’s budget. No matter how you decide to explain things to yourself, the odds of landing a good new job during this time of year are rather slimmer than usual.

For those who aren’t currently work but need some cash in hand, seasonal Christmas work may offer some temporary work and income. Although you may not relish the prospect of selling computer and electronics gear, a background in IT will make you better qualified to man a station at Best Buy, Circuit City, Office Depot, department stores, and so forth where they sell computers–and often, lots of them–over the holiday season. Though traditional IT jobs may not be jumping out of the woodwork, temporary IT jobs at companies that do lots of holiday business–such as ecommerce outfits, online retailers, seasonal food or drink providers, and so forth–can often provide work through the middle of January to those with both interest and the right qualifications. Try searching for “part-time IT” in your local job boards and newspapers (CraigsList can be a great source of information on such opportunities). With a little ingenuity, you can find something to do and keep the wolf from the door while whiling your way through the holiday season.

For all parties, working or not, I also recommend using this relative downtime to work your various social networks–friends, family, school chums, former and current job colleagues, professional groups and associations to which you belong, and so on–to get the word out. Let people know you’re looking, tell them what you’re looking for, and either give them or point them to a current resume and some kind of “statement of interest” and “statement of capabilities.” Let the former tell people what you’re interested in doing, and the latter tell them what you can do, what education and certifications you hold, and what kinds of professional accomplishments you can claim.

You can also use this time of year to search out companies and organizations for which you’d like to work. Spend some time on the Web and learn as much about them as you can, and try to get a sense of what kind of position(s) you might be ready, willing, and able to fill. The more you learn about your prospective targets, the better you’ll be able to present yourself when the time comes to make your pitch and apply for a position.

Don’t just sit around twiddling your thumbs, though. With a bit of down time at your disposal, the key is to use it to make yourself a better candidate when a valid opportunity does come along. Good luck, and happy holidays!

–Ed–

If you’re of a certain age, you’ll recognize the lines “Fear is the mind killer. Fear is the little-death…” as a clip straight from the Bene Gesserit canon (Frank Herbert’s Dune for those unfamiliar with this cant). I think this is very true, but in watching myself and my family as objectively as I can (MMV, for sure) I think that frustration could substitute for fear in that litany without altering its impact or significance, as could anger. Not surprisingly, this triumvirate often travels en masse, so that as you encounter (or feel) one of them, the others are often not far behind.

So how to deal with fear, anger and frustration? In the workplace, as in life, the secret is to do for and with others what you would like others to do with and for you. Project Management Coach Margaret Meloni, who writes a pretty useful blog on interpersonal skills for ITToolBox.com recommends that modeling good behavior is an excellent way to elicit the same kind of behavior from others. (Interestingly, in Latin “Bene Gesserit” roughly translates as “(s)he shall have behaved well”–gotta love that past perfect subjunctive–so there’s more relevance in my wild sci-fi citation than might immediately meet the eye or ear).

In her 10/14/2008 blog, “Diffuse Anger, Strengthen Relationships,” Ms. Meloni goes on further to suggest the following (I don’t usually quote at this length but it’s great advice, so here goes):

Try this recipe next time anger appears on the menu.

Take these ingredients: An open stance that shows interest; direct eye contact that builds trust; a soft and measured tone of voice and a non-threatening posture (sitting down is good). Combine all ingredients by modeling the behavior you want the angry person to exhibit.

Prevent participants from reaching the boiling point by avoiding pointing, raised voices or sarcasm.

Maintain a consistent level of respect while all ingredients are mixed and measured. Don’t give up, sometimes this recipe can be prepared quickly and other days it needs to simmer more slowly.

Serve with generous helpings of patience and enjoy a healthy professional relationship.

Exactly what she said, plus do the same when fear or frustration trot across the stage as well. Seems to work pretty well with personal/family relationships, too.

–Ed–

But it’s also important to recognize the value of the professional network you can build on Linked-In, especially when it comes to searching for freelance or consulting work, investigating a job change, or looking for a new job. You can not only get the word out discreetly to those whom you know, you can also choose to broadcast the information that you’re looking for something new (which is entirely appropriate when you’re unemployed, transitioning from school to work, or you’ve already informed your employer that you’re actively seeking another position elsewhere).

Once you establish a connection with somebody on linked in (for example, take a look at my profile), in most cases you can check out your connections’ connections as well. That is, because you’re connected to them, and the default is to share connections with connections, you can look up other people to whom your connections have connections that you may not share. Why am I telling you this? Because this provides an extraordinary opportunity to seek out potential sources of work or prospective employers without necessarily having to go completely public to do so. You can then introduce yourself to these people, and establish links of your own, to see if your plans or desires to seek new or different work may coincide with their hiring needs, or ask them if they know of anybody who might have such needs.

This is just another way to play the “six degrees of separation” game in your favor. Again, for example, I currently have 220-plus connections at Linked-In. Combined, those people have over 40,000 others in their connections lists. This provides a large and potentially fertile field of investigation to go prospecting for work or a job within. You can put this same phenomenon to work on your own behalf. Basic Linked-In membership is free (and I’ve never found it necessary to promote myself to the ranks of paid members, either, so you may not need to do that either).

Check it out!

Paula Moreira: ACE the IT Resume, 2e, Osborne/McGraw-Hill, June 22, 2007, ISBN-13: 978-0071492744. Lots of good advice on how to put a resume and cover letter together is helpful, but lots of good examples of both kinds of documents is better still. $16.49 at Amazon.

Paula Moreira: ACE the IT Job Interview, 2e, Osborne/McGraw-Hill, December 11, 2007, ISBN-13: 978-0071495783. Sure you’ll find basic interview skills practice and information here: what to wear, how to present yourself, things to do (and avoid) in the interview and so forth. But what really gives this recently updated book its value is a battery of questons interviewees are likely to encounter during the interview, for all kinds of IT positions. Literally everything from database administrator, to desktop support technician, to various helpdesk roles, IT management, network administration and engineering is covered, along with programming, project management, security and Web-oriented positions. The second edition adds coverage for trendy IT positions including various architect and business analyst roles as well. Definitely worth the price of admission (also $16.49 at Amazon).

Paula and her husband both still work in IT, so she’s got the “feet on the street” perspective as well as nearly 20 years of industry experience to back herself up. I recommend these books highly, as I also do her Web site at ITCareerAce.com, where you’ll find her blog, and lots of current and ongong coverage of the topics that make these books both interesting and valuable. Check ‘em out!

–Ed–

So far, I’m batting about 0.500 as far as inquiries received since that posting goes. In other words, about half the people apparently either already know they should include this kind of information or have read this posting, and the other half don’t. To the “half in the know,” my profound thanks for making my job so much easier. To the “other half:” please ponder these questions when you submit your requests for advice to me (I repeat them here to minimize the effort people must expend to accommodate my wishes, in hope this will help see them satisfied):

1. What is your educational background? High school diploma? Associate’s degree? Bachelor’s degree? Graduate degree(s)? Please also briefly describe any incomplete progress on any of these items (for example “two years of computer science grad courses, 2/3 of MS completed”).

2. What is your prior work experience? How many years of work, and what kind of work have you done? Any volunteer work? Part-time work in school or elsewhere? (You’d be surprised how much value employers give to those who show evidence of being able to hold a job, and how much credit they give to people willing to work for nothing as volunteers or part-time to get experience in their chosen fields.)

3. Where do you live? What is the job market like there? How much opportunity for entry-level people? mid-career people? senior people?

4. Are you interested in working in management, or would you prefer to stay on a technical track? Have you ever done any project management (and again, school, part-time, and volunteer experience all help)?

5. What kinds of certifications interest you? Please describe any certification held, currency status (if applicable), and when earned.

6. Do your long-term career goals include staying in your current position (or in the same field as the next position you’re seeking, if applicable)?

7. What kind of job are you doing now? What kind of job would you like to be doing? How important is salary to you? How important is job satisfaction? If you could have any job at all, what would that be?

Thanks for your understanding and support. I look forward to serving you, and answering your questions, as they come up. Feel free to post them here in this blog, in the IT Knowledge Exchange, or email them to me at ed.tittel@techtarget.com.

Have a great weekend!

–Ed–

1. What kinds of things can you do? problems can you solve? Be prepared to provide some history, and maybe even tell a few “war stories,” to back up whatever you claim in this vein.
2. When talking about skills and knowledge, rather than simply providing a laundry list, keep answering the same questions “Why does this matter?” and “How does this relate to the position at hand?” as you dig into these areas with interviewers. This goes double for any IT certifications you hold, especially if they are relevant or critical for the position.
3. Think about your soft skills arsenal: can you write (what have you written)? can you manage projects (what projects have you managed)? can you speak or teach (what presentations have you given, courses taught, etc.)? can you manage people (ditto)?

In general, you want to leave your interlocutors with the impression that you are competent, know your stuff, have a useful array of soft skills to complement your harder ones, and are good enough with people to make a useful addition to the staff. It may be tempting to toot your own horn ceaselessly, or to try to make yourself look better than you really are. Avoid these temptations if at all possible, and settle for a well-rehearsed recital of your answers to the foregoing questions. You’ll be able to play variations on this theme if you have multiple interviews to tackle, and you’ll also get a chance to work on your presentation skills in a pretty serious and meaningful context. You may even want to practice with a friend or family member just to get yourself as comfortable with this material as possible, or perhaps even write out some answers that you can then translate into conversational delivery.

Good luck! I hope you find this information worthwhile.

–Ed–