Interview skills: Four more tips for success (part 2)

This is the second in a series on the final phase of job hunting, the on-site personal interview.   Here are four additional tips for success:

1. Bring copies of your resume

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Interview skills: Three tips for success when it matters the most (part 1)

You have a killer resume and great references.  You're at the head of the pack and have just received a call for an interview.  Just ace the interview and the job is yours.  Unfortunately, acing the interview is not easy, and sometimes the opposite (bombing the interview) is just as likely to happen.

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Updating your resume for a tough economy

The last time I was laid off (about 5 years ago); I was not prepared for it and did not have an up-to-date resume.  I ended up spending about a month updating my resume and creating customized resumes for the different types of positions I was seeking as well as saving it into different document formats such as MS Word, Adobe PDF, HTML, and ascii text.  That month ended up costing me almost $7,000 since all of my normal expenses continued and I also had to pay for my own health insurance.  But my only income at the time was a meager $300 per week unemployment check.

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The most wanted soft skills, and why you need them to succeed

Last time we looked at the most wanted tech skills for MCP's.  Tech skills are important, but is that all that is important?  Absolutely not.   The same 1400 CIO's in the Robert Half Survey also emphasized the importance of well-rounded candidates:

Soft Skills such as communication and leadership abilities are viewed as key competencies . . .

The most wanted tech skills for MCP’s

A few weeks ago we looked at the annual MCP salary survey from Redmond Magazine.  Today we are reviewing another good one that comes out annually, the Robert Half Salary Guide.  Robert Half is a Fortune 500 company with annual revenues of over $4B and they are a global leader in professional staffing and consulting services.

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Virtualize your career

The trade rags are full of information regarding virtualization.  Many different vendors offer virtualization solutions, including Microsoft, IBM, EMC (VMware), Citrix, Novell, Oracle, Red Hat, and Sun.  It's common knowledge that if you need to deploy 10 or more servers, then you have a lower cost per server by using a virtualization solution, compared to using physical servers.

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How unix affects your MCP career

As a Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP), you need to take note of a couple of recent news items in the unix world and examine how that might affect your career.

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Job hunting with a newly minted certification

Last time, we discussed job hunting without a certification.   Now let's take a different angle.  Let's say for the sake of discussion that you don't have much experience, but you just completed either your MCITP: Enterprise Administrator certification or your MCPD: Enterprise Application Developer certification.  How do you market yourself despite not having a lot of real world experience?

1. Stay humble

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Job hunting with an unfinished certification

In an ideal world, you finish your certification and then find a job (or change jobs) in order to advance your career.   But since a "major" certification requiring 5+ exams (like an MCSE or MCSD) might take over a year to complete, sometimes you find yourself looking for a job with an unfinished certification.  Today I want to share some tips to help you if you find yourself in this situation.

1. Continue to work on your cert

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Does certification hurt your salary?

I mentioned a couple weeks ago that according to RedmondMag's annual salary survey, uncertified individuals have an average salary of $84,839 while their Microsoft certified counterparts have an average salary of $77,244.  This unexpected statistic generated several comments and questions, so today I want to drill down a little deeper on this topic.

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Three approaches to diversify your career

Last time, we showed that in most corporate environments, there will typically be a mix of Microsoft and non-Microsoft technology in place.  In this blog, we want to discuss three approaches to diversification, and how that can help your career.

1.  The Broader Approach

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Why you should diversify your career

In the last few blogs, we have been discussing various facets of Microsoft certification and how it relates to your career (hot skills, interviewing, and salary implications).  This has been somewhat of a Microsoft centric view on things, and today I want to step back and look at the big picture and discuss career diversification. 

To start out with, you need to understand  three key things.   The first is that even though Microsoft tries to provide complete software solutions, that doesn't necessarily mean that their software can effectively meet every business need. 

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Showing your stuff in an interview (part 2)

Continuing our discussion from last time, this is the second of a two-part series regarding certification related questions that sometimes come up during a job interview, and how to effectively answer them. 

1.   Why aren't you certified at the latest level?

This one might come out as, "I see you're certified on Visual Studio 2005 . . .  do you have any plans to upgrade your cert to Visual Studio 2008?"   If you're not certified on the latest level, this is what the recruiter wants to hear: 

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Showing your stuff in an interview (part 1)

When you are interviewing for a position, the topic of certification usually comes up.  This is the first of a two-part blog regarding some common interview questions and how to handle them.

1. What certification do you have?

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How much is your certification worth?

Last time we discussed marketplace salary trends for Microsoft Certified Professionals (MCP's).  One question we didn't discuss last time was the value of certification to your career.   How does certification affect your employability, salary, and advancement opportunities?

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How much are you worth?

Every year in September, Redmond Magazine publishes an annual salary survey for Microsoft Certified Professionals (MCP's).   RedmondMag bills itself as, "the authoritative, independent voice of the Microsoft IT community."  RedmondMag is Microsoft friendly, but they have no ties, financial or otherwise, to Microsoft.  You can download this year's salary survey using this link.  I recently reviewed this year's salary survey and wanted to give you

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Three ways to advance your career in a tough job market

We all know that the economy is struggling right now.  But how does that affect your job hunting and career advancement?   Last time we discussed that Microsoft itself is strong and their technology is a value leader in the marketplace.   But that in itself is not enough to help you land a job or skyrocket your career.   Here are three things you can do:

1.  Be Patient.  Whichever side of the job market you are at (employed or unemployed), you need to be patient.   

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How does the economic crisis affect your career?

We all know about the economic crisis.  You're a Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP), or maybe even you have advanced Microsoft certifications such as MCSE, MCAD, MCT, or MCA.   How does the economy affect your career?

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New Blog on Microsoft Careers -- Finding your Niche, Finding the Right Job, and Advancing your Career

I'm a new blogger on the Microsoft Subnet and just wanted to put in my first post and let you know that I'm excited for the opportunity to blog here and I'm sure interact with a lot of cool people with a lot of great ideas. Like almost everything else in life, a blog is what you make it and the return is proportional to the level of effort.

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