According to the Australian Bureau of statistics 80% of the 150,000 working in the IT Industry are classified as “young males”. On further review it turns out that most of them (and nearly all the ones that work on service desk)  are under 32, which makes them what the researchers call “Generation Y”.

Gen Y’ers are those born after 1980. They currently make up about 28% of the population and are more educated that any generation before them (most of Gen Y’ers working have an under graduate degree, many have a Masters Degree). They are technologically savvy to the point where the technology is completely integrated into their social and business interactions. They are adaptable, innovative, efficient and resilient. But there is a dark side…

Nathan O’Donnell talks to Ambition about staff retention and why the focus should be on Gen Y.

Why is staff retention so important?

Why should we be focusing on Gen Y staff retention?

Nathan  O’Donnell has worked in management positions in the IT industry for the last 10 years. During this time Nathan has managed a number of large frontline teams and specialises in people management, specifically around engagement and retention. Nathan currently leads a team of thirty staff working at Leighton Contractors, one of Australia and New Zealand’s leading contractors, service providers and project developers.

The first quarter of 2011 closed for many Australian Technology businesses with a solid, if not superb start to the year. The economy continues to build with positive momentum evidenced by a number of positive economic drivers.
On the flip side the first quarter of 2011 has seen a number of challenging events occur both locally and on a global scale. Despite the global markets starting to recover, the recent natural disaster in Japan will have a noticeable effect on Japanese production in the short term and this may have minor effects on other Asian markets. Closer to home both the New Zealand earthquakes and the Queensland floods have had dramatic effects on many individuals, and as always with natural disasters the flow on of increased costs associated with the clean-up and recovery will continue for some time.

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Paul Lyons reports that many mature aged job seekers are facing a new hurdle in their job search –being interviewed for the job by people younger and less experienced than themselves. He gives five easy pieces of advice on how to tackle this successfully.

You know what it’s like – you’re sitting across the interview table from someone young enough to be your son or daughter (hopefully not grandson or daughter) who has to evaluate your fit for a vacant position. Here are five recommendations;

1. Don’t let your pride or prejudice get in the way of a good interview
You have to try and forget the interviewer’s age or level of experience and not let any of your prejudices about them or their age group get in the way of a strong interview performance. They will, in all likelihood, be nervous about interviewing you, so put your energies and expertise into making them feel comfortable and at ease. Be as personable as you can. More than in most interviews a strong positive connection in the first few minutes of this interview will help your cause.

2. Answer questions normally -don’t speak any differently to this interviewer than you would someone of a similar age or level.
Don’t try and dumb down your answers or speak more slowly than you normally would or use a superior tone. The best way to positively influence any interviewer is to engage in a conversation – this suggests you will do so an equal not a superior.

3. Address their likely prejudices through the quality of your answers
They may be thinking (but they may not) that being older means you have a potential array of weaknesses that prevent you being a good fit for the role. As a result you need to impress on them that you are current and relevant in today’s workplace. Ensure you can discuss the relevance of your technology skills especially in relation to this job vacancy, as well as demonstrating your professional competence, adaptability, energy, flexibility and your willingness to learn new techniques.

4. Don’t be put off by questions about your age.
You shouldn’t be asked questions about your age but you might, so be prepared for interview questions that are inappropriate or illegal and take them in your stride. Remain upbeat and positive and perhaps ask in a non confrontational and enquiring way how your age may be an issue in this role. It’s an unexpected setback you should be able to overcome and the way you handle this situation is a good indicator of your people strengths.

5. Address each of the interview questions on their merits.
Do everything you can to perform in the interview as you would in an interview with a mature aged interviewer. Be your normal relaxed informative educated and relevant self. Don’t be flustered or distracted by an attractive boy or girl interviewing you or young men wearing earrings or young women dressed in revealing modern fashions in the same way you wouldn’t in a mature aged interview.

Paul Lyons is an experienced executive recruiter and adviser to mature aged white collar executives on personal branding and job search. He’s the author of several career books including, most recently, Win That Job. He’s also co- founder and Group Managing Director of Ambition an international recruitment group

One of the many challenges about getting back into the job market after many years away is that your resume preparation skills are likely to be outdated. Like wearing an old suit, promoting yourself with an old style resume can portray you as being out of touch which could put employers off inviting you in for an interview.

These “old style traits” are broadly around substance and style.

With regards to substance, your resume will hopefully portray recent and relevant employment but it may also reveal that the last time you undertook any professional development or technology courses was a long time ago. Like selling a car with an out of date log book you will create a perception with potential employers that you are out of touch with current trends and techniques. It would help you to brush up on the technology skills that are relevant in your resume and complete any short refresher courses in your area of expertise.  These would be run by your professional body or by the local TAFE or university. Once completed detail the courses in your resume. Often keywords are used to filter resumes during electronic searches and so if you don’t include these courses or skills you maybe filtered out before you get started!

Similarly ensure you are using the current terminology for your industry correctly and effectively by researching professional journals or job descriptions from job advertisements.

Fashions change and they change in resumes too. An old style resume can give you away. The objective of your resume is to sell yourself and to obtain an interview – it’s your marketing document and so should present as such i.e. an eye catching informative document that encourages the reader to act positively and want to meet you. It’s not a list of your jobs and duties anymore and it doesn’t have to be exhaustive.

In Australia employers like to see a hybrid resume that comprises both functional and chronological information and is probably 3-4 pages long. Ensure that early in your resume you have a career summary that sells you and that is your “elevator pitch”. Then, in each of your more recent job positions ensure you detail responsibilities achievements and accomplishments in each role that are relevant to the job you are seeking.

These should obviously complement and reinforce your “pitch”. You will also likely possess a greater quantity and quality of achievements than younger job seekers and so ensure you use this by detailing the special things you have done to set you apart or cause the success you have achieved. Outline how you added value to your employers when you worked for them and certainly more than just listing your day to day duties.

Use words in your resume that suggest action and momentum – advanced, promoted transformed, succeeded, solved, managed and so on.

Most serious mature aged job seekers will also “craft” one resume for each job application to accentuate the skills and experience they possess that are relevant to that role. Some resumes may be similar but others could be very different reflecting the different roles you are seeking. You can’t assume that the reader of your resume will sift through your resume and find the relevant information because they won’t – you have to spell it out for them.

Focus on the more recent and relevant experience and if it’s appropriate condense your older employment history into one or two lines.

If you are re-entering the workforce after several years as a homemaker or volunteer or have large gaps of unpaid experience in your history, learn to portray your skills and experience on your resume as transferable and applicable to your next job.

In the old world you would have ended your resume with References Available Upon Request. You don’t need to say that anymore as it’s assumed they will be.

Read more articles about how to accelerate your job search and career at www.myambition.com 

paul@myambition.com

Paul Lyons is an experienced executive recruiter and adviser to mature aged white collar executives on personal branding and job search. He’s the author of several career books including, most recently, Win That Job. He’s also co- founder and Group Managing Director of Ambition an international recruitment group.

Hundreds of millions of text messages are sent between sports fans during live sports. Whether it’s a English Premier League football match, a NHL hockey game, American NFL football or the Indian IPL cricket series, communicating around sport is a social networking phenomena without a formal framework.

PlayUP’s mobile and web based social gaming allows sports fans to impulsively engage with the live sport they’re watching and the fans watching the match. Sports fans can now compete in real time with millions of others for cash, points, ranking and bragging rights! By creating fun & quick social games around live sport, PlayUP adds a new & thrilling interactive dimension to watching a game.

Today we’re talking to James Drucza who is the Head of Application Development for rapidly growing sports related, live and interactive social mobile gaming company PlayUP.

15 years ago Azzurri pioneered the delivery of IP(IPVPN) networks across Europe as an alternative to traditional costly networks.  Since then they have developed leading edge tools, methodologies and delivery frameworks that deliver benefits to all their clients, irrespective of size.  From large IP circuits through to satellite services, Azzurri manages over 7000 data circuits globally. Today we talk to the Australian founder of Azzurri, Managing Director Jon Evans.

Jon established  the Azzurri business in Australia in 2006 having held a number of senior sales roles in the UK for a global carrier.  During this time Jon became involved first-hand with the Azzurri service model and upon moving to Australia he couldn’t refuse the opportunity to join the Azzurri fold and establish the Australian operation from scratch.

Everyone has a story to tell about a Christmas party experience; to be the punch line of a bad experience can lead to more than just a red face however so read on for our Christmas Party Do’s and Don’ts.Do remember that although office parties are intended as social events to reward employees and raise morale, they remain strictly business events. 

- Do act as though your behavior is being observed every minute (because it probably is).

- Don’t pass up the invitation to an office party; not attending could hurt your reputation. And when you attend, do spend at least 30 minutes at the party for appearances. But don’t overstay your welcome by partying until the wee hours, unless of course that is your company’s expectation.

- Do conduct yourself professionally at all times. Don’t use the office party as an excuse to blow off steam. It’s still a company function, so proper etiquette and decorum matter.

- Do enjoy yourself at the party. Employers spend the big bucks to reward their employees, so be sure to enjoy what might be your holiday gift!

- Don’t pull the nightclub attire from your closet for the event, conservative party clothes are a good choice. So, do remember to skip anything too revealing or too flashy. Keep your reputation for good taste intact.

- Do keep your hands to yourself. Don’t flirt, and do avoid any other inappropriate behavior. The office party is not the time to end your career with the company by doing something inappropriate or illegal.

- Don’t spend all evening talking business. You’ll forever have the label as the office bore.

- Do keep all conversations positive and upbeat. Don’t spend the evening complaining, bragging, correcting, whining, or ridiculing. And do avoid controversial subjects (such as religion, politics, etc.) and off-color jokes.

- Don’t monopolize conversations — and, especially, don’t talk about yourself or your accomplishments all night. Do show interest in others. Do be gracious and thank coworkers and team members for all their help and hard work during the past year. And don’t even think about gossiping about others.

- Do take the time to network and schmooze with people at the party who can influence your career or who you may not see regularly, such as top management, people from other departments, and employees from other locations. A holiday party is a great event to begin building or strengthening business relationships, so do introduce yourself and build your network.

- Don’t assume everyone celebrates the same holiday, so don’t go overboard with the “Merry Christmas.”

- Do be sure you know exactly who is invited to the party. Spouses or significant others are not always on the guest list for office parties. And if guests are permitted, don’t bring an inappropriate person as your guest.

- Don’t forget to thank the person responsible for the planning and coordinating of the party. And do consider sending a thank-you note to top management for hosting the party.

- Do inquire about office policies on providing car or cab service for employees attending the holiday party. And do appoint a designated driver or do hire a cab yourself if the company is not willing to provide the rides home. 

- Don’t drink and drive.

 Enjoy the holiday season, recharge your batteries and break out those New Year resolutions for 2011.

Ever been asked the question “How does a browser work?”  Send this comic straight back to give them  a great explanation!

Comic Thanks to VladStudio.com

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The Shirtman – Ambition’s erstwhile football correspondent- is packing his bags for South Africa, ready to bring you his humorous World Cup diary and match predictions for Australia and England.

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