Unit 7 P4

P1 Describe the characteristics valued by employers in the IT industry
Industry specific characteristic:
Technical knowledge
General IT knowledge is essential in an IT job role, but employers need to take on people who have certain skills in other technical areas of the job. The first time you start a career in IT, you are thought to know all the basic IT knowledge and also be able to pick up information quickly.
Learning IT in education such as schools and colleges is very important. People need to know the importance of IT issues plus changes that affect businesses. Even today security is a big issue to us and still likely to continue this way, but progresses are happening all the time. Employers will assume that you would know about these
important areas. But they won’t always expect you to know everything, but it is important that you have some knowledge about the main issues. If you are interested in a certain area, you will need to do as much research as you can! Also you will need to develop your skills and knowledge in that certain area.
Working procedures
It’s very good to have some knowledge of typical practices in the IT industry.
This is because of the legislation that is included in IT at the moment. Things like data protection and copyright laws are a part of this. Employers have to make sure they are not breaking any laws, this means they will need their employees to always be aware of what they are doing and the responsibilities they have in these areas.
Health and safety knowledge
Employers will expect you to have some knowledge in the health and safety area. This is essential as the employers will expect you to be aware of the risks and the responsibilities you have. For example you might get eye strain from looking at the computer screen for a long time. How to stop this from happening is to adjust the monitor at eye level and put it somewhere so there is no reflections coming of the monitor.

General
Skills
Interpersonal Skills
In your job, it is most likely that you will be communicating and working with other people. So this will mean that you will need to have good communication skills. This is what most employers look for. Both IT professionals and IT users may be limited to their knowledge of technical areas in IT.
Numeric Skills
What kind of job role you have will depend on the level of numeric skills you need. These days, nearly every job role requires basic numeracy skills. You will need to be able to carry out day to day mathematical calculations like working out percentages and basic sums. Other areas of IT like programming will require a higher form of mathematical ability.
Creativity
The type of job you do will depend on how creative you are.
For example the employees that work in web design and desktop publishing will be known to be creative in that area as they can come up with lots of unique ideas to make the web design or desktop look really good. But there is lots of other ways in being creative. For example you can just be creative by coming up with ideas for new products or even improving old products or services.
Organisation skills
It is very helpful if you are an organised person. This is because you will need to be able to do work tasks efficiently. For example the job that you have been set to do will mean that you need to have the right equipment and information for the job. This could be going from having something to write with and remembering client’s names or businesses that you might have to visit. Also to look professional it’s very good to be organised. Most employers don’t like it if you come in and say ‘I forgot it’ or ‘I left it at home’ as its very un-organised and makes you look unprofessional.

Attitudes preferred
Determined
Your job can sometimes become very hard and might stress you out a lot but there is always a way to overcome this problem and that is to be determined. A lot of employees who tend to give up easily on work will never impress their employers because it shows them being very un-professional. But the other employees who have determination to get things done and who want to succeed will look much more professional and will impress their employers.
Independent
The first job you have in IT probably will be with other people instead of you being by yourself. But this doesn’t mean you can’t be independent. Your employer will be expected for you to develop your own ability to work by yourself and to use your own initiative than waiting for other people to give you instructions on what to do.
Integrity
Your employer will want someone who they can trust. So being honest to everyone and not going making up things is important. Your employer will also expect you to work as you normally would if not better for when your supervisor isn’t there. Also there could be expensive equipment which means you have to make sure you look after it.
Leadership
Throughout your job role and the time you have worked in the business, your employer will always look out for any leadership skills you have in you. For example if you have good leadership skills then you can work well with others and help to inspire and encourage them to get on with work and push through it, or even help them! Good leaders are good when it comes down to organising and planning things and are not afraid to take control of it all.