THE BEECHMONT CREST CAREER GUIDE:
SURVIVING AND THRIVING IN THE CORPORATE JUNGLE
Chapter 1: What do Employers Want?
The "ideal" skill set is a moving target
So what skills are the best ones to sell?
The popularity of various skills and formal educational attainments changes with the economy and other factors. During the dotcom boom of the late 1990s, anyone with computer skills was a hot commodity. It was not uncommon to hear of six-figure salaries going to untested college graduates who possessed computer programming skills.
After the dotcom bust of 2000-2001, the situation for computer professionals changed dramatically. The demise of thousands of unprofitable dotcoms contributed to an overall drop in the demand for programmers. In addition, employers began to turn overseas for programming talent, where programmers could be hired at a fraction of their U.S. counterparts. Thousands of American computer professionals lost their jobs during this period.
But thousands of others kept their jobs by adapting to the new reality. They combined their technical skills with project management prowess and people skills, and became IT project managers, software buyers, and salespersons. They figured out that a background in information technology was still worth something--but writing code wasn’t necessarily the most profitable way to leverage it anymore.
Career Tip: Look for ways to “compound” the capabilities that you already have by combining them with complimentary skills from other disciplines. Are you a “techie” who only reads computer manuals? You could increase your options by enhancing your soft skills, like communications and general management. On the other hand, perhaps you are a former liberal arts major who doesn’t know the difference between a gigabyte and a terabyte. You can become more valuable to employers by combining your liberal arts background with more technical knowledge.
Copyright 2006 Beechmont Crest Publishing