Discussion on:

Not all IT managers manage technology

Nine years ago I managed a small team of desk top support folks. It was fun, challenging and I was good at it. One day, yhe VP said to me, "go build a help desk". It took me a few months to build a team, find software, buy hardware and fire up the help desk. However, it took years to get the thing running as well as my local support team because Help Desks are special organizations. We are a delicate mix of pure technical and strong customer service. The people calling in can be buzz word spouting software engineers, frustrated (and non-technical) VP's administrative assistants, warehousemen who are first time users of complex order-entry system and anyone in between. You can't sit at their desk and fix the problem like you can as a desk top support analyst. And that's how I learned real fast that the people who do desk top support are not always the best help desk people and that desk top managers are not immediately able to run an effective and efficient help desk. But your suggestion about HDI (and there is STI Knowledge as well) is a very good one. I took the HDI class on "how to build a help desk" shortly after getting the assignment and it has made all the difference in the world. A good manager can make the transition, but without education and time, the switch of careers will not be as simple as changing the title on your resume. Good Luck !

I would suggest that you create a really good FUNCTIONAL resume highlighting your management expertise. HR depts would then take less interes in your former job title(s) and more emphasis on what skills your bring to the table.

Having been on both sides of the HR thin-red-line, I think the hiring process is fatally flawed in most organizations. Early in my career, it was my opinion that if I could make it past HR, I could get the job. Proven true every time, now HR uses resume filtering software, resulting in such a mish-mash of nonsense that a functional resume is nearly useless - unless you can get it in front of the hiring manager who knows what they are looking for.

As a hiring manager, my #1 problem was fighting my own HR department. Most in HR had no clue as to what to look for on a resume, and now we've turned it over to computers? I cannot think of more difficult heuristic programming task than parsing English into meaningful data (keying on buzzwords doesn't get it). The fact of the matter is that if a manager needs to add staff then he (or she) is dealing with probably the #1 issue in his job description - one needs to make sure to spend the necessary time and not depend on HR.

HR can be a challange to get past. With so many IT professionals out of work, each posting gets them hundreds of resumes.

Going after a broader role with a smaller firm is a valid approach, but you need to talk to the decision makers. Do this by joining the associations they belong to, attending the functions they attend, writing articles in the publications they read.

like "Project Manager"

--the voice of experience

I have read the post re HR doing all the hiring. Surely as a manager you could put a case to your manager/HR to allow you to be a part of the interview process. Unless you're hiring staff everyday the effort of putting yourself in front of a candidate is well worth it. Tell you're manager you could be the reason why a potential candidate wants to work for the organisation so it is imperative he/she gets a face to face with you.

Amusing. I understood "desktop services" to be desktop publishing rather than the help desk. Regardless of which is right, this is a perfect illustration of your point. One or the other of us would have ignored a perfectly suitable candidate, all because of semantics. I have often found it both possible and useful to doggedly track down someone in the organization who is willing to have a short phone conversation or an e-mail exchange to clarify terminology. It's usually HR but that's OK. They are all "people people" who love to talk. They might even give you information they're not supposed to in their euphoria over being treated with respect, something they don't always get from in-house staff. If it's someone in IT, so much the better. They really know what they want. They tend to be iconoclastic and may conspire with you to work around the HR hurdle so they can just get the dang position filled. Either way you'll pick up some keywords to scatter liberally throughout your resume, and making your name more familiar to them can't hurt.

Slightly sideways to the topic... As an IT manager, I rarely relied on HR for the reasons stated. I dealt directly with a technical recruiter. One word of warning. The first few hires are good because there is less direct coaching from the recruiter. After he has had time to pick apart interviews you have conducted with several candidates, the recruiter coaches the new candidates to answer your questions exactly how you want them to. You can end up fooled into hiring the wrong people. Lesson: have several recruiters working for you, redesign your interviews regularly and if you are hiring for a very specific skill, test for it.

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