Lacking Experience? Let's Figure It Out
Personal experience is valuable too

"No one can figure out your worth but you." --Pearl Bailey

If you're a newly certified or trained I.T. worker, you may have been surprised when you were turned down for a job because you lacked I.T. experience. Aren't the media filled with hype about the hot I.T. job market? Wasn't certification your ticket to big bucks in I.T.? Aren't employers falling over themselves to hire I.T. workers just like you? Didn't you secretly expect a company to almost beg you to work for them? Add to the expectation of immediately finding a high paying I.T. job the dollar and time costs of certification and training, and you may well be a baffled, resentful, unemployed I.T. worker.

Let's use Pearl Bailey's advice and "figure out" what's going on here. Know this: You were worth hiring before you were certified. Certification simply adds a new part to the value-added, whole you. If we apply Pearl Bailey's wisdom, you need to see yourself as bringing your value to certification, not that certification gives you value. You had skills, experience and talents that already made you a tidy sum for an employer. With certification, you've simply added a new skill to increase your total.

Consider the "figures" in this equation:
You + Certification = Value for an I.T. employer.

What that equation necessitates is that you know the value of each variable. What is your value, what is the value of your certification, and how would that combination be of value to an I.T. employer? You lack I.T. experience, but you don't lack experience living and working. Who are you and what have you done that would replace I.T. experience? How can you present who you are and what you've done so that your lack of I.T. experience equals a big fat zero in comparison to the other value you offer?

To offset I.T. experience with your personal experience, do the numbers from an I.T. employer's point of view. What skill, understanding or insight might I.T. employers need you to have more than they need you to have I.T. experience? What's going on in I.T. to which you can contribute?

Let's look at some figures. The Summer 2000 issue of Fortune Magazine offers stats on who's on-line and what they're doing in a 24-hour period. The significance of this, of course, is that if you know what people are doing on-line, you can offer your ability to attract those customers to a potential employer's products and services. For example, peak traffic occurs between 8:00 PM and midnight. If you're a night owl, offer to provide tech support during this high traffic period. The number of senior Americans, aged 45-to 65, grew by 18.4% during the past year. If you've volunteered in a nursing home, traveled with your grandparents, are this age, or have any other significant experience with this age group, suggest that you design software for this target market. Since the top fifteen trafficked sites feature news and entertainment, propose that you write news or entertainment copy for the company's Web site. These are just a few examples of assessing the I.T. industry and offering your value in anticipation of an I.T employer's needs.

I've provided a few ways you can figure out how to add yourself to the I.T. industry as an influential variable in spite of your lack of I.T. experience. You must think creatively to do this. You must understand, as Pearl Bailey put it, that you are responsible for determining your worth. If you wait for an I.T. employer to figure out where you fit in the sequence, you'll find yourself replaced by someone who knows the numbers better than you do.

Anne Giles
M.A., MCP

Anne Giles is an Internet business consultant, instructor, speaker and writer. Visit her site at www.annegiles.com.

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