By David Day
I recently read an interesting article in TalentCulture that looked at the persistent IT skills gap from a new angle: that of recruiters trying to help fill specific jobs (especially in the Midwest United States, which has the hardest time, apparently).
I wrote last month about how IT roles are covering a wider range of skills than ever before. According to this post, that means that recruiters also have to keep up on a wider range of skills in order to converse with and evaluate today’s candidates.
This got me thinking about our VMware Certified Associate (VCA) program, which we specifically designed to provide a broad knowledge base about VMware products, not only for those wishing to earn their living with these tools, but for anyone in a related industry that simply needs to be able to intelligently talk about the technology. We’ve already heard from writers and marketers who have found the VCA helpful—perhaps recruiters will be next.
The bigger story, though, is that there are fewer and fewer jobs available where some sort of IT background isn’t required. You might not actually be in the IT department, but you better know how to collaborate with them if you want to get anything done—today and especially moving into tomorrow.
The TalentCulture article suggests two key activities that IT recruiters, or anyone working with IT, can benefit from:
1. Skilling Up
As I’ve written before, anyone in IT “needs 10 hours a week ‘upskilling’ to stay relevant” in the face of the relentless change of today’s technology innovations. That’s a big commitment, one that requires discipline and deadlines. At VMware Education, we often suggest forming a group of peers to keep you on course and help share insights.
2. Filling Up
I like the addition of this strategy, as it works to support “skilling up.” The idea is simply to make sure you always have a few nuggets information about the cutting edge of your area of the industry. You can’t possibly keep track of every innovation out there, but having a handful of key data points in your back pocket will help you make better decisions about where things could be headed.
This should all help you see why IT training and ongoing education is not just for lifelong IT professionals anymore. VMware education offers a wide range of classroom and online options to help you continue to learn. Whether you are planning to use them to reach a new level of certification or simply stay at the forefront of the industry, your future self will thank you for checking them out.
David
