1. Skip to content

Employer Quotes

The quotes below are from employers in this industry: Information Technology (IT)

They are talking about this topic: General Skills

 

Your Selection:


The quotes below are about this issue:
Consultation skills are essential for IT professionals since they must work directly with clients to assess and resolve technical issues in an efficient, professional manner. They must be able to clearly communicate technical ideas to stakeholders who may have less technological knowledge, and they must be able to effectively manage conflict.

Employer Quote Region
"If the schools could teach work ethics and ethics in general. Get them to focus on how the company works, so that everything isn't 'me, me, me.' What's important to the company and what's important to the customer? Those skills are very important." Northwest
"You also have to be part politician. There's a lot of neat software out there, and the perception is that you buy it, you install it, you turn it on, and away you go. And we all know it doesn't work that way. So, you have to have the finesse to be able to explain that to other people. Again, we're back to people skills. The stuff just doesn't plug-and-play. There's a lot of work to set it up, and you have to do some other things." Northwest
"The other employer said you have to be part politician. I agree. You're not going to go poke fun and ridicule the customer. You have to know when to say, 'I understand. It happens to everybody all the time. It's no big deal. We'll get it fixed.' Even if, inside, you're saying, 'Oh, man.'" Northwest
"I think communication is very important. What we sometimes see is that end user who really doesn't understand the background and what's going on. They just need it to work. Then, you've got someone that understands the background and knows what's going on behind the scenes, but communicating that in a way that they meet in the middle instead of misunderstanding. So, it's learning how to work with different end users. In our company, we have some end users who want to know the details: 'Tell me how to do this step-by-step.' But the person right next to them says, 'Don't want to know—just fix it and make it work.' So, it's having the skills to understand when you share information and when you just fix it." Northwest
"Question: So, they've got to prove themselves in the interview process?

Employer: Yeah. Especially as service providers because every experience any of our employees have with a customer is very critical to us. Because if that experience isn't positive, that's very bad for our business.

Question: So, the customer service side is really important to some of you guys?

Employer: In our company, it's a smaller company—but with the scale of the other employer's company as well—every person in the building has to interact and to have the ability to resolve conflict."		 Northwest
"It's back to the people skills. You have to be able to relate to those people who don't know anything about using the computer at all, or anything technology-related." Northwest
"I think it would be good to focus on the ability to provide support to people. Across all these positions, the entry-level staff, whether it's fixing the printer or whatever, having that skill to provide support—and to have a skill set that nobody else does without getting cocky about it—is really important. No matter what job you have in our group, you're helping other people. And I think that probably applies to everybody here. You got a job to help other people in a support role, and that's the key." Northwest
"Those soft skills are key to being able to work with other people. It's not just the technical part of it." Northwest
"Employer: Technical skills are key. But we've had people—I think one in particular—who scored a total zero on our technical test. Total failure, but she did so well on the customer service side that we hired her anyway, and she's still an outstanding employee to this day. So, it depends on the circumstances, but technical skills are going to bring you the top. Again, technical schools should be helping students practice being able to answer questions on the fly in the interview. They should be ready, just like in real life. Because when the customer calls, you can't make up an answer, you know?

Question: So, it's that combination of both having the technical ability and the people skills?

Employer: The skills to figure out how you're going to respond when you don't know the answer."		 Northwest