A recent question to Laura spawned a survey to capture how we professionals invest in ourselves. The previous article is here.
The survey is in and the results have been tabulated. The first question dealt with employment status and of the 39 responses to the survey, over 82% show to be employed, gainfully or not. Just about 18% are not so fortunate. The second set of questions was related to what types of activities are included in the professional development time of these 39 people.
| Item | # Responses | Overall Average Hours Time Spent (Hours) |
| Updating your resume (includes tweaks, customization for different roles, proof-reading) | 27 | 2.3 |
| Blogging / Commenting on blogs | 29 | 2.9 |
| Writing / Commenting on articles | 26 | 1.9 |
| Twitter / LinkedIn / Facebook (professional updates) | 36 | 7.3 |
| Career Fairs | 17 | 0.1 |
| Volunteering (i.e. IIBA board member, volunteer, etc) | 26 | 4.5 |
| Brown bags | 18 | 0.5 |
| Professional Development Meetings / Events | 31 | 2.5 |
| Education / Classes / Webinars | 32 | 6.0 |
| Reading books | 34 | 8.6 |
| Volunteer work to accumulate BA experiences | 19 | 0.3 |
| Other | 39 | 0.8 |
So what are we looking at here? Well, it appears that we have some voracious readers and students that are looking to enhance knowledge and skills. What can we extrapolate about this data? Let’s analyze this together…
- Time for training is only readily available when there is nothing else to do?
- Those seeking employment take full advantage of their time opportunities?
- People are reading business analysis books to learn but they are not necessarily getting out in the world and engaging?
- This is simply a good time to do many things that enhance skills?
We can also see a high number in the volunteer hours….and you that are doing so should be applauded for your efforts. However, there are two categories of volunteer hours. General volunteering is relatively high at 4.5 hours out of overall time spent while specific, job skills building volunteering is very low. Does this mean that people are filling their time with things to do that have a valuable purpose? Yes! What might it also mean?
- Skills-based volunteer opportunities are very hard to find?
- Quick success volunteering that doesn’t require research to find a position is much more palatable when also trying to find a job?
- People don’t know that they CAN perform skills-based volunteering to enhance skills?
- What else?
Another higher value shows for those enhancing their digital footprint, which is an important aspect of a job search and networking these days. 6.0 hours of respondents’ overall time is spent out on the Internet and building their footprint on purpose or accident. When comparing social media against other electronic forms of communication (resume updating and blogging), what kinds of questions or assumptions can we garner from this data?
I’d like to hear your thoughts on what you are seeing here. What does the data say to you as an audience?
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By Doug Goldberg. Doug Goldberg is a Senior Business Analyst in the Dallas, TX, USA market. He has 15 years experience as an analyst in application development for financial, health care and technology companies. He has also programmed Java/J2EE for a period of time. Additionally, Doug is an avid business analyst mentor both online and in-person, a facilitator for CBAP study groups, an active guest blogger, and the current VP of Professional Development for the Dallas Chapter of the IIBA. View more blog posts by Doug Goldberg |
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Doug. Interesting results – thanks for sharing the outcome.
I connected with your questions on professional volunteering: – Are volunteer opportunities very hard to find?
My journey toward a virtual business analyst career is founded on volunteer work so I thought I’d speak up on changing the geographic paradigm. If you don’t limit yourself to organizations in your neighborhood you may find just the right opportunity to volunteer on a distributed effort that doesn’t matter where you live. Think about non-profits, government agencies, and other resources world-wide that have distributed memberships and how you could help them to interact virtually. Or those that have a web presence (which means just about Everyone) and how their web projects might benefit from your skills. Or if training is your thing then target those offering webinars. You get the idea.
The world is your oyster.
Hey Joan
This is really great advice. This is one of those areas that most of us have to really stretch our imaginations on, as finding these opportunities is akin to bobbing for apples. One can clamp one’s jaws down 50 times in a bucket with eyes closed and only by luck does an apple arrive at the right place at the right time.
I’d like to ask if you can elaborate on your advice about a little more. While I can think, see and find organizations that COULD benefit from volunteer analysis, how would you recommend that I make that a reality. How do I get from identification of an opportunity to talking to the right people? What should I be prepared to offer/show a prospect when promoting my abilities without expectation fro compensation?
Can you help define some paths to take that you have found success with?
Thanks very much again for your thoughts.
Doug
Sure Doug, I’m glad see the possibilities of redefining WHERE you can volunteer. A few things come to mind to identify WHO can help you get there. I’ve taken several web-based classes that teach virtual skills, and realized that the other students all had some project or situation they were trying to resolve. Also by following questions posted on professional blogs & LinkedIn groups I’m able to pinpoint people who need help with their work. These resources are all reaching out for support in some way. So when I e-mailed them offering my help, about 5 out of 10 responded favorably, and I found their willingness to speak with me directly cinched the deal. Those odds are great compared today’s job search experience where you might hear from 1 out of 100 solicitations.
Promoting your abilities should probably be the same as with a job opening. My LinkedIn page includes a Case Study from my work on an enterprise project, and several recommendations from Clients & Colleagues. I also recap our initial discussion as I would a Project Discovery session: map out project steps, diagram Stakeholder relationships, document requirements, that sort of thing. The quick confirmation of the value I bring has helped me to gain the trust of my new Pro Bono Clients, and reliably meeting my commitments to them sustains the relationship.
Remember that there IS compensation for volunteer work, it’s just not necessarily monetary. I’ve gained new professional associations, new references, learned new tools, and developed new collateral. Then there’s the happiest of endings – the possibility that you’ll so endear yourself to a Pro Bono Client that they find room in their budget for you.