Acronyms Point to Networking Opportunities. Sometimes when you look at a job listing, the required skills have industry-specific labels or are grouped under an industry-specific acronym. Everyone is expected to know the acronym, but it may need to be more straightforward if you consider applying from another related industry.
The first step is to inventory your job skills and know what you have. Jobs happen when the employer sees a good match of skills to needs. Another step is understanding how to label and define your skills and Networking can help uncover what you don’t know.
I think it's essential to get feedback from more than the HR department at one company on potential jobs. Learning in advance about how skills are described is critical if you are changing industries and don’t want to walk into an interview not knowing that.
Understanding why goals and initiatives are chosen and sometimes are listed on the company website, will help you see where your skills fit, enable you to show your strength,s and communicate more effectively.
Goals, initiatives, and mission statements usually are listed on the company Web Site. In cases where a set of specific job skills is closely tied to those areas, it means someone in the organization has some passion for them, and if you can identify them, they likely will be willing to talk.
One website recently observed showed several company initiatives linked to an overall company goal and even listed committees assigned to the plans. (Interesting networking opportunities)
In this example, the initiative of “patient care” was recorded, and it caught the attention of a project manager from the aerospace industry who had recognized that his skills and processes seemed to be similar.
A call was made to the initiative committee chairman to discuss what project management of patient care consisted of. It was found that many items were indeed the same, with slightly different labels, and some of the processes were the same, with only another acronym used to describe them. This initial networking call enabled a meaningful interview with some background interest in what was happening from the committee chairman who had been met with.
Talking to others in the company is always advantageous, but this approach provided a natural opportunity to do so. Networking within the company and others help you understand the organization you are interested in and can also help you see your job skills from a broader perspective. Goals, initiatives, and mission statements always make the organization Web Site.
In cases where a set of specific job skills is closely tied to those areas, someone in the organization has some passion for them, and if you can identify who they are, they likely will be willing to talk.
