The Personnel Concept

Amongst other technologies, you are proficient in C++, Java, SQL, VB and Oracle. Surely all these skills should be enough to guarantee your dream job?

Not anymore. If you're relying solely on technical skills to differentiate yourself, you need to rethink your approach. The current IT market is bursting with people with exceptional skill sets and CV’s overflowing with acronyms.

Companies are focusing on the importance of looking beyond technical talent when hiring employees. They are evaluating candidates in a more holistic sense, not just as techie’s, but rather as candidates that have enhanced their technical skills with business techniques that give them an edge over the "techie syndrome" of old. The challenge is for companies to find candidates that have the ideal mix of technical and non-technical skills, combined with the transferable skills that make them an asset to an organisation.

The rules of business today dictate that companies focus should be customer centric, where all interactions with users and clients should create impact. The IT department is now an integral part of the companies DNA, a true enabler of business rules and best practise. The days of IT staff fulfilling back office role is considered a disadvantage today. New age techies have to have the ability to provide meaningful interaction and impact directly on company performance.

As a candidate in the IT job market, you need to prove that you are more than just a techie is. Skills and certifications are taken as a given, but companies, however, rarely hire techies based solely on such qualifications. Candidates need to rework their pitch to employers, emphasising their non-technical abilities as well.

Our recommendation to candidates seeking employment is to emphasise one or more of the following areas to demonstrate non-technical savvy:

Companies no longer seek to employ individuals with a rigid set of technical skills or experience; they are now searching for the extraordinary, intangible blend of technical skills coupled with competence, attitude, and other soft skills that synergise closely with a particular company culture.

As the pace of change increases in the IT industry, greater demands are placed on an individual’s cognitive, emotional and physical resources. A person needs to have the ability to perceive, identify and manage emotion on the basis of social and emotional competencies that are important for success.

Your CV and your interview’s should be viewed as opportunities to highlight non-technical abilities and accomplishments. The emphasis on these skills is an important element of the business/IT alignment. There is a focus on IT serving the broader organisation's needs.

Clients consider it essential that anyone on their staff can talk to a user from the DBAs to the guys who maintain the servers.

Another important factor in selling yourself is the ability to transfer skills that you have learnt. These skills include the specific talents, personal qualities, and attributes that we bring to an occupation as well as the tasks we learn while on the job. People who are clearly aware of their skills and can describe themselves to potential employers in terms of the skills they offer are most likely to obtain the jobs they seek and enjoy their careers.

As the job market continues to grow and change at a rapid pace, employers are becoming more interested in transferable skills. Transferable skills are the kinds of qualities and attributes that can be carried from one job to another and are useful in performing a variety of functions. No matter what job title you fulfil, you should be developing transferable skills that you can utilise in the working world.

There are several kinds of transferable skills important to most employers. Including:

Communication skills - involve the ability to listen, speak, and write effectively, negotiate difficulties between people, and convince individuals of the importance of your ideas.
Problem-solving and critical thinking are also important skills across occupations. Knowing how to think analytically and abstractly, consider multiple perspectives, and identify a variety of potential solutions to the same problem.
Human relations skills prepare you to work with diverse groups of people; teach, counsel, advise, or coach people; and provide the ability to co-operate with others to create, perform, and complete projects.
Organisational skills are also important to employers, and involve the ability to assess needs, plan or arrange presentations, delegate responsibility, design programs, co-ordinate events and manage the implementation of projects.
Research skills involve searching computerised databases, identifying themes, analysing, classifying, and recording data, and handling detail work.

Personal characteristics can also be considered a type of transferable skill, in that they can enhance your value as an employee in any work setting. Some of the adjectives employers use to describe the qualities they look for in employees include self-confidence, willingness to accept responsibility, initiative, leadership abilities, flexibility, ability to handle conflict and stress, self-knowledge, interpersonal skills, intelligence, energy levels, and imagination.

These skills are critical competencies that employers now seek. Your ability to prove you have developed transferable skills as an employee will set you apart as you look for employment.

As one of the challenges facing organisations is the location of these candidates, many companies are adding to their recruitment drives by partnering with organisations that have access to these candidates.

This translates into a need for a solid employment strategy, for candidates seeking challenging employment. The key to securing unique portfolio’s lies in diversifying your talent, and distinguishing yourself from the pool of "pure techies".

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