IDEA 6

There's a simple but very useful spreadsheet you can use in this area. Put potential employers across the top of your table. Now give each criterion a weighting, again between 1 and 10, where '10' is a very important criterion and '1' a 'nice to have'. Mark each employer as usual on the scale, but add another column for each employer and use it to multiply the score by the weighting. This enables you not only to check each job but also to compare it with others in a logical manner.

Try another idea...
IDEA 14, Why do you want to work for this company? adds advice about the research you need to do in order to answer this question.
Defining idea...
"When you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind." LORD KELVIN
How did it go?

Q OK, I've done all that and it was quite useful. The trouble is that I used the weightings as you suggest and one organisation comes up with a significant lead over the other; but instinctively the lower one feels right for me. It comes out OK in the exercise, just not as good as the other one. Should I let logic prevail or go with my gut?
A Go with your gut. The exercise has helped you think the thing through, but in the end if you go with the logic and then don't particularly like it you'll regret not taking the other decision.

Q I used your words about feeling that I could make a good financial contribution to the organisation and they came back with 'How?' I couldn't think of anything financial as I explained how well I could do the job. What is the answer to the 'How?' question?
A Either use your experience on a previous job, or explain that you have always looked for tangible benefits in a cost/benefit analysis as part of your planning process. Remember that you're leading with your chin if you say something that you can't substantiate.

IT


A Career in IT by the British Computing Society (BCS)
A Career in IT
The future for students wishing to join the IT profession looks bright provided they develop the skills in most demand in the workplace. According to a recent survey of 5,000 staff by the Association of Technology Staffing Companies, salaries for IT staff have risen an average of 15% over the last year due to increasing demand for senior project managers and business analysts. Demand for management information systems, IT managers, business systems analysts and project managers is also rising dramatically, however PC support and other lowlevel skilled roles are not showing the same growth.

Routes to Becoming an IT Professional
IT touches more areas of business than almost any other discipline. In today's business world many companies are interested in recruiting well-rounded
staff who have business focused skills and can demonstrate an understanding of how IT can benefit the business as a whole, and an understanding how
implementation of IT systems will impact on the organisation. People skills, self management and an ability to see IT as a means to an end, rather than an end in itself are all equally important as the traditional core IT skills.

There are currently several routes to a career in the UK IT industry including full time study, part-time study whilst in employment and on the job training.
The following are just some of the options open to those interested in an IT career:

- Graduation with a non-IT related subject
- An accredited degree
- Training in a specific IT skill which is in demand
- Transfer to an IT department within a company
- A year in industry/gap year experience prior to University Graduation with a non IT related degree

Many companies are happy to recruit graduates with non IT related subjects who are willing to undertake additional IT specific training through post-graduate or professional training courses such as those offered by Information Systems Examination Board (ISEB) - a BCS subsidiary, which offers qualifications in systems analysis and design and project management, among others. It is also worth considering undertaking a language; the IT profession is global and having additional language skills can be useful in gaining employment.

For students interested in a "client facing role" a more business orientated degree such as one in finance, management or another engineering subject may prove a better grounding than a pure IT degree, providing students with a good insight into business and a better understanding of the sort of problems their future client's are likely to face.

Whichever option taken, the key to improving the chances of being recruited is to achieve the best degree possible and take advantage of any work experience offered as part of the course or during the vacations.