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3 Networking Tips to Help Launch Your IT Career
There are no sure fire ways to get hired in the Information Technology field especially in the present economy and specifically when you’re a newly minted IT Professional.
Many businesses are taking the “do more with less” mantra to a whole new level. And you’re probably coming in with little to no practical experience, and competing with some very seasoned veterans of the industry for the few jobs that are available.
There are however a few things you can do by way of networking to maximize your chances and position yourself to grab new opportunities for employment and advancement.
Last week I talked about 3 entry level certs to help you launch your IT career and today we’ll discuss 3 ways that networking can help you accomplish the same goal.
Identifying Opportunities
Networking opportunities are all around when you’re paying attention. That sounds like a trite comment but it’s not meant to be.
You may be in the middle of a perfect opportunity and not even be aware of it. Any opportunity to sell yourself (and let’s face it that is what you’re doing) is an opportunity worth tactfully engaging in.
Social gatherings provide plenty of opportunities to network — the right social setting might be your chance to talk to a prospective employer or a technical contact you’ve just met about a possible position.
It might not always be a hiring manager you’re talking with either; you might be running into an engineering lead or the desktop migration architect and their own department may have a need. They may be partially to fully responsible to fill it and somewhat actively doing that when you approach them. (Some of it is luck, right time, right place).
If you don’t have a full skill set for what they need, don’t worry — they may know of other opportunities that are a better fit for you. Additionally, you might get pointed to other contacts within their own company that need help.
The key take away here is that the IT world is really a small place when you get right down to it. If you’re a seasoned professional you know people and are known by others; so if you run into IT professionals keep in mind that they can be a valuable asset to getting your foot in the door if they take a liking to you.
Lastly, you may run into someone just like yourself. Don’t discount them — they may know someone they can point you to that can help you along or they might know of an opening at their current location or a place they just left.
Just because someone is green in IT doesn’t mean they don’t have a large social network. They might have come from sales or another profession that afforded them many contacts from all over.
Networking Around the Downturn in the Economy
In this type of economy, people are getting creative with hiring as well. They may have a hiring freeze at their company despite the fact that someone has left a position that needs to stay filled.
Consider a scenario where cutbacks and layoffs are had and then someone moves out of a remaining position. That is the type of situation where the company may be forced under the hiring freeze to not bring anyone on regardless and yet the need is critical enough to warrant creative thinking about ways to fill the spot.
A hiring manager may be able to take on someone in a subcontractor capacity and line you up for an interview after an engaging conversation. They may have a partial headcount that never got struck from the books — if they pick it up at the end of the fiscal half year point they could possibly be in the position to bring someone on for the remainder of the year with the hopes of having it be a full head count at the start of the new year. The risk of course is the position is cut but you do get paid for your six months of work and you get to add the experience to your resume.
While some departments may have freezes others may not — your contact might socialize the idea that if you fill a lesser role in another department that you’d have a better chance once roles open up because you’ll be inside the company already.
The key take away here is that if they see value in you and your potential they’ll find ways to help you get started partly because you’ve gotten off on a good foot socially with them.
Turning a Training Session or Conference into a Networking Opportunity
You might be headed to a small MCPLS (Microsoft Certified Partners for Learning Solutions) lead training class or something as large as TechEd or TechMentor to get some training for upcoming technologies and while your primary reason for going would be for the learning there is networking to be had there as well.
Since the focus of this article is more in tune with launching your career then it is more likely you’ll be at the CPLS driven class. Never count out those large venues though — you’ll meet some very interesting people there from the attendees all the way to the speakers. Get as many business cards as you can if you should have the opportunity to go.
You may be really excited about being at the training event to expand your knowledge and add that to your arsenal as it offers another notch to tack onto your resume, but don’t overlook the opportunities around you.
There may be opportunities in the class you’re taking (or even others down the hall) to chat with people already in some technology roles in companies that you’d like to get involved with. You can learn about the businesses they are in and get a better understanding of the differences in the IT roles at a bank as opposed to at a steel mill.
Even if the school doesn’t have a formal placement option they may have a job bank or a contact board that you can leverage.
Speaking of learning opportunities at larger venues, there are events like the TechNet Events Unleashed that get held around the country. These are free sessions of technology content delivered by experienced IT pros and it is a great place to meet people with similar interests in technology.
The opportunity to learn from them is great plus the people you meet there may already be in roles that you’re looking to obtain, so it’s a good place to ask questions about what they do and how they like it.
And remember, Microsoft is not the only technology company that hosts events like this. If you’re really into learning about virtualization and want to focus on VMWare take a look at the events hosted by them. If Cisco or Oracle is more your thing you can leverage their free events as well.
The key take away here is that formal IT training situations may turn out to offer far more value to you than just the IT knowledge transfer — if you take the time to look up from the display and training manuals and chat with fellow classmates and seminar goers.
That’s a wrap — I hope you found this post to be a good investment of your time.
I am always looking forward to any feedback you have on this or any of the articles I have written so feel free to drop in some comments or contact me directly.
Additionally, I would welcome any suggestions topics of interest that you would like to see and based on demand and column space I’ll do what I can to deliver them to you.
Best of luck in your studies.
Related Posts:
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- 3 Entry Level Certifications to Help You Launch Your IT Career
- 10 Tips to Writing an IT Resume that Sells
- IT Job Tips – How to get into the “YES” Folder
- Moving Up in IT: System Administrator Role
- How to Break into the IT Industry and Get the Job You Want
- How to Choose a Work Environment in IT That’s Right for You
One Response to “3 Networking Tips to Help Launch Your IT Career”
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olumide williams Says:
May 16th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
I really find the article very helpful.keep it up!I really want to know how do i go about my certification when i’ve not gotten a job to purse my career in geting certified.thanks