Blog

Over the past few weeks, while I wrote about job creation and career development, others were writing as well. I am at the 2011 TechServe Alliance Conference and Tradeshow in Phoenix this week, which leaves me with less time than usual to share my own views. Instead, I thought I’d share a few articles that cover some of the same issues in new and thought provoking ways. Enjoy!

1. In Find a Job – Become and “In Demand” IT Professional, I discussed the importance of IT professionals being responsible for their own career development. Computerworld’s 7 Key Skills New IT Grads are Lacking, provides some great advice to current IT students and new graduates on how to supplement their skills and increase their hiring potential. For the experienced IT professional, it provides insight into the skills companies value that may help you better position yourself in the future.

2. I also discussed the dichotomy of high unemployment and a lack of skilled resources and Silicon Valley’s New Hiring Strategy looks at the new and unusual strategies some companies are using to find coders, a skill that is in high demand and where competition for talent is fierce, as our own experience attests to. I believe we will see more innovative strategies being employed as demand continues to increase for hot IT skills.

3. Finally, while the post focused on personal responsibility, which is an important part of the equation, I think companies also have a responsibility to provide or incentivize training. The Wall Street Journal’s Why Companies Aren’t Getting the Employees They Need explores this idea further.

4. I’ve discussed job creation in general and the IT industry’s role in our economic health in a number of posts. TechServe Alliance’s latest IT Employment Index was recently published, showing continued growth in the sector. I asked for optimism in my post Hiring Requires Optimism and the TechServe report affirms that outlook. The numbers also make the following articles that much more interesting to think about.

5. The Washington Post’s Technology, Innovation and Cracking the Job-creation Code reports on a conference hosted by The Brookings Institution called, “Technology and the Innovation Economy: How to Harness New Engines for Growth.” The conference was focused on what can be done to help jump-start the economy in and out of the technology sector.

6. On the business technology news website ZDNet, blogger Joe McKendrick talks to MIT researchers to help answer the persistent and provocative question Does information technology create or destroy jobs?, and Seth Godin, a leading marketing guru and bestselling author, has an interesting take on job creation. He calls it a “false idol” and discusses what the “job” of the future will look like in his blog, The forever recession (and the coming revolution).

These are just a few things that caught my interest; I hope that you find them stimulating too. Next week, I’ll share what I’m learning at the TechServe Alliance conference!

Jerry Brenholz
President and CEO
ATR International

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