Does a Long Layoff Make You Damaged Goods?

People who are laid off have reason to fear that with each passing day, the widening gap in their employment history makes them less attractive to potential new employers. No one likes to have a hole in his or her resume. If that hole starts to grow uncomfortably big, are you doomed?

Not really, says Fortune’s career advisor Anne Fisher,  who checked in with several recruiters to get their opinions. As it turns out, when unemployment rises, employers cut potential new hires a break.

“In this market, six months is nothing,” one recruiter tells Fisher. “This is unprecedented. In the dot-com implosion, for example, lots of managers got laid off — but many other industries were still strong, so there was someplace for those people to go.You have to take a long-term view and expect that it may take you a full year to land the job you want.”

Fisher has found some polls to bolster her perception. One says that executives can now be unemployed nine months before it even begins to hurt their marketability. Another says that 10.1 months is how long most senior managers have to job hunt these days. Recruiters tell her is also always a mistake to jump into the wrong job simply out of desperation. That will lead to short stays in jobs, and that will make your resume look even worse.

The special advice for IT employees, of course, is not to fall behind on trends and technologies. It’s especially important in this field to stay up to date in your field, so even if you’re sitting home all day, keep reading those trade journals, industry blogs, and white papers.

Survival Hint: Meet Your Deadlines

If you’ve spent a sleepless night or two worrying about your job and what – if anything – you can do to hang on to it, you’re not alone. What might give you the edge? A dedicated following on Twitter? Bringing doughnuts to staff meetings? Completing yet another professional development class?

None of the above. What employers want most isn’t tweet, chocolate-glazed or gold-framed. “Employers want to know that you can be trusted to do what you say you’ll do,” says Sandy Allgeier, a former HR executive and author of The Personal Credibility Factor. One of the most telling factors, she observes, is an employee’s ability to meet a deadline.

“Meeting a deadline isn’t optional. It’s essential,” says Brett McQuiston, an infrastructure architect for SPX Service Solutions, a division of Charlotte, N.C.-based SPX Corporation. He manages a team of six. “My department serves the customer. If we miss a deadline and the customer is dissatisfied, we risk losing their business.”

More than revenue can be at stake with a deadline, managers note. “Making deadlines is an important part of working in the financial environment,” says Dennis O’Brien, president of Coastal Financial Advisors in Farmingdale, N.J. “Clients have expectations, and it is the reputation of the firm that is at stake.”

And while the ability to meet a deadline may not be more important in a challenging economy, it certainly is more noticeable. “Lower performing employees don’t last,” says McQuiston. “When the economy dips and companies downsize, the first people to be cut are the ones who are perceived to be poor performers.”

Let Reality Be Your Guide

Oftentimes, employees fail to meet a deadline because they underestimated the breadth of a project. “The reality is that the very technology that makes our jobs easier is the same technology that is likely to interrupt us countless times in the process,” Allgeier points out. “Because we want to be seen as the go-to person, we often make commitments on the spot that aren’t realistic. A better solution is to let your supervisor know that you need to create a schedule for the project, and then get back to him or her within a couple of hours or the next morning.”

So, what, if anything, can be done if you do blow it? “You can drop the ball, but you’ve got to be in a position to pick it right back up again,” says Allgeier. “Take ownership. A simple, ‘I’m sorry. I overcommitted. I’ll have the project done by X,’ can go a long way.”

– Amy Rauch Neilson

Get More Value Out Of Certifications

Take test. Pass test. Move on. That’s how things usually work, but in the world of IT certifications, making the grade is just one step in an ongoing process that will occupy you throughout your career. NetworkWorld’s Linda Musthaler has some good advice for IT experts who want to make the most of their certifications, squeezing extra value from them beyond simply getting the credential. For example:

Use your certification as leverage with your employer. Your certification validates that you have specific knowledge and skills that might be hard to come by or costly to build, even in today’s job market. In particular, companies that resell products and services from vendors like Cisco and Microsoft are required to have certified professionals on staff in order to qualify for certain authorized partner programs. If you are the certified professional with the required credentials, your company needs you in order to maintain partner status. You can leverage this advantage when it comes time for a promotion, a raise, an increase in benefits – or even to keep your job during a reduction in force.

Musthlaer also has this clever suggestion:

Use your certification status to grab some glory. Vendors love to use quotes or testimonials from their members to market their programs to others. If your employer doesn’t object, you can offer to provide that testimonial. You might find yourself featured in news articles, on Web sites, in brochures or on Webinars. It’s an easy way to get someone else to toot your horn for a while.

Career Advice Via Google

Should you land an interview soon, here’s a question you might hear that’s not out of left field: “What’s the last book you read?” Take the time to make it The Google Way: How One Company Is Revolutionizing Management As We Know It, by Bernard Girard.

What can Google teach you about better managing your career? Start by learning from its success, as well as what makes its employees successful and happy. Namely:

1. Show you’re the best: In Google’s case, this is most often demonstrated by having an advanced degree before you’re hired. Here’s why: Developers or engineers who stick it out to gain a Master’s or Ph.D. – especially when times are good and the job offers have no doubt been rolling in – demonstrate that: a) they’re not in it for the money, b) they’re extremely motivated, c) they value the quality of their work, and d) they have the psychological wherewithal required to work solo and deliver results. (Furthermore, Google at least is happy to hire overqualified people. It may promote them several times their first year.)
2. Learn from your interviews: Google often asks questions that are actual business issues, so as a job candidate, you’d do well to listen carefully (or ask this question yourself). One famous example: Google’s director of research asked Amin Saberi, a job candidate, how he’d improve search results. After returning to Georgia Tech and discussing it with his thesis advisor, Saberi hit upon factoring an advertiser’s daily budget into search rankings. “Saberi and his colleagues wrote the algorithm and filed a patent,” notes Girard. And then made a presentation at Google. (By the way, Saberi is now at Stanford.)
3. Empower users: As a developer, know how you can involve more users or customers. Google helps cultivate its growth through online communities,  by giving away APIs that work with its services. As Girard notes, “Developers can use these APIs to extend Google gadgets, like Google Maps, building mashups that combine data from different sources to create new applications that solve real problems, and bring traffic to Google.”
4. Don’t scare users: Girard lauds Google’s approach to its products: if you like one but hate another, you don’t have to use it. (Contrast this with Microsoft Office.) Furthermore, Google takes a “Swiss Army knife approach” to its products: It doesn’t show them to you all at once (here, contrast the Yahoo! and Google search engine splash pages). Instead, it hides complexity and focuses on small, discrete modules. (Girard also notes: “The reduced complexity of Google’s applications also reduces maintenance costs, which typically average 40 percent of an application’s cost application during its lifecycle.”)
5. Find time to experiment: Google has famously adapted a technique used in 3M’s research centers: the 15-percent rule, which refers to the amount of work time an employee has to pursue their own work (and which led to Scotch Masking Tape and Post-It Notes).

Need a way to sell the above to your manager? Try this:

• Cite the numerous innovations produced by just the 20-percent rule, such as Google News, Orkut and Google toolbar
• Mention how having time to work on experimental but job-related projects makes you more happy with (and yes, beholden to) your employer
• Stress the high-technology requirement for unconventional thinking, and how companies that stifle such innovation do themselves a disservice. For example, Girard notes the response that Hewlett-Packard management gave to Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Computer, when he proposed developing a personal computer: “Don’t waste your time.”

Finally, of course, take the above with the grain of salt: Just because Google is the scaled-up success story of the “double-naughts” doesn’t mean it will be for the 2010s. “Let’s not forget that Google is not invincible,” says Girard.

The Right Tools for the Right Job

Handling Confrontations Diplomatically

Calvin Sun writes:

In even the best companies, the time might come when you have the thought made famous by Peter Finch’s character in the movie Network:  “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.” You’re upset about a policy announced by, or an incident involving, someone. Maybe that person is a co-worker, a customer, maybe even your boss. Regardless, the way you handle your concern can impact on your job. Here are some tips to keep in mind:

• Pick a time: Don’t just bring up your concern in casual conversation, or even during a meeting about some other issue. Say to the person, “I have something I need to discuss. When can we do it?” That way, the other person has notice, and will be more receptive.
• Address the issue, not the person: When you talk, focus on the issue or behavior, not the person. Doing so will make the other person less defensive. In addition, you will create a “common enemy” and thus make the other person feel as though you and him/her are on the same side.
• Be specific (examples and impact): Give specific examples (dates, times, places) of your concern. Also, describe (in quantifiable terms if you can) how the issue affects you and your performance.
• Offer positive suggestions: Offer constructive suggestions on how the concern can be addressed. That way, you’re less likely to be seen as a troublemaker or malcontent, and that you do add value to the organization.

Calvin Sun consults with organizations in the area of communication, customer service and career matters.

IT Learns To Do Less With Less

Today’s corporate heroes are the people who can go to their bosses and say, “Look how I just saved you 15 percent.” Do you have what it takes to “do less with less,” as Infoworld’s Dan Tynan puts it in a must-read article outlining strategies for smart scrimping in the IT department? Tynan’s laundry list of 16 suggestions covers every aspect of IT from the most philosophical to the most technical.

Scale back on over-allocated services, curtail unnecessary capital expenditures, and clean house of legacy apps and orphaned software. This may be your opportunity to show the organization how it can save money using open source software, virtualization, cloud computing, or SaaS. One bit of radical thinking is to forget about the long term for now and focus on the short term.

For years, IT managers have been taught to think strategically and plan for the long term. But for many organizations, the future is now, says Joe Wolke, director of IT strategy at Forsythe Solutions Group. “A project with a significant return that won’t be realized for three to five years does not make sense if a CIO is charged with reducing costs this year,” he says. If you’re working on a complex project that spans multiple years, break it into pieces, find the parts with the biggest immediate payoffs, and implement those first, says Wolke. The world changes too quickly to bet on a long-term return that may never be realized. “You’ve got to be realistic,” he says. “There’s a danger that you could be suboptimizing for the long term, but if you’re concerned that your company might not be here for the long term, it makes sense to make that choice.”

That’s just one intriguing idea. Implement five or six of Tynan’s suggestions, and you may be well on the way to pleasing the boss.

Advance Your Career through Meetings

Most employees hate meetings. In fact, the idea of shunning them has been gaining traction. In their book, Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It, authors Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson advocate a results-only work environment (made famous by Best Buy) and they spell-out why pointless meetings need to go.

That attitude is all wrong, says Steven Cerri, coach, trainer and president and CEO of STCerri.com. He says IT professionals should embrace meetings, because they provide an opportunity for career advancement if you practice the right behaviors.

• Come with ideas: Always come to meetings with ideas, says Cerri, because there you have a stage to showcase your problem-solving skills, intellect, talents and creativity.
• Be a facilitator: Demonstrate your leadership skills by not fighting for your ideas, but by listening and being open to the ideas of others. “Foster discussions at meetings and make sure all ideas get put on the table by asking questions,” says Cerri. “Don’t just watch what’s going on, jump in, participate and ask questions.”
• Influence without authority: IT professionals, who have the ability to influence others and can get things done without having authority over their co-workers, often get promoted. Volunteer for positions of responsibility, engage others and organize meetings to show that you can lead, without a title.

Demonstrating Value When Managers Miss It

How valuable is the work you do? What your boss thinks may have more to do with gut feel than actual numbers. A survey of software application developers found more than a third believe say management never (11 percent) or almost never (26 percent) calculates the return on investment of the applications they work on. And while 93 percent think the value of their work is clear, 44 percent don’t believe their CIO or managers ask the right questions in trying to determine a project’s return on investment.

The survey was conducted for PreEmptive Solutions. Its CEO, Gabriel Torok, says the results show developers and managers are likely to be “misaligned on business objectives when there’s no systematic approach to measuring application value.” (No surprise that creating such systemic approaches is the business is a part of PreEmptive Solutions’ business.)

This is an interesting tidbit at a time when money’s tight and companies are focusing on projects whose contributions to the bottom line are certain. It highlights the importance of communicating the value of the work you’re doing, whether you’re a developer, a QA specialist, architect, or whatever. You simply have to look for ways to let people know the kind of contribution you’re making. My suggestions:

• Stay in touch with your boss: Be sure to let him (or her) know what you’re up to, the progress you’re making, and the results you’re achieving
• Be responsive: When someone reaches out to you – for help or with a suggestion – get back to them quickly, first with thanks, and then with a report on how you’re following up. Going forward, keep them in the loop
• Be aware: Once you’re done with a project, don’t let it disappear further up the pipeline. Stay abreast of developments and look for opportunities to help people who may be involved downstream.

By yourself, you can’t force your company to become more scientific in its approach to measuring a project’s impact – or the impact of your work specifically. But you can show how you’ve contributed to helping managers meet their business goals.

Career Hint: It’s Not About You

To make it about you, you first have to realize that it’s not about you.  It’s about them.  Yes, I know, it sounds like some weird Zen koan, but stay with me on this.

Kathy Sierra once wrote a wonderful piece on her now-defunct Creating Passionate Users blog that has stayed with me for years.  In short, it boils down to this:  It’s all about the user, so cut through all of the politics and business talk, and help the user kick ass.

… phrase everything in terms of the user’s personal experience rather than the product. Keep asking, no matter what, “So, how does this help the user kick ass?” and “How does this help the user do what he really wants to do?”

Sierra’s post was speaking to the software development world, but the principles can be applied to just about any position in technology.

Think about it: Systems Administrators need to think about users in just about every facet of their job.  Network performance.  System uptime.  Backup and recovery plans.  PC performance and maintenance.  These things should all focus on how to make the user’s experience of a high quality when interacting with the Sys Admin’s network of systems and software.

Help Desk Managers juggle a couple of constituencies:  Their end users, and their support staff.  They need to make sure that, start to finish, the experience of a support incident is as responsive and quick to resolution as is possible for the affected end user.  The manager also needs to ensure the systems and processes that her staff use is a help and not a hindrance.

Those are just two simple examples, but the principle applies across the board.  If you strive to help your users be insanely effective, you’ll be valued and your circle of influence will increase.  Even without authority, you’ll be leading.  Better positions and better salaries will follow.   Then, you can pat yourself on the back – but never forget who got you there and who it’s really about.