What do IT employers look for when Hiring
Your resume is like your passport to the coveted tech job. It is like a sales proposition which highlights your qualifications, skills and capabilities. How your present yourself through your resume as well as physically is crucial to the decisions made by IT employers.
While applying for an IT job, it will always help if you what it is that your employers are looking for –
1. Product Knowledge – Depending on the type of job that you are applying for, employers will expect you to come with a broad range of product knowledge and experience. They prefer not to hire employees on whom they would have to invest time and other resources in training. Highlight your expertise in industry standard hardware and software such as McAfee, Cisco, Microsoft, LinkSys, NetGear, etc.
2. Systems Integration – Whether you are applying for an IT Management job or any other job for that matter, offer your expertise in systems integration. With most companies employing more than one software applications, there are higher risks of downtime due to conflicts in the system. It is important that you are able to help your employer seamlessly install, upgrade, add and remove applications on a consistent basis.
3. Futuristic Vision – While hiring IT professionals, employers are not only looking at your ability to meet their current demands but also your capability to handle their future needs as and when they expand. This way they intend to ensure technical continuity and saving on monies with respect to hiring and training new IT professionals in the future.
4. How available are you? – Even though you may not necessarily putting in a 80 hour work week, but the employers may expect you to be available for support at any time of the day or night in case of technical glitches. While the employer as well as you may hope that one would not require your services in the wee hours of the morning, you should be exhibit that you are flexible and easily available nonetheless.
5. Training – In addition to being well trained yourself, IT employers love it if you are able to show enthusiasm towards training your colleagues or subordinates. Whether you are in-charge of upgrading existing system or installing new ones, you should also be in the position to train your colleagues in effectively using the systems you put in place.
Finally, to be able to highlight these skills effectively, it is important that you are able write an impressive resume. A survey suggests that about 80% of the candidates are rejected on the basis of a poorly written cover letter or resume. Your resume must come with a summary statement, a well highlighted set of skills, some personal statistics and most importantly accurate information about your experiences. You can also consider getting your resume written professionally to make sure you attract the best employers in the business.