Dear Annie: My mom sent me your article about why Millennials aren’t accepting job offers, because I am one of them. I just got a bachelor’s from a “big name” school, with a double major in engineering and computer science, and I’ve done two internships where I learned a lot about developing mobile apps. Before I even graduated, I got offers from every employer I applied to.
亲爱的安妮：我妈妈给我递来你那篇谈论千禧一代为什么不接受工作机会的文章，因为我就是其中一员。我刚刚从一所“名牌”大学获得工程学和计算机科学双学位，还从事过两份实习工作，在此期间学到了不少开发移动应用程序的技术。我还没毕业的时候，申请过的每一家雇主都给我发来入职邀请函。
But so far, I haven’t accepted any, partly because I’m having second thoughts about the company offering the highest starting pay. I’ve spent a fair amount of time there, both in interviews and “shadowing” the CIO, but so far I haven’t met anyone outside the IT department. I really want to be involved in the business, and not get typecast as “just a tech person,” so the fact that the IT group seems kind of isolated from the rest of the company bothers me. But should it? And is it okay to ask about that? — Undecided
但到目前为止，我还没有接受其中任何一家公司的邀请，部分原因是我目前依然对那家提供最高起薪的公司心存疑虑。我在那里实习过很长一段时间，既参与过面试工作，也做过首席信息官(CIO)的“跟班”，但直到今天，我还没有见过任何一位非IT部门的员工。我真的想参与公司的运营工作，而不是仅仅被视为“一位技术人员”。在我看来，IT部门似乎被公司其他部门孤立了，这个事实让我倍感困扰。但这种担心是不是杞人忧天？询问这样的问题合适吗？——一位犹豫不决者
Dear Undecided: It’s absolutely okay to ask about that. In fact, you’d be making a mistake not to bring it up, along with a few other crucial questions. First, you might be interested to know that IT job site Dice.com reports employers plan to hire more entry-level techies in the next six months than at any time since 2011. But almost 40% of all new grads with job offers had not accepted any by the time they got their sheepskins, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, so you’re not the only one hesitating.
亲爱的“犹豫不决者”：这绝对是一个切中肯綮的问题。事实上，如果你不提出这个问题，以及其他几个关键问题，你就会犯错的。首先，你或许有兴趣知道，IT类求职网站Dice.com报道称，许多雇主计划在未来半年招聘的入门级技术人员数量比2011年以来的任何时段都要多。但根据全美大学与雇主协会 (National Association of Colleges and Employers)提供的数据，在所有收到入职邀请信的应届大学生中，差不多有四成学生拿到毕业证书时还没有接受任何一个工作机会。所以说，你并不是唯一一位还在犹豫的毕业生。
Moreover, you’re wise to look carefully at more than just pay. Dice.com’s new hiring survey suggests that, among IT people looking to change jobs, 61% are asking prospective employers for more money than six months ago. Nothing wrong with that, of course. But when online tech community Wisegate polled hundreds of senior IT managers and CIOs in April, two-thirds said they plan to change jobs within two years—and most are using criteria other than money to choose their next move.
此外，你最好还是全盘考虑，不要只盯着薪酬待遇。Dice.com最新发布人才市场调查显示，在打算换工作的IT专业人士中，有61%的人要求潜在雇主提供比6个月前更高的薪酬。这种要求当然无可厚非。但根据在线技术社区Wisegate四月份面向数百位高级IT经理和CIO的调查，有三分之二的人表示他们计划在两年内跳槽——谈到下一个东家的选择标准时，除工资待遇之外，大多数人还使用了其他指标。
One of those is whether the IT department is, as you put it, “isolated from the rest of the company.” Says Sara Gates, Wisegate’s CEO, “You’re right to be concerned about that. You should ask whether you’ll have a chance to work closely with people in other departments and whether IT is involved in developing company strategy, or is more of an afterthought.”
正如你所言，其中一项指标是，IT部门是否“被公司其他部门孤立了。”Wisegate公司CEO萨拉•盖茨表示，“你担心这个问题是对的。你应该打听一下，你是否有机会跟其他部门的员工密切合作，IT部门究竟是制定公司战略的参与者之一，还是一个可有可无的配角。”
She notes that almost nine out of ten (88%) of seasoned IT managers say that it’s increasingly important for techies to develop “soft” skills like understanding strategy, negotiating, leadership, and building relationships, so that they have a voice in where the business is headed.
她指出，差不多有九成(88%)资深IT经理表示，技术人员务必要开发一些“软”技能，比如理解策略，谈判，领导力和建立关系，唯如此，他们才能够对企业发展方向施加影响力。
With that in mind, the managers in the poll suggested asking interviewers questions like these: “What kinds of opportunities will I have to develop ‘soft’ skills, along with technical skills?”; “What peers in other departments, outside of IT, will I regularly interact with?”; and “In what ways does the IT department here influence business strategy?” If it still seems as if IT is indeed isolated from everyone else, “go with your gut,” Gates says. “Don’t take the job.”
考虑到这一点，本次调查受访的经理人建议求职者询问面试官这样一些问题：“除了技术能力之外，我将获得哪些机遇来开发‘软’技能？”；“我会定期跟哪些非IT部门的同事互动交流？”；以及“IT部门以什么方式影响公司的经营战略？”倘若IT部门看上去真的被其他所有人孤立了，“那就跟随你的感觉，不要接受这份工作。”盖茨说。
Three other findings from the Wisegate survey about picking the right employer for you:
来自这项调查的其他三个发现或许有助于你挑选合适的雇主：
Go big. Startups and small companies have cultivated a reputation for being hotbeds of opportunity for techies, so “it’s counterintuitive that the bigger a company is, the more seriously they take IT, and the more IT people take part in setting strategy,” Gates says. But the poll found that, in companies with 5,000 or more employees, IT managers said their role is taken “very seriously” virtually 100% of the time—versus just 23% of their peers in enterprises with fewer than 500 employees who said so.
去大公司。初创企业和小公司一向以机会多多著称，被誉为技术人员的温床。所以，“公司越大，IT部门越受重视，参与战略制定的IT人员也就越多，似乎是一种违反直觉的观点，”盖茨说。但这项调查发现，供职于大公司（员工人数超过5,000人）的IT经理表示，他们的角色在几乎任何时候都“备受重视”。相比之下，在员工人数少于500人的企业，仅有23%的IT经理作出上述表示。
Look for up-to-the-minute technology. IT job hunters should ask questions “that help you get an understanding of how aggressive, or how cautious, the company is in adopting new ideas,” Gates says.
寻找最新潮的技术。IT类求职者应该询问一些“有助于你了解这家公司对于采纳新观念的积极或谨慎程度”的问题，盖茨说。
The answer to a query like, “Can you tell me about something new that’s been adopted here recently, and what steps you needed to go through for that to happen?” can speak volumes, she adds: “The interviewer should be able to tell you quickly and clearly about specific projects, like moving something to the cloud or how they’ve dealt with BYOD. Hemming and hawing or ‘We just don’t have the budget right now…’ are definite red flags.”
诸如“你能给我说说贵公司最近采用的某种新理念吗？为了采纳这种理念，你需要经历哪些步骤？”这类问题的答案往往意味深长。她补充说，“面试官应该能够迅速而清晰地阐述具体项目，比如把某项流程转移至云端，或者他们如何应对自带设备办公(BYOD)潮流。支支吾吾，或者说什么‘我们目前还没有这方面的预算，’都是确凿无疑的危险信号。”
Ask about longevity. The IT managers in the Wisegate poll felt strongly that “a critical part of career happiness is finding a good match between yourself and the culture of the company,” Gates says. One way to quickly find out how your IT peers find the work environment is to ask how long the typical techie has worked there. “Ask how many have just joined, and how many have been there for several years, so you get a sense of whether there’s high turnover,” she advises. The ideal is an IT department where many staffers have been with the company for six to 10 years—a sign, Gates says, that “talent is willing to stick around.”
询问同行的供职时间。受访的IT经理强烈地感到“职业幸福感的一个重要部分是，你自己和公司文化非常匹配，”盖茨说。有一种方法可以帮助你迅速查明你的IT同行对工作环境的看法，那就是询问一位典型的技术人员已经在这家公司工作了多长时间。“询问多少人刚刚加入，多少人已经供职多年，这样一来，你就可以大致了解该公司的人才流失率，”她建议道。IT部门最好能够拥有许多在该公司工作了6至10年的员工，倘如此，那就说明“人才愿意留下来，”盖茨说。
That sounds like a lot of questions but, especially since your skills are in demand, there’s no reason to hold back. “Find a job that’s going to serve you well in the future,” says Gates. “A good fit is better for everybody, so be discerning.” Good luck.
这些问题听起来蛮多的。然而，鉴于你的技能很有市场，你就没有理由畏畏缩缩，欲言又止。“找一份最有利于你未来事业发展的工作，”盖茨说。“从事一份合适的工作对所有利益攸关方都是好事。所以，你的眼光一定要雪亮才行。”祝你好运。
Talkback: If you’re in IT, what questions would you ask a prospective employer? Why? Leave a comment below.
反馈：如果你是IT专业人士，你会向潜在雇主询问什么问题？为什么要问这些问题？请留言评论。
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