Some American business schools promote MBA programmes by talking about a ROI or return on investment. This is a straightforward financial calculation that allows you to calculate how quickly you’ll pay back your costs in time and money when you sign up for a course.

The assumption is that your earning power will increase dramatically once you’ve graduated. Typically United States MBA graduates are financially ahead after three or so years.

You can’t always estimate of the value of taking work-related courses so directly. And anyway, learning extra skills isn’t just about money; you’ll gain extra understanding of your work, improve your confidence and find it easier to complete various tasks.

You might even enjoy life more.

Any extra skills you get will have some benefit in the workplace – even when the connection isn’t obvious. If you continue your education, you will be a better employee.

Think of it this way, you go for a job and there are two candidates. One has taken a string of courses in evenings and weekends, the other has done nothing. Who do you think is going to get the job?

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By Bill Bennett

You aren’t likely to get head-hunted unless you are already near the top of the career tree. In Australia, real head-hunters don’t tend to look for people to fill positions paying much less than $150k because there’s scant reward for the effort involved.

Some work on a commission basis, taking a percentage of the recruit’s first year’s salary. Others get a fixed fee. Either way head-hunters are expensive from an employer’s point of view and can only be justified for senior appointments. Of course, the salary threshold will differ in other countries.

There are exceptions to the salary rule. Head-hunters are occasionally asked to fill particularly hard to-fill-vacancies in specialised niches and occasionally an organisation hires a professional head-hunter to woo a specific person – possibly from a rival company.

How head-hunters work

A head-hunter’s operating style makes a huge difference to the way you should deal with them. As a rule fixed fee head-hunters receive a payment whether the candidates they find are hired or not. Typically these head-hunters are only interested in recruiting for the very top jobs.

Once they have a curriculum vitae they are unlikely to punt it around the industry if they fail to fill the original vacancy. While they may keep it on file and use it later if a similar position comes up later, they probably won’t do this without first getting permission.

It’s not always true, but the head-hunters operating on a commission basis tend to work for a number of clients at the same time. Typically they’ll operate at a slightly lower level. The often build databases of potential candidates: be warned once you are ‘in play’ they might hound you until they find you a new job.

If people understand a head-hunter earns commission they often fall into the trap of assuming this means the head-hunter has a vested interest in negotiating a high salary. In practice they can maximise their income by turning over more business than by squeezing an employer for a few thousand dollars here or there.

So, while they are happy to see you get more dollars, don’t push your luck in negotiations. If anything they are keener to close the deal than win more money.

Interview coaching

Some commission head-hunters will coach you before an interview. They’ll do whatever they can to help you secure the job. At times you may feel like you are being pushed – maybe because you are being pushed.

It’s not unusual for rival commission head-hunters – even from within the same recruitment organisation – to have candidates in line for a single job. While you’ll get a lot of push from these guys, you probably won’t get a huge amount of attention, that’s because they have so many irons in the fire. And, although it might look like you have a job in the bag, you might be only one of many candidates.

Fixed fee head-hunters will spend a lot of time with you. They probably won’t coach you, but they will help with negotiations and finding information. You can expect to get lots of feedback about how the process is progressing. By the time you are in front of a company, you’ll be one of only two or three short-listed candidates – the job isn’t yours yet, but you will almost certainly be a good fit for the job, much of the remaining work is determining if you are the best fit for that employer.

Negotiating position

Another dangerous assumption is that a call from a head-hunter puts you in a strong negotiating position. After all, in theory it’s easier to extract better salary, terms and conditions when someone else is doing the asking.

To some extent this is true, but don’t get carried away, head hunters spend their working lives recruiting people, you only change jobs once in a blue moon. You certainly have some negotiating leverage, but remember you’re up against professionals and they will have seen all this before. What’s more, their clients are the employers, not the candidates.

If they have done their homework properly the prospective employer will already have a very definite idea of your worth to their business. They are prepared to negotiate and may even go past their expected limits, however, you should remind yourself that they probably have other candidates in the pipeline too.

Despite this, a call from a head-hunter is an excellent way to boost your salary or job. After all, if they want to tempt you away from your current position, they are going to need to offer something attractive.

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Writing in Computerworld Australia Kathryn Edwards reports; “The Australian IT job market fell 15 percent in March, crashing to the level of 2005 and down by 53 percent on the same time last year.”

Edwards story was based on numbers from the Olivier Job Index.

It said Internet job ads also fell 12.5 percent in March leaving fewer vacancies advertised on the than at the beginning of the year.

Olivier Group director Robert Olivier, suggests the job market is only going to get worse.

In New Zealand the Hudson Report shows IT employers have radically changed their hiring intentions. A year ago a net 36 percent of employers expected to hire IT specialists, that number has dropped to just 7.8 percent. The sector compares with the general job market where 24 percent of employers expect to reduce staff numbers in the next three months.

IT job ads, vacancies down in March: Survey – Computerworld

Times are tough, but there’s always a demand for certain key skills. And when the corner finally turns on the global economic recession there’s going to be a huge pent-up demand for technical expertise. That’s because few companies are investing in their employee’s skills right now. When they decide they need those skills, it’ll be too late to start training; so they’ll need to pay a premium.

Your mission is to capture that premium.

So, what are the skills that will be earn you better rates over the coming years and how do you go about acquiring them?

The skills employers most want to see break down into four main categories:

• basic technical know-how;
• formal education;
• relevant business skills and vertical market experience; and
• knowledge of specific hardware and applications.

Basic know-how

Basic technical know-how is about finding your way around equipment and systems. In the past, employers would expect a narrow band of system or even application specific skills. Today’s employers prefer people to have a more catholic approach to technology. You’ll be expected to be familiar with a range of products. If you know you have a weak spot, you should brush up your knowledge in that area.

While employers used to accept that new employees would often require initial training and a settling in period, when modern employers hire workers, they expect them to be productive from day one. If you can’t make a start on the first morning in a new role, you may not get asked back for day two.

Of course there are exceptions to this. Some employers recognise their systems are unusual and may provide some initial training. However, recruitment specialists say that this is becoming unusual and that one of the reasons for a persistent skills shortage is that employers are simply not prepared to hire people whose skills profile is a ‘near miss’.

Formal education

Of course, your track record and references are the best indication that you have the right basic know-how. However, a good, relevant tertiary qualification is a better indicator.

Figures from Australia’s Graduate Career Council which estimate that a person with an undergraduate degree can expect to earn between $10,000 and $20,000 a year more than non-graduates. In the IT area the gap between graduates and non-graduates is higher, for hourly-paid contractors a good undergraduate degree can be worth an extra $25 an hour.

People with higher degrees can expect to earn the same amount again. On that basis you can realistically expect to cover the fee cost of a postgraduate IT qualification in about two years – though you might never recover the opportunity cost of the income you’ll lose while studying for the higher qualification.

Business Skills

In the past, technical skills and some formal education would have been enough to keep the average knowledge worker in employment from now until retirement. This is no longer the case. These days employers demand that IT workers also have business savvy. In some cases this can be as simple as just having good communications skills – though generally they want more.

Part of the reason for this is the changing nature of IT. Historically IT projects were strictly backroom affairs, taking place in an environment, which developed, let’s say, something of a counter culture. Most of the work was cutting code or tweaking applications and required little contact with users and only rudimentary understanding of the business processes being automated.

In recent years, IT has moved centre stage. Today’s IT professionals spend a lot of time alongside other workers, understanding how the business works is now crucial. Consequently, communications skills – we’re talking about the ability to share ideas and concepts with colleagues rather than make two computers talk to each other are at a premium.

If you’re thinking of getting a formal qualification, it makes sense to take a course that combines technical components with business modules. Many universities now offer postgraduate IT courses that embrace accounting, law, management sciences and other business disciplines.

Specific Skills

Of course the main reason an employer may want to hire you is to plug in-house knowledge gaps. Your specific skills are most important. Right now there is a still a huge demand for a number of key skills.

According to Network skills in demand, pay well in down economy in Network World:

76 percent of CIOs are looking for desktop support skills

65 percent are looking for network administration skills

64 percent are looking for Windows administration sills

Database management, telecommunications support and network management are all still highly sought after.

Web development, virtualisation and business intelligence are in demand.

ERP implementation, .Net development and Linux administration are also hot.

As you’d expect any formal qualification featuring one of the keywords mentioned above is worth upwards of $10 an hour over other IT positions. If you can combine these with recognised business know-how, you could be looking at earning considerably more.

While vendor specific certification from the likes Microsoft and Cisco are unlikely to translate into large rate premiums, they will help ensure you get picked in front of rivals.

Finally, your practical experience is so important that it is worth making sacrifices to perform some jobs purely for their CV value. Even a short-term contract in a position of responsibility on a successful or high profile project could be worth a considerable premium with future employers.

Following a survey of more than 10,000 workers Chris Duckett at ZDNet Australia reports the average salary for an Australian IT professional has raised A$5,000 in the past six months. The average is now A$87,599. Given the state of the global economy this speaks volumes about the shortage of suitable skills and experience in the country. Australia’s income taxes are attractive too.

The link takes you to a news story where you can download a full report.

Average Aussie IT salary rises $5k: News – ZDNet Australia.

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If you found yourself out of a job, you probably feel angry, bitter or self-pitying. Karen Burns at US News and World Report says it’s OK to feel that way, but you shouldn’t let potential employers know about it. She has some other useful advice about what to say to potential employers if you’ve been laid off because of the recession. As she points out, the good news is that many industries are still hiring.

What to Say When You’re Laid Off – On Careers (usnews.com).

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After hearing old friends and colleagues whinging about workplace nastiness, which seems to have intensified since the credit crunch, Scot Herrick of Cube Rules asked them how they coped. The answer was that they now just treat their job like a paycheck. Or, as we would say in New Zealand, a pay cheque.

That is they turn up, go through the motions, go home and once a week or once a month the money turns up in their bank account. I’m guessing here that Herrick is writing about knowledge workers and not hamburger flippers sleep walking through shifts at the local fast food joint.

Herrick’s understandable response was to point out these conditions “are killing you”. He then went on to discuss how civilisation is only so many meals away from breaking down. Something Americans would be aware of after Hurricane Katrina.

Herrick’s key point was:

When people are working “because it is a paycheck” and not because they remotely like the job, the company — and the country — is in far more trouble then financials will tell you. Disengaged people won’t (and can’t) help you solve the problems of the day. They can’t rise to the occasion to save a customer or resolve a process. Disengaged people can’t lead their work and support their teams.

What Herrick is describing here is a process that is happening all over the world. Workers are sliding down Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. This is precisely what happens when times are tough. As Maslow puts it, starving people will attend to gathering food before worrying about social niceties. Herrick’s ex-colleagues are starting to act and think like rats in a crowded cage, because survival is more important than being a decent colleague.

Of course it would be easy of me to suggest people who find themselves in this kind of position should get out and find another job. We all know it isn’t that easy. On the other hand, figuring out how to climb back up that Hierarchy of Needs or, at least, to not slide further down, may help.

See:

It is a paycheck — and it is killing us | Cube Rules.

Challenging Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Managing knowledge workers: motivation and the hierarchy of needs

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Despite the magazine’s name, the US News and World Report’s list of the 30 best careers for 2009 is focused on American jobs. Some suggestions look just plain weird to those of us outside the USA.

For example, the US News and World Report lists clergy as a good career. The idea that America’s need for clergy will grow as the economic downturn grinds on is perfectly understandable. However, the cynical suggestion that belief is more or less incidental is strange.

Going into bat for God each day would be tough at the best of times. It would be even hard if you weren’t sure he existed. If you’re downright certain he doesn’t exist, being on his team could drive you to drink or madness.

Of course, there are some very highly paid American TV evangelists who finding milking people’s religious needs lucrative. Now there’s a job.

The 30 Best Careers for 2009 – US News and World Report