Applying for NM roles

[JoeBloggs]

I am a Senior Infrastructure Technician at my current role. Along with my NM & a normal tech.

 

I would like to apply for NM roles however I do not have management experience, nor supervising or much in the way of budget managing.

 

Although I am higher up than the tech, I do nothing like appraisals, supervisions etc.

 

I've seen a few NM roles but in the essential criteria stuff like:

 

• Previous experience of the management of IT provision and strategy
  
• Previous experience of supervision of staff
  
• Experience of leading programes of ICT development
  
• Experience of monitoring andpreparing budgets
  

 

I have parts of the above, as I assist the NM in IT provision, give my input and discuss strategy with NM & SMT. I give advice, support & train the tech whever I can.

 

How have others made the jump? Should I still apply? The role I have seen recently has 1 NM, 1 Senior tech and 2 normal techs. The NM role is being advertised, but I'm guessing the senior tech would probably apply with similar knowledge / experience apart from have hands on experience of the network already.

[ChrisH]

I would just apply. At least if you get an interview you know you are in with a chance. Be prepared for rejection, because as you say there are a few things you don't have experience of but keep chipping away and someone will give you a chance.

Other things you can try and do if possible at your current place is ask to be in charge of some small projects or at least do some of the ground work for them and try and tie this in for some delegating of duties to the Tech if you can. This may of course depend on you internal politics etc.

Also consider some qualifications if you don't have any to try any put you ahead of the field. Things like MS certs or maybe a project one like Project + maybe looked upon favourably to make up for your lack of experience in some areas.

[Kitkatninja]

Like it's been said already, keep on applying.

 

Apart from that, have a word with your manager about gaining extra responsibilities and succession management. Look into certain qualifications like ITIL, FITS, Prince2 and/or management certs (eg ILM, NVQ, etc) to give you some underpinning knowledge to support your lack of (or development of your) experience.

 

-Ken

[JoeBloggs]

Got ITIL looking in to PRINCE2. Cheers guys.

 

I was just a bit apprehensive applying for roles when I don't tick all the essential boxes.

Edited August 2, 2011 by JoeBloggs
tyypo

[AngryTechnician]

When an employer looks at a candidate that ticks every box, they will often rightly wonder why they should hire someone who appears to be coasting rather than pushing themselves.

 

I didn't tick all the boxes for my current post, and my manager told me that the interview panel worried I wouldn't find the job challenging and would be gone soon after. The lesson I learned is to take job postings as a suggestion. Half the time the people writing them have no clue what they actually need anyway.

 

tl;dr: apply anyway, if you get an interview you know you're in with a shot.

[dwhyte85]

The worst they can say is no, the best is they put you on the lowest scale point and understand you need development.

 

Use real life experience of managing money if you have to, everyone has managed or supervised once in their life, football, rugby, cricket... it all counts.

Edited August 2, 2011 by dwhyte85

[featured_spectre]

I have a raft of advice, I'll post up either tomorrow or when I am home.

[featured_spectre]

Monitoring Managing a budget - You manage your own budget on a monthly basis do you not? You pay rent/mortgage, you pay bills, you spend on necessities based on your opinions and prior testing.

 

Managing a group of people - Have you ever captained a sports team or managed a youth team, or have you ever overseen a group of students for a period of time? If the answer is yes to any of the above, then you have managed a group of people.

 

Supervision of staff - Have you ever ran a training group at all? Trained the staff at all?

 

IT Provision and strategy - You advised your NM based on what you have seen, and assisted with the development. If you have had a big chunk of the say, explain this!

[bossman]

@JoeBloggs;

 

Its a confidence thing, having been in IT as technician for only 2 years I was asked by the IT manager (ICT Teacher) if I wanted to take the role of network manager, if not they would advertise the position.

 

It took me a couple of days to give them an answer and that was "Yes", never looked back, admittedly the learning curve was more straight and perpendicular but within time I had gained more confidence and used the skills that I had learned from past experiences in other jobs.

 

If you manage your wages and household budget then your halfway there to planning and managing your schools IT budget, as for managing people that is a different kettle of fish but given that you can reflectively look at how you have been managed by your NM then you can take the good points and use this as experience for how you would manage a team.

 

being reflective about what one has achieved and how much more one can achieve is the key to good management and remember, if you wouldn't like doing something then don't expect someone else to do it.

 

Lead by example and all will fall into place, utilise the teams skills and always keep the channels of communication with both your team and the school staff open.

 

Plan, design and implement after talking your strategies through with as many staff as is necessary and always be aware of everything around you.

 

Engage with people and share your ideas as this helps build confidence in them as well as yourself.

 

Hope this all helps and one last thing......................................................start applying tonight..............................Good luck

[witch]

What they said - just apply.

The best advice I can give is to read the job desc/person spec VERY carefully and decide how your experience can match up to what they want. From what you said you DO have some experience of most things including people management if you manage/train the tech.

Whilst your advice is, as always, spot on for when he becomes an NM, bossman, he has to get that elusive first job - and this may involve a little bit of spin on his CV if he is confident that he can follow your advice when he is in post.

Don't lie, but look carefully at your experience and make sure it is all written down in a way that fits with the requirements