Find out the top 10 core skills you need to master as an information technology specialist and what hard skills you need to know to succeed in this job.
An Information Technology Specialist has the overall objective of installing, modifying and repairing computer hardware and software for the company. He or she will in addition to that, provide relevant technical advice and support to computer systems users. He/she will also get to facilitate computer and network related training as well as create and maintain login activity across the network.
Besides the major responsibility he or she will get perform the following essential functions; facilitate the identification and procurement of systems that meet user needs, install systems applications, loading appropriate software packages for computer and network systems, configure and maintain computer networks, perform troubleshooting process when required and performing other assigned roles.
Core Skills Required to be an Information Technology Specialist
Core skills describe a set of non-technical abilities, knowledge, and understanding that form the basis for successful participation in the workplace. Core skills enable employees to efficiently and professionally navigate the world of work and interact with others, as well as adapt and think critically to solve problems.
Core skills are often tagged onto job descriptions to find or attract employees with specific essential core values that enable the company to remain competitive, build relationships, and improve productivity.
An information technology specialist should master the following 10 core skills to fulfill her job properly.
Problem Solving:
Problem Solving is the skill of defining a problem to determine its cause, identify it, prioritize and select alternative solutions to implement in solving the problems and reviving relationships.
An Information Technology Specialist has a fundamental role in finding ways to address all types of problems through having a good method to use when approaching a problem without being ineffective, favoring or causing painful consequences.
Physical Abilities:
Physical Abilities is the ability of one's strengths and limitations that are also known as the individual resources to perform well at the tasks given.
An Information Technology Specialist must understand that his employees are very different types of people who vary in what they can or cannot do and treat each one with respect while supporting them to become the best in what they do.
Work Attitude:
Work Attitude is one's feelings towards and beliefs about one's job and their behavior that can tell how it feels to be there.
An Information Technology Specialist ought to encourage his workers and provide all the requirements for the workplace to ensure a positive attitude is maintained by the employees that can help them get a promotion, succeed on projects, meet goals and enjoy the job more.
Emotional Intelligence:
Emotional Intelligence is the capability to identify your emotions, understand what they are telling me and realize how the feelings are affecting you and the people around you.
An Information Technology Specialist should be wise to handle different personalities that carry different emotions presented in the workplace while ensuring relationships are managed more efficiently by respecting your perception and the employee's as well.
Consistency and Reliability:
Consistency and Reliability are the ability to be trusted to do what you do best all the time with or without supervision and without failure to produce results.
An Information Technology Specialist is liable to maintain a high level of consistency and reliability by engaging with employees and treating them with respect deserved which produces excellent results in various kinds of reliability coefficients.
Evaluating Others:
Evaluating others is the capacity to see the individuality in others and recognize a person's unique point of view.
An Information Technology Specialist must master the skills of evaluating others to help his staff members to identify their talents and match those talents to the proper job without trying to judge them by their actions that can create a misinterpretation of who they are.
Meeting Management:
Meeting Management is the skill to know and understands the reason why an official meeting should be held and who should attend.
An Information Technology Specialist must learn how to properly organize and conduct meetings to contribute to organizational effectiveness by determining situations that require a meeting, understanding types of meetings, planning the meeting, running the meeting to the close and managing people after the meeting.
Training others:
Training is the ability to expand the knowledge base by learning new truths that are useful in the workplace.
An Information Technology Specialist needs to creatively schedule training for his employees in a focused manner that will allow the employee stay useful in the workplace and get new knowledge so that both the business and the worker not suffer from delays and work related stress.
Computer Skills:
Computer Skills are the necessary computer working skills that each employee need to have while seeking to get admitted into the professional world.
An Information Technology Specialist ought to be technologically oriented and hire employees with strong computer skills because they fare better in the job market than their tech-challenged counterparts bringing a high level of quality employees in the job seeking category.
Technical Skills:
Technical Skills are the abilities and knowledge mostly related to mechanical, IT, scientific and mathematical needed to perform specific tasks in the workplace.
An Information Technology Specialist ought to hire employees with particular talents and expertise that helps them perform certain duties and jobs that other skills like soft skills cannot perform to grow both the business and the employee and bring in productivity.
Hard Skills Required to be an Information Technology Specialist
Hard skills are job-specific skill sets, or expertise, that are teachable and whose presence can be tested through exams. While core skills are more difficult to quantify and less tangible, hard skills are quantifiable and more defined.
Hard skills are usually listed on an applicant's resume to help recruiters know the applicant's qualifications for the applied position. A recruiter, therefore, needs to review the applicant's resume and education to find out if he/she has the knowledge necessary to get the job done.
An information technology specialist should have a good command of the following hard skills to succeed in her job.