How to Take Your Help Desk Career to the Next Level

Did you know that the recruitment of skilled labor in specialized areas like information technology has become highly competitive? According to a recent CareerBuilder study, IT is one of the fastest-growing and highest-paying jobs this year.

For rookie IT workers, the help desk can be a launching pad for a rewarding career in IT. Help desk employees must balance customer service skills with technical know-how, and learn business processes and crisis management alongside technical hardware and software skills.

This unique combination makes the help desk a true roadmap to a promising career, teaching inexperienced IT professionals the diverse skills they will need as they advance in their careers. Below are a few of the skills you’ll need to perfect in order to make the transition from help desk to senior-level IT:

• Customer service aptitude: The help desk teaches soft skills such as patience, communication, conflict resolution, and leadership as well as hard skills such as troubleshooting, applications, and operating systems. These skills are a requirement for almost every job a help desk technician might advance to down the road.
• Tech Savviness: As a help desk technician you learn an array of valuable technical skills, such as opening and closing tickets, tracking and organizing customer issues, and utilizing Web-based tools. However, in order to take your career to the next level you have to continue your training and earn certifications and credentials. For example, finish off your CompTIA A+ certification
• Crisis management abilities: People often call the help desk in a panic, and count on technicians to calm them down and walk them through resolving the issue. Learning to keep your cool in tough situations is a skill that will undoubtedly serve you throughout your career.

As with any entry-level position, your experience working the help desk is what you make of it. Savvy help desk employees leverage their position to gain knowledge, skills, and credibility that will help them advance up the ladder to senior help desk positions, management, or other areas of IT.

Best of luck in climbing the corporate ladder!

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