In answer to Yuri's original question.. The reality with a lot of these qualifications is that I (as an employer) will not know what it entails, unless it is a recognised industry based qualification like MSCE etc. That means I can not adequately judge a persons skill level from the qualification.
What it does tell me is that candidate X has a reasonable work ethic, and finished a formal qualification in a particular subject, so has some discipline for study and self development. In that sense a qualification gained studying part time or by correspondence is often a better indication of ability or interest than a full time qualification, as the candidate has to make a reasonable sacrifice of personal time to get the diploma etc. What I look for when interviewing, In no particular order; : first impressions.. Is the candidate a human, do they use gills to breath? Does their personal manner appear to match the job. ie: complete geeks are good at looking after servers, but shouldn't be let out during daylight to deal with users face to face. : Can they do the job. Indicated by experience, qualifications, ability to learn, or at least apparent ability to learn, asking leading questions.. Have you ever dealt with left handed widgets? : Do they want to do the job? Is this person here because the govt. told them to apply for 1 job a week, or are they genuinely interested in looking after an old steaming pile of computer junk in a dark room for 8 hours a day? : Do I want to employ this person? As much as we'd like to think that it doesn't happen, employers always have a certain amount of personal interest. If I like someone I'm more likely to employ them. If the candidate drove over my cat last week it's not a good start. : Will they actually stay here? A problem in a lot of IT positions is staff turnover. This can have a huge impact on a business. Work history is handy if you've got it, and if not you need to reassure the employer that you're not looking for a two month job to add to your CV. Unless that is the type of job it is, in which case it's good to say you're saving for your OE, which means you'll slave night and day, and then disappear. So, qualifications are only a small bit in the picture. The IT job market is depressed currently compared to 2-3 years ago, and it may be the case that having a particular qualification will give you the 1 or 2 points on the board over another chap (or chapess) that makes the difference. The most important thing is probably being able to sell yourself. And if you don't think you're going to be any good at self-promotion, get someone else to do it. Go talk to an IT recruitment firm like MBT or Opal. They will interview you, and then do the selling for you. That will get you past the initial letter and cold call step which is where 80% of applicants miss the cut. </rant> Cheers, Chris Hellyar. Selwyn District Council Phones: X 831 (03)324 5831 (021) 350 603 <This message has not been inspected by the Chief Censors office> ###################################################################### The contents of this e-mail message may be privileged and/or confidential. If you are not the intended recipient please delete the message and notify the sender. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author, and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Selwyn District Council ######################################################################
