Global Information Technology
ISSUE
02
JobPrep
February 2012
The Voice of Career Insight
In this issue
Sample Interview Questions
IT Salaries back to 2008 levels P.1/P.2 Sample Interview Questions P.1 How to Create a Strong Password P.2
1.
Tell me about yourself.
2.
Walk me through your
Writing Thank You Notes P.4 resume. 3.
What courses / certifications have you tak-
4.
5.
6.
Over the past year, the average IT salary has seen a
from $73,934. But some IT pros saw nice pay boosts
en?
modest increase of 0.81 percent to $78,299, putting over-
whereas other took losses over the past year. The
Why are you interested
all compensation back at January 2008 levels. That may
biggest winners at large enterprises (in terms of pay
in X? (X = function)
not be cause for partying like it's 1999, but Janco's 2012
increase by percentage) include:
What are your career
IT Salary Survey, which it officially released on Jan. 10,
goals?
does contain nuggets of good news for certain IT profes-
What
does
success
mean to you? 7.
8.
9.
10.
IT salaries edge up back to 2008 Levels!
Describe
your
sionals.
33,100 IT jobs since last January, while layoffs have ta-
job.
pered off. Still, cost cutting remains a high priority at or-
Why do you want to
ganizations nationwide, which has led to increased hiring
work at X? (X = compa-
of part-time and contract IT employs
ny)
working on critical projects. Full-
What is the most im-
timers, meanwhile, have continued
portant thing you look
to see a reduction in benefits. For
for in an employer?
example, IT professionals are re-
What
concerns
you
about our company?
quired to pay for a greater portion of
boost of 6.7 percent from $53,754 to $57,358 Programmers/analysts, who enjoyed an average
In general, according to Janco, the United States added ideal
Network services supervisors, who got an average
total increase of 6.14 percent from $75,420 to $80,051 VPs of technical services, who saw their total pay increase by 5.36 percent from $141,531 to $149,118 LAN application support analysts, who reaped an average 5.13 percent salary in-
In general, according to Janco, the United States added 33,100 IT jobs since last January, while
their health insurance. Meanwhile, bonuses have been reduced or eliminated at many companies.
crease from $60,075 to $63,159 Librarians, who earn 5.12 percent more than a year ago, up from $43,770 to $46,010 At midsize companies, the biggest winners included:
Librarians,
whose
total
average
compensation
jumped 11.35 percent from $41,037 to $45,694
On the other hand, companies are increasingly offering
Computer operations shift managers, who now earn
IT professionals more flexible work schedules as the
on average $68,187, up 10.75 percent over last year's
recovery takes hold, which, according to Janco, repre-
$61,569
sents low-cost, high-value benefit for employees and employers alike. Digging into the numbers, IT pros at large companies
Change control analysts, whose total salary increased by 6.57 percent from $51,636 to $55,030 Computer operations managers, who take home
earn $81,644 on average, up from $81,273. Those at
$86,287, up 6.46 percent from
midsize companies take home $74,435, up 1.19 percent
$81,051 Continued on page 2.
How to choose a strong password. You can create strong passwords that don't make you memorize a cryptic string of letters, numbers, and punctuation sym-
IT salaries edge up back to 2008 Levels continued ...
bols. Here are three techniques: Use a sentence. It's easy to remember the first letters of the words in a sentence. For example, children have used this sentence to remember the names of
Information center managers, who
the nine planets: My Very Excel-
make an average of $63,986, up
lent Mother Just Served Us Nine
from $60,188 by 6.31 percent.
year. The pros who took the biggest
$118,212 Production
hits at large companies include: Senior network specialists, whose
services
managers,
who lost 6.74 percent of their total
total average salary dropped 7.49
average
percent from $85,468 to $79,069
$85,900
pay,
from
$92,107
to
Pickles. You could use the first
Beyond salaries, companies are
letters of those words to gener-
hungry to fill particular IT positions as
ate this strong 9-character pass-
the recession draws to an end, both
Operation analysts, who on aver-
Training and documentation man-
word: m*Emjsu9p, where Venus
on a full-time and contract basis.
age earn 4.45 percent less, down
agers, whose total average salary
(the morning or evening star) is
Midsize companies are seeking IT
from $61,915 to $59,160
decreased
represented by *, the letter for
executives (such as VPs of
Earth is capitalized, and nine is a
information
services
and
numeral. In practice, it's best not
technical services), program-
to use such well-known sayings
mers, midlevel infrastructure
to generate acronyms.
managers and supervisors,
Use a pass phrase. Several
database specialists, software
words mixed with numbers and
engineers, system program-
punctuation symbols is known as
mers, systems analysts, and voice/
a pass phrase. For example:
wireless communication pros.
by
4.4
percent
from
$64,043 to $61,224
Enterprises, meanwhile, are moving IT and data center operations back inhouse, which means greater demand for data center managers and supervisors ...
Production services supervisors, the average salary for whom is now $69,092, down 3.23 percent from $71,975 Finally, demand for CIOs is also on the rise, particularly at midsize companies. CIO compen-
stitch9clock^handsapplausE. The
Enterprises, meanwhile, are mov-
OS production managers, who now
sation has been a mixed bag: Base
longer the pass phrase, the more
ing IT and data center operations
have an average total salary of
salaries are higher, whereas bonuses
secure it is, though you'll be
back in-house, which means greater
$93,346, a 4.18 percent drop from
are lower. The mean compensation
limited by the maximum length
demand for data center managers
$97,413
for CIOs at large enterprises is now
the site allows.
and supervisors for such depart-
Technical
services
specialists,
$176,659, representing a decrease of
Growing the haystack. Devel-
ments as computer operations, Inter-
whose average total salary is now
2.68 percent. At midsize companies,
oped by security expert Steve
net systems, capacity planning, net-
$63,160, a 4.14 percent drop from
CIOs are earning $164,342 on aver-
Gibson, president of California-
work services, and production ser-
$65,888
age, an increase of 1.26 percent.
based Gibson Research, growing
vices. LAN application support ana-
the haystack takes advantage of
lysts, librarians, operations analysts,
the ways hackers crack pass-
and Web analysts are also in de-
words. "The first thing they'll try is
mand at large companies.
the well-known dictionary of most common
passwords,"
Gibson
says. "Then, if they know some-
Alas, other IT positions experienced a salary drop over the past
As for the biggest salary drops at midsize companies: VPs of security (or CSOs) saw their total average salary drop by 8.24
percent,
from
$128,828
to
How to Create a Strong Password continued. thing about you, they will try to guess things from your life." To foil that part of the process, Gibson suggests starting with a phrase that's short but not a common word. That forces the
Writing a Thank You Note!
hacker to resort to the slower you were invited such as a dinner.
are still a candidate. The Thank You note is a necessary part • Proof read and make sure you
Should you interview with a group of
have perfect grammar (no typos, or
people, it is best to send an individual
misspellings allowed.)
thank you note to each person. Feel
of the job search process to indicate to your interviewer or potential employer that you are indeed interested in working for • If using a written thank you note,
free to ask for their business cards after
use a simple, professional looking card
the interview. If you are unable to obtain
or thicker card stock.
all of the contact information for every-
them. It is a way to extend your gratitude for their time, and reiterate your interest in the position. The thank you note doesn’t When to write a thank you note?
one, just send a note to those that you
have to be long, but it does have to be well After you interview for a job or have
do have.
written, similar to your cover letter. In to-
brute-force approach by trying every combination in existence, which is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Once
you've
accomplished
that, "the length of the password matters more than its absolute complexity," Gibson says. In other words, make the haystack larger by padding the password
attended a corporate event to which day’s environment, it can be an easy way
with
to distinguish your candidacy from other candidate. It either can be in an e-mail or in
numerous
easy-to-
remember symbols. For exam-
What happens to your resume?
ple, the password "c - @T - - 9 -
a written note sent through the mail. Most
- -" is 10 characters long and is
students opt for the e-mail format so they
probably not in any dictionary,
can submit their letter prior to the compa-
but it's not very hard to remem-
ny’s rapid decision process. If you are
ber.
extending a thank you after an information-
A caveat: Don't use any of the
al interview, you may prefer to send a hand
above examples as actual pass-
written note since the time urgency isn’t
words. Now that they have been
there though e-mail is fine as well.
widely published, hackers might
Elements of Your Thank You Note (as suggested by Career Rocketeer) • Keep it brief; it doesn’t have to be long. One to three paragraphs is fine. • Provide one or two reasons why your background is a good match based on the job role they provided. • Keep it professional. No matter how casual the interview was, remember you
Marcial’s Say: Apple releases iTunes Match
add them to their dictionaries.
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Global I.T. JobPrep - Issue 02 February 2012
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