First, let me explain what retirement means in the contect of IT certification. A great many IT credentials–including those from Cisco and MIcrosoft’s latest crop (MCTS, MCITP,  and so forth), plus countless vendor-neutral certifications like the CISSP, PMP, SANS, and more–come with what can only be described as maintenance requirements. Typically, this either means meeting yearly continuing education and professional development milestones, or repeating certification examinations at two or three year intervals. This all comes in the name of keeping current.

But when a certification stops being tested, or is no longer available to newcomers–the older Microsoft certs such as MCSA, MCSE, MCDBA, and MCSD are good examples, as are older versions of CompTIA credentials–what then? The answer depends on how relevant those credentials remain to the tasks still at hand, and the jobs that IT professionals perform on a day-in, day-out basis, as opposed to their perceived value and persisting ongoing name recognition.

For IT pros with lots of alpabet soup on their transcripts, I recommend a dual-labeling strategy for resumes and face-to-face career discussions or interviews, including annual reviews, performance reviews, and so on. Divide your certs up into “Current Certifications” (those that remain valid, up-to-date, and still enjoy relevance and name recognition), and into “Certifications Earned” (those that are now out-of-date,  expired, or that no longer enjoy name recognition).

That way, you can concentrate on what remains relevant to your current job, or the job you’re going after, while still presenting your entire certification history to those who may be interested in seeing your previous accomplishments and activities as well as your present focus, skills, and knowledge bases. It’s not exactly the best of both worlds, but it is a strategy that lets you demonstrate your understanding of current market needs and requirements, as well as enumerating your professional development and activities over your entire working life in IT.

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–

In fact, those looking for input, ideas, examples, and instruction on crafting a quality resume could do a lot worse in starting such a quest than searching Google on “resume writing workshop.” Lots of useful information pops up in response to this query, including:

• lots of college sites that offer instruction, information, examples, and more. For example, try this resume workshop page at Perdue University.
• Susan Ireland Resumes free Resume Guide (a teaser for her commercial services); ditto for the Top 12 Workshops from ProvenResumeS.com.
• A Federal Résumé Guide (PDF file), designed to help applicants for technical government positions with the National Guard, turns out to be a pretty good set of guidelines and advice.
• Numerous online course offerings on resume writing, including companies such as Ed2Go, Universal Class, Cosmic Coaching, and more.
• Oodles of free resume builders, including offerings from e-resume.us, resumeimproved.com, pongoresume.com, BuildaResumeToday.com, and many others.

In short, there is no reason for me not to mention the vast array of resources available to would-be resume writers online, or to short-change the many other excellent information and service providers who ply this virtual space with quality wares and information. Dig as deeply as you like in fact, and you’ll never run out of new sites to visit or learn from.

If you’ve looked for a job, or even just thought about looking for a job recently, you’ve probably visited one or more of the resume posting sites on the Web. A large number of such operations exist, at the same time that more and more companies are using similar technology to field direct applications from interested parties as well. In today’s blog, I want to explore the pros and cons of using those sites that serve multiple employers (as for those that belong to a specific employer, pros and cons don’t matter: they’re now a fact of working life for anybody who wants to apply for a job nowadays).

Promising All Kinds of Pros, Delivering How Many
If you check out the hype or hyperbole that so many sites surround themselves with, there aren’t many stones that go unturned in their breathless and relentless quest to persuade you to post with them. These range from broad exposure to numerous employers, search capability by geography, job description, pay range, automatic e-mail alerts when new jobs post, plus access to job hunting advice, information, and resources to name just a few. There are even meta-sites (for example, ResumeRabbit.com) where you can upload your resume and broadcast it to over 80 different job search/resume posting Web sites.

Despite all of the aforementioned benefits, the biggest draw for these sites is that they’re convenient, relatively easy to use, and help you get the word out about your availability to a broad and geographically dispersed audience. Even with all their promises of rapid and voluminous response, be warned that your own personal results may vary as and when you use these services, and the quality of your experience will depend on how well you match the target audience and demographic that these sites seek to service.

Considerable Cons Can Pose Problems, or Cause Frustration
If you look closely at the kinds of positions that get filled through these resume posting sites, you’ll observe some interesting phenomena:

• The real action is clustered “down-market,” very much on the entry-level to mid-career side. Once you’ve put 8-10 years or more of service into IT (or whatever trade or industry you work in), opportunities become more scare and responses more sparse whether you use a resume posting site or not
• Flexibility remains the key to success: the more kinds of positions, the wider your acceptable salary range, the greater the geographic area in which you’re willing to accept a job, and so forth, the more likely it is that you’re going to generate a response. Flexibility is another quality that is relatively easier for younger, less encumbered (and experienced) workers to manifest than for older, more encumbered (and experienced) ones.
• Quantity is no substitute for quantity: just because you cover a lot of possible positions you might occupy doesn’t mean you can cut back on the quality of the materials you use to sell yourself through introduction, interview, and selection phases. You still need a strong, well-crafted resume and cover letter, and you need to be able to communicate clearly and effectively about what you can do, why you want to do it, and what appeals to you about any particular position under discussion. A foot in the door is not the same as an offer: that first foot must be followed by lots of quality information and materials to make a worthwhile offer materialize.
• Protect yourself against unwanted disclosure: If you’re currently employed, but also looking for something else, make sure you read and understand the disclosure terms for any information you share with a job site. You may not want to get too public with your resume and other information if your current employer’s recruiters or HR staff can then find you on the Web. They may do so entirely innocently in seeking to fill other positions, but you can rest assured they’ll share this news with your management once they learn about your intentions. Unless you’re ready to go public you may want to keep your postings private, and only make them available on a case-by-case basis when a particularly good match appears through your own online job search efforts.

If you keep these pros and cons in mind, you can make these sites work for you, without wasting too much of your own time, or that of prospective employers you really don’t want to hear from right now. Your consideration will not only pay off with better, more focused results, it may also pay off in the future when your situation changes and you are ready to talk to those employers.