What employers look for in IT
Attributes and communication barriers In IT.
Task 1 - P1 - Skills, Attributes And Attitude
Technical knowledge- One of the more obvious ones when working with technology you must have some sort of knowledge. Now this does not have to be advanced stuff just the basics e.g. knowing how to use the software yo need, typing, using the mouse,USB port, transferring files.
Health and safety- An essential skill when working in any workplace not just in IT. The employer needs to know that you will not put any of your workmates heath in jeopardy since that would look really bad for the company.
Working attitudes- An employer looks for some one who will actually get the work done at his/hers highest standard, who is on time everyday and who treats his/her workmates with respect. They are not going to want someone who will just slack off all the time.
General attributes- It's one thing to have the know how in IT but you also need to prove that you are motivated enough to get the job done, that you are determined enough to complete tasks at your very best, and you can manage your time to work around your social life and work life. On top of that you also need to be able to communicate well with people. without any of these attributes even if you can dissemble and reassemble a PC in less that 5 minuets or you can fix any fault that pops up, employers won't hire you.
Planning skills- Planning skills are useful when in the workplace, if you go into the day and plan out what it is you are going to work on then you will make life easier for yourself in the workplace.
Organisational skills- Just like planning it can make working much easier although this attributed may seem more suited to the supervisory jobs or any other higher role all workers can benefit this skill e.g. if you are given a task to do and are forced to do it at home and not just at the work place organizing your day can make things a whole lot easier, this is the exact same for time management.
Time management- This attribute links right in with organisational skills. having organisational skills involves having good time management.
Team working- An attribute essential for any type of job working with other people is a must, you may for instance have to work on a project with other people. On top of that you will be spending all day with these people getting to know them and communicate with them will make work life a much more happy life.
Verbal Skill- A key tool if you want to communicate with someone. Having verbal skills is more than just the ability to talk you may have to give a presentation in which case you must talk in a formal way or if your bass wants to speak with you wont really be using slang would you.
Written communication skills- Just like verbal skills only without spoken words, if you are writing an email to your boss or to someone who you may not know e.g. a customer, client you would be a lot more formal than when you are writing to a friend. The other big ones are spelling, grammar and punctuation,
Numeracy- Math is a essential skill in a fair few jobs that use IT for example if you get a job as a stock broker or any other job in the stack market you are going to need to know how to add, minus, times table etc.
Attitudes- Employers are always looking for someone who has a wide range of attitudes since they are the one who are going to last in the workplace. The main attitudes that employers are going to look for is motivation, determination, good time keeping, leadership, confidence, tolerance etc.
Determination- Determination is an attitude that an employer loves to see in his/her employees. it shows that the employee will work to there highest standard and go to higher lengths to do it.
Independence- Employers are far more likely to hire someone who can work on there own without constant help form other workmates, that you are capable of doing your job right without people holding your hand. Although shutting everyone out is the wrong way to go about working alone.
Integrity- Employers like to hire people they can trust and that have a good moral view. Integrity having this attitude in the workplace will help you keep the job and not end up with a criminal record. Someone with integrity can be trusted not to steal equipment from the company, insult or assault workmates.
Tolerance- Tolerance is another attitude that will help a lot with keeping the job having tolerance proves that you can work with people not matter there culture or there ethnic background. Employers are much more likely to hire someone with this attitude because no one wants prejudiced spreading around the work place
Dependence- Employers would rather hire someone they can depend on, a very useful attitude to have in the workplace if an employer can depend on you then you wont be getting sacked anytime soon.
Problem-solving- This attitude although not as essential as the other attitudes to have it is still useful, this one links well with Independence since you will find that solving problems that you are having with you work will help you to complete it faster.
leadership- leadership is more for the higher up people like the supervisors and the CEOs of the company, it will determine how well you can keep people doing there job.
Confidence and motivation- One of the most important attitude to go in to the workplace with, motivation dictates whether you are actually going to do the work set out for you and if you are going to do it before the deadline. Confidence this will prove to the employer that you will not doubt yourself with the work that has been set out form you. Employer will not hire someone who is not motivated or has no confidence
Task 2 - P2 - Communication
Cultural differences- When communicating with some one of a different culture it is very important to mind what you say to them asking certain questions or saying certain to them can possibly offend them. Another thing to note is they many have a different native language and can not yet speak English well so speaking clearly and using the correct terms will make things a lot easier for everyone.
Adapting your voice and terminology- This is useful if you need to work abroad you will need to learn a new language if they to not peak english, if they do speak you native language then you may still have to adapt to there accent and understand different slang terms used by them.
Use of technology to engage an audience and question and answering- Presentation are a great way to talk and get information across the audience. You can always get feed back from your audience at the end and see if they have any questions to ask you.
Interpersonal skills- Interpersonal skills is how you communicate face to face with people for example body language is a interpersonal skill and so is tone of voice these are really good at picking out what kind of emotions some one is feeling at that time, as well as these skills there is also the positive (speaking in a more optimistic tone and using a more optimistic language) and negative language (using a more pessimistic tone and language, negative language doesn't always mean swearing ). There is also communication with disabled people and how they can communicate with you, for example deaf people communicate using sign language or in some occasions they lip read.
Verbal exchange- Verbal exchanges is the skill of speaking with the terminology or knowing how to speak with certain people so that you don't say anything offensive. It is also the skill to speak in form of a crowd without forgetting what you want to say to them.
singing- Singing is a skill mostly used to communicate with people who have hearing impairments, it is the skill of using gestures with your hands to communicate.
lip reading- A skill used primarily by people with hearing impairments, although not essential since most just use sing language it is very useful.
Body language- Body language can say a lot about a person and what they really think about a subject, it is a good idea to get to know the differences between body movement and facial expressions this is very difficult for people who suffer from autism, it is also good to learn how to control your body language.
Use of intonation- Intonation is using vocal range much like body language it can tell you a different story to what is said, the way a statement is said can tell you how the person is feeling and whether he statement was actually a question as well as the type of question. This can also be the difference between sarcasm and an actual time worthy question. Again much like body language it can be very heard for sufferers of autism to understand intonation.
Positive negative language- The use of negative language is not just using naughty swear words, it also means racial slurs and offensive names towards workers and pessimistic language people who give up easily, complain a lot without no real reason, this can be an issue in the work place because people tend to stay away from people like this, plus having a boss who delivers only bad news and being pessimistic all the time can bring people down and have less desire to work. positive language on the other hand. Someone who is optimistic will have no trouble making friends in the workplace people like having someone to make feel better on a bad day, plus having some one in-charge who dost ridicule there workers and respects them then the people working form them are going to work to a much higher standard.
Communicating in writing- There are numerous ways you can communicate with writhing letter, fax, text, emails but there are skills needed to do these such as spelling, grammar and a very useful one proof reading to make sure that what ever you are writhing makes sense.
emoticons- Not really necessary to use especially in the workplace put if want to be that guy the go ahead. :-)
letters- Being able to wright a letter is an essential skill outside of the workplace, still it is a required skill to use especially when applying for a job when writing a cover letter.
Fax- There is not much to faxing if you can wright a letter correctly it is safe to assume that you can use a fax machine, although still used widely it is becoming obsolete with the rapid growth of internet based alternatives.
Email- A skill every one in IT should have the skill to be able to send and email, this is one of the first thing you are taught when learning basic IT skills.
Spelling and grammar- A must learn skill for life in general, and even though who have the check system in MS word not all software has that so grammar and spelling is still an important skill.
Proofreading and note taking- A very useful skill in the workplace to be able to proof rad is a skill you will use before the interview stage it's a good idea to proofread your cover letter, and to proofread and email sent to workmates and clients. Note taking when someone is doing a presentation telling you something valuable it is good to take note.
Task 3 - P3 - barriers
background noise- This can be anything that is making a noise in the background if it is very faint then it may not be much of a problem, but if the noise is considerably loud then it make you miss out some instructions that you were given.
distractions- These can be any thing from flickering lights to the radio being on or may be the background noise
physical barriers- These are things that affect you they can be disability things like hearing problems or maybe autism or any other disability, maybe they have hearing problems, ADHD can be a problem too since people who suffer form it are easily distracted.
Location- The location of a place can really affect certain people this refers more commonly to small places where some people have a lot of trouble.
Lack of concentration- Some people are very easily distracted from there work, this can be a result of the people around them or if they have to work at home the other devices e.g. games consoles, phones, T.V etc.