Successful IT graduates major in tenacity

By VIKKI BLAND

Employment opportunities abound for IT professionals and graduates who can mix marketing, people and management skills with technical qualifications.

That's the word from two high-profile IT employers, Unisys New Zealand and Microsoft New Zealand.

And it's also the opinion of IT employers including the University of Auckland, Beca Carter Hollings, the TAB, Toyota Financial Services and Tony Hooper, director of the Master of Information Management programme at Victoria University's School of Information Management.

Earlier this year, those five told MIS Magazine they thought perfect IT graduates were people who could think for themselves, work in a team, and understand a business problem from a business perspective.

Victoria University's Hooper said his Information Management School was seeing people with programming, systems analysis, IT administration, telecommunications or engineering backgrounds.

"They are asking themselves where they are going [with IT] in the future."

Lisa Morgan, HR adviser for Unisys, says there are still plenty of jobs for IT graduates and professionals who are at the top of the bunch - meaning people who have a computer science degree with a second major, and who can show they can work in a team, have problem-solving skills and tenacity.

"Tenacity is a biggie for Unisys. We ask IT applicants to give us an example of a situation where they have been tenacious, solved a problem, and worked as part of a team.

"If they have these attributes and the right qualifications, it's not only IT providers that will want them, it's banks, analysts and business consultants."

However, IT job seekers who are not in the top bunch may find things a little harder, says Tony Ward, marketing director for Microsoft New Zealand.

"Five years ago, IT budgets were growing at a rate of 15 per cent. But thanks to the economy and things like Y2K and Sars, IT budgets are flat, sometimes down," he says.

Both Morgan and Ward agree a successful IT management career in 2003 hinges on being able to integrate disparate information management systems, and on having top-notch people and business skills. And they say developers might want to hone up their Microsoft and Java development skills.

"In the last three years we have been taking on people for technical roles and have seen a lot more outsourcing by clients. IT professionals have to be far more client facing," says Morgan.

Ward says India is producing more IT graduates than Australia, New Zealand and the United States combined.

"There's no point thinking we can train people en masse and expect them all to find a job in the IT services industry. New Zealand needs IT professionals who can develop IT solutions and outcomes people want.

"As an industry, we have to get better at working out what those outcomes are, because budgets are down and the IT professional must understand the real cost of a solution."

Ward says many Microsoft IT partners are looking for employees and that on the whole, New Zealand tertiary institutions are doing a good job of meeting their requirements.

"When I look at courses I'm pretty impressed. Good combinations are information systems and marketing double degrees; or computer science with commerce or engineering."

Morgan says people ring her often and inquire which IT course to pursue for future employment.

"I tell them what's hot right now, say Java, dot net technologies, the C sharp programming language. But this industry can change so much from the beginning of a degree to the end."

Ward says IT job seekers need to work out how to differentiate themselves from others.

"Do they know how to make contacts, do they already have contacts? Have they attended an IT workshop or conference? Have they experience on an IT project?"

Because that is what could make all the difference when job hunting.