One of our candidates at work has a very diverse resume; we hired her because she is someone we can use on a variety of positions, doing different things, fulfilling a broad spectrum of project needs. She has consciously made choices to learn and grow to make herself as attractive as possible to potential employers and her efforts have paid off.
I know another tech professional who lives in the Seattle area and despises Microsoft technologies. He refuses to expand his skill set, on principle. Not surprisingly, he always finds himself looking for work. His skill set is so narrow that he only can find contracts for short amounts of time. It’s a shame he is letting himself be branded as a poor candidate because he refuses to learn the local business tools. Microsoft is the prevalent technology in this area. I mean, c’mon, the company employs over 20K people at any given time so the skill sets have more than partially influenced business decisions in Seattle.
Last night I was over at a friend’s house, who recently was laid off. (As an aside, her husband works at MSFT ;). We were talking about the company, and they sell software to a specific compliance industry. The company has started downsizing to streamline costs. Apparently they offer two very similar software packages aimed at smaller businesses, and the head of the department insists that they will continue to offer these to separate products. I looked at her and we both agreed that it’s just a matter of time before the products are combined or maybe even eliminated. He obviously is in denial that his group, maybe even his position, are in jeopardy.
It’s crucial in this economic climate to make sure you are as employable as possible. This means diversification of your skills, being honest with yourself about your capabilities and your situation if you are employed. This doesn’t mean turning around and going off to try a new industry/career you are unprepared for. It means leveraging and increasing the skills you *have*. The biggest complaint from hiring managers and HR professionals in response to older employees is their unwillingness to learn and grow. They get to a point in their career where they think it’s time to just coast through, or rest on their laurels, so to speak. One of our candidates at work has a very diverse resume; we hired her because she is someone we can use on a variety of positions, doing different things, fulfilling a broad spectrum of project needs. She has consciously made choices to learn and grow to make herself as attractive as possible to potential employers and her efforts have paid off.