Why Certifications Alone Won’t Land You Your Next Job

Certifications show your familiarity with software and programming tools, but certifications are not the only qualifications you need to get information technology jobs. Employers are looking for more than just someone with technical knowledge – they want job candidates who can use that knowledge to produce results.

You'll need to show you have practical experience and the ability to translate your technical knowledge into useable and useful skills that will help an employer's bottom line. Some of the key ways to demonstrate both your certification and your practical experience include:

Providing specifics on your resume about past roles you've played

Employers care deeply about making sure you have technical knowledge and the certifications you have are a shortcut to showing you have hard technology skills. However, you also want to demonstrate that you have solid soft skills and that the knowledge you have acquired has been useful to companies you've worked for. When you prepare a resume, be detailed about the roles you have played within organizations and the work you have done. Explain that you balanced five projects at once, some of the short-term and long-term variety. Show that you worked on a project with five people that met every day and a project with 20 people that met monthly. Certifications allowed you to work on those projects and then your soft skills allowed you to be successful in those situations.

With those projects, talk about the results the teams produced. You might be hesitant to brag, but job materials are the one time that you want to show the value you provide.

Preparing for interview questions

This part of the job search process will take time and research. Most companies you interview with will ask similar questions (“What are your strengths?”) that you can have stock answers prepared. However, the real homework comes in looking at the job description for this particular position. Look at particular responsibilities for the opening, think about questions the hiring manager could ask and write down answers or examples for those questions. The time and effort you put into this part of the job search process might not pay off each time, but companies will notice and appreciate your effort. At some point, that effort will pay off!

Getting certified is an important step in demonstrating that you have the skills to work in the IT field. However, you also need to make connections, showcase your accomplishments and get yourself in front of employers who are willing to hire you.  You can do this by working with an IT staffing service with more than two decades of experience and with a vast network of employers looking for qualified IT candidates. Give Technology Partners a call today at 877-636-1331 or contact our great IT team to learn more about how we can help you to find exciting opportunities within your career field.