Careers Articles – Qualstaff Resources Blog

Do You Need a Degree to Get a Tech Job?

admin — Fri, 07 Nov 2014 10:30:10 +0000

Malcolm Gladwell, in his book David and Goliath, famously touted the idea of being a big fish in a little pond when it comes to choosing a college. He suggests never study at an elite college, but rather choose one where you can be at the top of your class.

But is it even necessary to have a degree to get a good tech job? Jessie Pressman discusses How to Land a Job in the Tech Industry Without a Tech Degree on the Brazen Careerist blog.

The biggest secret of the tech world is that a huge percentage of people who work in the tech industry started out knowing nothing. They didn’t go to MIT, they didn’t get a degree in computer science and they still don’t know how to code.

That’s because the high tech industry needs people to help their business run, not just create their product or service offering.

Even New York State Comptroller, Thomas D. Napoli, stated this in his April report on New York City’s growing high tech industry:

Like other industries, the high-tech industry employs work in a wide range of job titles, including non-tech-related positions such as accountants, administrative assistants, managers and sales representatives. The growth of the high-tech industry offers employment opportunities to works with a broad range of skills, not just those with technical backgrounds.

The report also goes on to say that “The average annual salary for workers in the high-tech industry was $118,600 in 2012, compared to an average of $79,500 for all other jobs in New York City ($65,400 excluding the securities industry).” And you know that number has only gone up in the past two years.

If you have a liberal arts degree in history or art or political science or sociology or English, don’t pass that hot sounding tech company by. Having a degree in tech isn’t necessary to land a job in the tech sector. They need you!

Here are some tips to get you started:

1. Look in the right place

While many may push you towards established firms because they seem less risky, startups are a great place. Not only will you be part of a team where you can add value right away, but you’ll also be exposed to different areas of the business on a daily basis.

Established firms often have compartmentalized their business units and departments, so once you’re on a track, that’s where you’ll likely stay. Working for a startup, on the other hand, means you’re going to wear many hats — which means more exposure to new experiences more quickly.

That said, you don’t have to go for the fledgling startups. Look for ones that already have venture capital funding or have demonstrated success for a few years. Five to 10 years old can still mean startup mentality, but may also have a more robust infrastructure for you to rely on, like better benefits and workspace.

2. Find the right fit

If you want startup culture, look for startups in areas you’re interested in. Like fashion? Find a fashion startup like ManRepeller or NastyGal. Interested in healthcare issues? Healthcare startups are doing everything from making apps that help doctors with billing to building machines that allow doctors to do virtual surgery to tech that helps kids keep tabs on their aging parents.

Politics major? Look for startups invested in political change. The startup world is huge. And while much of it revolves around tech, that tech needs to do something useful to be a worthwhile business. Figure out what you’re interested in and find a company based on their mission.

3. Find a role for yourself

Once you’ve figured out the area of tech you’re interested in and passionate about (tip: startups love passion) find their site, look for their opportunities page and see what they’re hiring for.

Skip over the overtly tech roles like programmer, developer or architect and go for the positions that make the business run: sales, accounts, business development, marketing, HR, recruiting, payroll, operations.

Or if you’re interested in learning a little more about the tech concepts themselves, try a hybrid role (known in the tech field as “techno-functional” and usually in high demand): project manager, business analyst, consultant.

When looking at these roles, think about what you bring to the table — are you a people person who’s super competitive? Sales might be right for you. Are you OCD when it comes to details? Project manager could be a good fit.

4. Make a role for yourself

This may be a little more difficult at established business or if this is your first job out of college, butfiguring out your strengths and pitching them to a startup is how many people today get hired. (Click here to tweet this advice.) Depending on the size of the startup, they may not even know what they need yet.

If you’re willing to roll your sleeves up and pitch in, you’re bound to be scooped up quick. Even better, figure out what they’re having problems with and pitch a solution. Make yourself necessary. Solve a problem to create a need for your specific skills.

5. Learn the concepts

Many people who work in tech don’t know how to code. They’re the big thinkers and the strategists; they’re the people who make the everyday operations of a business run. You don’t need to be a developer to work in tech, but it’s a big leg up if you understand the concepts behind what a business is doing.

If you want to work in the marketing department, dive into PPC, SEO and UX. If you want to work in sales, figure out what their product is and learn the concepts behind it. If they’re an e-commerce site, understanding what business intelligence and big data are will be useful and help you stand out.

If the company builds applications, learn how they’re built. By understanding the difference between the user interface and user experience, you’ll be light years ahead of the competition.

6. Be willing to work

Say “yes” a lot. Employers have a negative stereotype about GenY: They think you’re lazy. Show them you’re not. Put all the activities you were involved in during college on your resume — President of the sky diving club? Put it in! Active in student government? Put it in! Sang in an acappella group…yep.

Anything and everything you had a serious commitment to will help prove your commitment to work. Plus, it has the added benefit of being a great conversation starter. Odds are that at least one person who interviews you will have something in common with your extra-curriculars.

Want to work in tech but don’t have any background? Don’t sweat it! Go for it.

Jessie Pressman is the CEO & Founder of Bite Size Learning, which produces five minute e-learning videos that teach tech concepts and sales acumen. Prior to her entrepreneurial endeavor, she was a record breaking sales rep, manager and executive in the Tech Staffing space, where she also created and ran both sales mentoring and tech training for their nationwide team.

Brazen powers real-time, online events for leading organizations around the world. Our lifestyle and career blog, Brazen Life, offers fun and edgy ideas for ambitious professionals navigating the changing world of work.

Why Hiring Good Managers is So Essential

admin — Sat, 15 Mar 2014 06:23:42 +0000

By Randall Beck and James Harter via Harvard Business Review

An employee’s view of his or her company is directly dependent upon their direct supervisor. In fact, a company’s entire culture and employee experience is not shaped by it’s CEO, but rather by the managers in between the top and the workforce. A great study in the Harvard Business Review delves into why good managers are so rare.

Gallup has found that one of the most important decisions companies make is simply whom they name manager. Yet our analysis suggests that they usually get it wrong. In fact, Gallup finds that companies fail to choose the candidate with the right talent for the job 82% of the time.

Bad managers cost businesses billions of dollars each year, and having too many of them can bring down a company. The only defense against this massive problem is a good offense, because when companies get these decisions wrong, nothing fixes it. Businesses that get it right, however, and hire managers based on talent will thrive and gain a significant competitive advantage.

Managers account for at least 70% of variance in employee engagement scores across business units, Gallup estimates. This variation is in turn responsible for severely low worldwide employee engagement. Gallup reported in two large-scale studies in 2012 that only 30% of U.S. employees are engaged at work, and a staggeringly low 13% worldwide are engaged. Worse, over the past 12 years these low numbers have barely budged, meaning that the vast majority of employees worldwide are failing to develop and contribute at work.

Gallup has studied performance at hundreds of organizations and measured the engagement of 27 million employees and more than 2.5 million work units over the past two decades. No matter the industry, size, or location, we find executives struggling to unlock the mystery of why performance varies so immensely from one workgroup to the next. Performance metrics fluctuate widely and unnecessarily within most companies, in no small part from the lack of consistency in how people are managed. This “noise” frustrates leaders because unpredictability causes great inefficiencies in execution.

Executives can cut through this noise by measuring what matters most. Gallup has discovered links between employee engagement at the business-unit level and vital performance indicators, including customer metrics; higher profitability, productivity, and quality (fewer defects); lower turnover; less absenteeism and shrinkage (i.e., theft); and fewer safety incidents. When a company raises employee engagement levels consistently across every business unit, everything gets better.

To make this happen, companies should systematically demand that every team within their workforce have a great manager. After all, the root of performance variability lies within human nature itself. Teams are composed of individuals with diverging needs related to morale, motivation, and clarity — all of which lead to varying degrees of performance. Nothing less than great managers can maximize them.

But first, companies have to find those great managers.

If great managers seem scarce, it’s because the talent required to be one is rare. Gallup finds that great managers have the following talents:

They motivate every single employee to take action and engage them with a compelling mission and vision.

They have the assertiveness to drive outcomes and the ability to overcome adversity and resistance.

They create a culture of clear accountability.

They build relationships that create trust, open dialogue, and full transparency.

They make decisions that are based on productivity, not politics.

Gallup’s research reveals that about one in ten people possess all these necessary traits. While many people are endowed with some of them, few have the unique combination of talent needed to help a team achieve excellence in a way that significantly improves a company’s performance. These 10%, when put in manager roles, naturally engage team members and customers, retain top performers, and sustain a culture of high productivity. Combined, they contribute about 48% higher profit to their companies than average managers.

It’s important to note that another two in 10 exhibit some characteristics of basic managerial talent and can function at a high level if their company invests in coaching and developmental plans for them.

In studying managerial talent in supervisory roles compared with the general population, we find that organizations have learned ways to slightly improve the odds of finding talented managers. Nearly one in five (18%) of those currently in management roles demonstrate a high level of talent for managing others, while another two in 10 show a basic talent for it. Still, this means that companies miss the mark on high managerial talent in 82% of their hiring decisions, which is an alarming problem for employee engagement and the development of high-performing cultures in the U.S. and worldwide.

Sure, every manager can learn to engage a team somewhat. But without the raw, natural talent to individualize; focus on each person’s needs and strengths; boldly review their team members; rally people around a cause; and execute efficient processes, the day-to-day experience will burn out both the manager and his or her team. As noted earlier, this basic inefficiency in identifying talent costs companies hundreds of billions of dollars annually.

Conventional selection processes are a big contributor to inefficiency in management practices; little science or research is applied to find the right person for the managerial role. When Gallup asked U.S. managers why they believed they were hired for their current role, they commonly cited their success in a previous non-managerial role or their tenure in their company or field.

These reasons don’t take into account whether the candidate has the right talent to thrive in the role. Being a very successful programmer, salesperson, or engineer, for example, is no guarantee that someone will be even remotely adept at managing others.

Most companies promote workers into managerial positions because they seemingly deserve it, rather than because they have the talent for it. This practice doesn’t work. Experience and skills are important, but people’s talents — the naturally recurring patterns in the ways they think, feel, and behave — predict where they’ll perform at their best. Talents are innate and are the building blocks of great performance. Knowledge, experience, and skills develop our talents, but unless we possess the right innate talents for our job, no amount of training or experience will matter.

Very few people are able to pull off all five of the requirements of good management. Most managers end up with team members who are at best indifferent toward their work — or are at worst hell-bent on spreading their negativity to colleagues and customers. However, when companies can increase their number of talented managers and double the rate of engaged employees, they achieve, on average, 147% higher earnings per share than their competition.

It’s important to note — especially in the current economic climate — that finding great managers doesn’t depend on market conditions or the current labor force. Large companies have approximately one manager for every 10 employees, and Gallup finds that one in 10 people possess the inherent talent to manage. When you do the math, it’s likely that someone on each team has the talent to lead. But given our findings, chances are that it’s not the manager. More likely, it’s an employee with high managerial potential waiting to be discovered.

The good news is that sufficient management talent exists in every company – it’s often hiding in plain sight. Leaders should maximize this potential by choosing the right person for the next management role using predictive analytics to guide their identification of talent.

For too long, companies have wasted time, energy, and resources hiring the wrong managers and then attempting to train them to be who they’re not. Nothing fixes the wrong pick.