Skills Framework for the Information Age

Questions: 1. Should SFIA framework is to be used for highlighting the achievements in resume? 2. How the cover letter is to be improved that the employer will stand out the same from the pile? Answers: (1). The Skills Framework for the Information Age or SFIA is used for describing the level of managing competencies mainly for the IT and ICT professionals. The framework is given in many fields and education areas. It shows the level of certain characteristics and traits such as responsibility, professional service, influence, autonomy and others (von Konsky 2014). These are some of the professional skills and are highly appreciated in the corporate world. Thus, a person getting certified in this framework is bound to get more attention in the professional field than someone who does not posses the certificate. In fact, the organization has been formed not for the sake of making profit but to certify the right person with the correct level of skills and intelligence. The framework even teaches seven levels of responsibility; these are- Follow, assist, apply, enable, ensure and advice, initiate and influence and lastly to set strategy, inspire and mobilise (Xun et al. 2015). These factors when learnt by a person are sure to improve the view point of the person having a look in the resume. It must not be forgotten that a person is judged for the first time on the basis of the resume presented by him or her. Thus, more positive and effective information included in the resume, the impression would be much better. Definitely, the SFIA framework is to be included in the resume just to grab the attention of the employers and create a better image in front of them. (2). Indeed cover letter is the first thing that the employer sees that includes the details of the applicant. It must include all the vital information that are to be acknowledged to the employers. It must also discuss about the capability and the achievements one has experienced in his or her life. The present cover letter shows the enthusiasm of the candidate to work in the particular work place where the person is hoping to get employed (Guffey and Loewy 2012). However, in the present cover letter, more emphasis has been made on the persons desire of getting the job rather than highlighting the capabilities and achievement that have been earned. Apart from writing only about the fact that the person is interested in working in that particular firm, or telling about the things that he excels, it is expected to highlight the experience and the achievements that the person has done in his working or even in the education career (Dillman et al. 2014). In order to make the cover letter a little more attractive and highlighted to bring it on the top of the pile, certain recommendations can be made. The important things must be clearly written with proper headings and the information that is to be provided must be concise but the most important one to disclose to the employers. Reference list: Dillman, D.A., Smyth, J.D. and Christian, L.M., 2014.Internet, phone, mail, and mixed-mode surveys: the tailored design method. John Wiley Sons. Guffey, M.E. and Loewy, D., 2012.Essentials of business communication. Cengage Learning. von Konsky, B.R., Jones, A. and Miller, C., 2014, January. Visualising career progression for ICT professionals and the implications for ICT curriculum design in higher education. InProceedings of the Sixteenth Australasian Computing Education Conference-Volume 148(pp. 13-20). Australian Computer Society, Inc.. Xun, L.S., Gottipati, S. and Shankararaman, V., 2015, June. Text-mining approach for verifying alignment of information systems curriculum with industry skills. InInformation Technology Based Higher Education and Training (ITHET), 2015 International Conference on(pp. 1-6). IEEE.