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Employer Quotes
The quotes below are from employers in this industry: Information Technology (IT)
They are talking about this topic: General Skills
The quotes below are about this issue:
Employers in the IT field look for well-rounded new hires. The ideal candidate has strong communication skills, business sense, leadership abilities, consultation skills and broad technical knowledge. Small businesses tend to look for generalists since their positions are less specialized and require a variety of tasks.
| "It's pretty varied. I think IT typically focuses on software testing and software development. But there is some IT administration and things like that. It seems like a lot of the students we're seeing now are realizing that IT is a lot broader than just programming. At a younger age, they're realizing that. It's not just sitting down at a computer." | Southwest |
| "We're looking for people with degrees who can manage budgets, communicate, work with teams, and do project management. Just a different perspective. I mean, we want individuals who are not only technically savvy, but also business-minded." | Southwest |
| "When we design a network, we also typically have to produce a budget for our customer that says, 'It's going to cost you X.' They have to develop a business plan to ensure that, if a client invests so many millions of dollars, that it's going to pay for itself in a given period of time. Or maybe it's an investment that needs to be deferred until later. So, it's not just the technical. The design, budget, the business planning—all those types of things—go into it." | Southwest |
| "The engineers will bleed into the management and administration side. There aren't hard, clear, defined lines. In what we do, you have to have broad knowledge and experience. So, you cross-train into other areas and fields, particularly the higher-skilled people." | Southwest |
| "A lot of the students that are going to companies—and the students we have—a lot of their roles blend." | Southwest |
| "We have a wide range of technologies that we deal with. We have employees that range from technicians that are preparing the equipment all the way to highly-skilled electrical engineers that are designing our networks. In some cases, they're designing our network that we use to provide the services. In some cases, they're designing a customer network. So, not only do our employees need to be able to work on the equipment, but they have to have consultative skills as well. They have to be able to have that customer interaction and be able to work with the customers. They also need budgeting skills because they're going to be managing a project from start to finish. They need to manage it so that we're not going over the cost associated with it." | Southwest |
| "We deal with lawyers' offices, nursing homes, and they all have their own software. And our people have to be able to go in and install and maintain it. And when there are issues, they have to take care of them. The different software packages have different features to them. So, it takes going to those sites, meeting those customers, knowing each of them, and fulfilling their needs. That is all learning while on the job." | Southwest |
| "A lot of what we do is software development and software testing. So, we're looking for someone with that passion and that drive for IT, good communication skills, and some good business knowledge." | Southwest |