Although economists all believe that the economy is currently in a strong recovery phase, there are obviously no immediate recovery for countless jobs, and the IT department still uses downsizing as a common means to cut operating budgets. According to recent surveys, more than 60% of IT managers hope to cut jobs in the next year.
Now, even the heads of the IT department are worrying about their position, says adamlawrence, vice president of talent and outsourcing service provider Yoh.
Here, IT practitioners and industry experts have summed up their experience with ten points, in order to help it practitioners save their glamorous work and avoid being laid off during the gradual economic recovery process.
The eight types of people that are most likely to be laid off:
1. department assistant 2. Administrative Staff
3. Front-end/Clerk 4. Finance
5. Sales staff 6. Secretary
7. Enterprise Network Management
8. Low-tech workers
Show effort
Experts believe that IT staff engaged in Unfixed jobs need special efforts to spend more time on work every day and show the boss the determination to stay in this position. With the decrease in IT budget, IT managers will be asked to perform some employee reviews to cut some people and rely on outsourcing. No one wants to be evaluated.
Keep in mind that the layoff will happen to you. ceobethcarvin from nobscot, a HR software vendor, said that planning and hard work will allow the company to consider leaving you. For example, if the company is planning to expand the wireless network market, you should learn related technologies and show your capabilities.
As soon as I got into the company, I found that we lacked a Server Load balancer expert. Here, coltmercer, a network engineer at Citigroup, said in his blog, I spent the first week learning related knowledge completely, and the company had a problem in this regard, so I had the opportunity to show my ability.
Keep an eye on money
IT workers should know which systems and projects are the most profitable and should keep up with the project requirements.
IT practitioners should also engage in projects that can generate profits or target customers, said seanebner, Regional Manager of technisource in charge of IT recruitment. Close to customers, this will allow the efforts of technicians to show more value. Some experts advise it workers to be closer to the sales team so that they can use their technical knowledge to help sales staff better respond to potential customers.
Technical staff can improve their value in the company by participating in product delivery and sales activities, because the company needs all employees to serve the business. Said Michael kirven, head and co-founder of IT resource company bluewolf.
Continuous learning
Experts suggest that, despite the potential shortage of resources, IT practitioners should also seek low-cost training or other self-learning opportunities to expand their technical knowledge capabilities so as to better create value for the company, ultimately, it creates value for itself.
Technical workers need to well plan their careers, constantly improve their capabilities, and benefit both the company and themselves. Said Lawrence of Yoh. Whether it is public or self-paid training, the boss will see that you not only want to stay in this position, but also want to continue to develop your own business in the company.
The key to saving your job is to show your ROI. You will spend a certain amount of money on the company, but if you can prove that you are creating value, you are not giving money to the company, and your knowledge can help the company save costs or create profits, then your location will be very stable. Said ceorichmilgram of beyond.com.
Become a business technical expert
People know that if it workers want to keep their jobs or promotions, they need to become business experts.
IT workers do need to understand business knowledge, rather than simply how to handle problems, said chrissilva, a senior analyst at forresterresearch. High-tech workers trained in business knowledge, if you do not use technical terms to communicate with business personnel, they will certainly gain more opportunities than those who do not translate technical issues into business problems.
Having a wide range of technical and business knowledge, it will inevitably add many advantages to the maintenance work.
We recruited about 100 technical positions last year, but we are still hiring business analysts, said perryrotella, president of SIM and CIO and senior vice president of moody, let them understand our business. This is our long-term strategy.
Cost saving for the company
Downsizing is usually a way to save costs, but if you can prove to your boss that you can seek cheap technologies to save costs for the company, there is no doubt that you don't have to worry about your work.
Think like the owner of a company. Don't waste resources or purchase things that don't matter, says nobscot's Carvin, who says the company will keep the efficient employee at no cost.
More importantly, it workers should be able to find ways to improve the status quo. Here, the company introduced automatic task management, which saves time and costs while avoiding human errors. He explained: We have a lot of complicated tasks, and I know that using some scripting languages, we can achieve a streamlined workflow, that is, implementing the so-called Automated strategy.
Stay away from office farce
Most companies will have some office farce, but it is better to stay away from these things when the economic situation is grim.
What you need to show is that you are a dedicated person, said lorigale, president of fastlanehires, an online recruitment website. Don't be one of the people who are sighing at the water dispenser. To be optimistic, laurenmilligan, a career consultant at resumayday.com, adds that everyone has problems, including your boss. But do not be the source of the problem. In addition, it is best not to give negative comments to colleagues.
Promote yourself
Although many IT workers are not good at being the center of public attention, experts suggest that high-tech workers learn how to sell their own technologies to the company.
Seize the opportunity. This is not a humble moment. In today's business environment, everyone needs to do their best to express themselves and hope that their advantages will be noticed by the company's leaders. Dr. eprizy, an IT training company communication expert at instanttechnology, said. To be able to effectively prove their contributions to the company, IT practitioners need to learn to demonstrate their contributions to the company.
Share professional knowledge
Professional experts suggest you learn to share your knowledge.
IT workers need to get out of the Knowledge blocking status. They should let others know what they have and take the initiative to share the knowledge and information with others, Carvin said, this will make them more valuable to the boss. Knowledge can become a force, and sharing information is also important to the company's technological success.
I am keen on helping others. I spent a lot of time training others. People like to ask for help with problems. The Mercer of Citigroup said that managers noticed that people needed me and they would not want me to leave.
No expert
Some IT workers may not be so busy during the economic period. In this case, they should take the initiative to help people in other departments.
If the company has five people managing the network, but one of them still knows how to maintain the server, the manager first considers to cut off four other experts. bryansul.pdf, head of technical training at newhorizons, said, without extensive knowledge, IT workers will eventually lose their chances.
Participation in other things outside of your routine is not only beneficial to the company, but also helps you increase your skills. Be brave enough to accept new challenges, even if it is outside of your routine, it will be very helpful to you. I have participated in an PBX Upgrade Plan and learned a lot from it. Said dwaynewhitmore, senior system engineer at Technical Service Department of carolinashealthcaresystem.
It may be more helpful for other things. IT workers should establish extensive relationships in the company. The more people they know, the more they can understand the first-hand work of each department. The more likely they will become cross-domain experts to avoid layoffs. Said johnreed, regional leader at Robert thalftechnology.
Maintain a good attitude
Never underestimate the energy of optimism. Even if you are faced with a lot of difficulties, you must maintain an optimistic attitude. This will let the manager see that you are happy in this position. A person is still smiling when facing new challenges, which will alleviate the worries of managers, beyond.com's Milgram said, as some people are cut, the company's working atmosphere will become very tight. The more at this time, the more important it is to maintain an optimistic attitude and smile.