Getting a degree is a large part of finding a job in the Information Systems field. But there are other things outside of the
classroom that one can look into so they can become a more viable candidate. Two of the most important things, other than a degree,
that employers look for in new employees are soft skills and prior work experience.
Soft Skills
Soft skills refer to someone's ability to talk to people and perform customer service. In most jobs that anyone applies for, they will
be working with someone or for someone. This means that anyone who is hired must be able to talk to people, other wise it can create a
bad work environment for everyone else. That is why interviews are so important whenever applying for jobs. It gives the employer a chance
to not only look at your qualifications but also look at the way you carry conversation. If you meet their qualifications, and they feel like
you would be a good fit on the team, they will hire you. If you meet their qualifications, but you do not seem like you will be a good fit to
their team, they probably will not hire you.
Experience
Talking with many employers, I have learned that while a college degree is a great thing to have on a resume. But more often than not,
managers in Information Systems say that they would prefer someone with four years of IT experience over someone who went to college for
four years without any real world experience. Often, those who chose to gain the experience without going to college will learn a lot of the information
that we would learn in our degrees. Not only that, they learn how it is applied in the real world rather than only hypothetical or theoretical situations.
Employers want to know that their future employees can take these concepts and apply them in their business, and showing that one
already has experience will boost that person's name up the list of potential new hires.
