Re: degree requirement / employment / careers

At 11:38 AM 7/1/00 , you wrote:
>----- Original Message -----
><<snip>>
> > What concerns me most is the statement "every time I start a new job
> > ...".  One of my customers said it best ...
> >
> > "GIVE ME TWO EMPLOYMENT CANDIDATES ... ONE WITH 20 YEARS IN ONE JOB & THE
> > OTHER WITH 20 YEARS IN 10 JOBS ... I WILL SHOW YOU ONE INDIVIDUAL WITH 20
> > YEARS OF EXPERIENCE AND THE OTHER WITH TWO YEARS OF EXPERIENCE ... THE
> > DIFFERENCE IS THAT THE ONE WITH 20 YEARS IN ONE JOB LIVED THROUGH THE
> > ENTIRE LIFE OF THEIR PROJECTS".
> >
> > As an employer, we are VERY careful with folks with a string of 2 year
>jobs
> > on their resume.   We are also VERY careful with the distance that an
> > employee will have to commute to our offices.  We give technical tests for
> > all programmer candidates to measure their general level of skill /
> > knowledge.  These issues are MUCH more important than whether the person
> > has a degree.
><</snip>>
>
>When I was an employee for a service company, my manager would always ask of
>someone with more than 6 or 7 years at one job whether or not they really
>have that experience (6 years +) or do they really have one year of
>experience over and over.  Other folks have told me that if someone stays in
>one position for an extended period of time, knowing how companies give
>salary increases and all, it may indicate a lack of marketable skills (or
>worse, lack of smarts).

The only "folks" who would say this are headhunters ... they only collect 
if they get someone to move.

Companies that don't pay at market for their staff are only fooling 
themselves ... if you don't pay your existing staff (who know what's going 
on) at the going market rate, you will have to pay new hires (who don't 
know anything about your company or systems) at the market rate.

My experience is the folks with "lack of smarts" are often the two year 
wonders ... it takes a while to find out what you really have when you hire 
& more time for you to deal with it.  If someone changes jobs every two 
years, they probably haven't ever COMPLETED a significant system.  There is 
a quantum level of difference between someone that can get a system 95% 
done & someone who can get the system 100% done & live with it!

Last time I checked, AS/400 knowledge & RPG was a VERY marketable skill ... 
what am I missing here???

John


John Myers
IBM Certified Specialist - AS/400 Technical Solutions
Strategic Business Systems, Inc.
17 S. Franklin Turnpike, Ramsey, NJ 07446  USA
E-mail: mailto:jmyers@sbsusa.com   Phone: +1 (201) EASY 400   x131
Web:    http://www.sbsusa.com      Fax:   +1 (201) 327-6984

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