Jobs and Careers with James Caan 2012 - (Page 70)

TELECOMMUNICATIONs It’s for youIt’s an industry at the cutting edge – but can you cut the mustard? We check out opportunities within the UK’s booming telecoms trade competitive and innovative markets in the country and providing new career opportunities in a wide array of different activities. Traditionally, although telecommunications broadly refers to any communications carried out over distance (including, for example, television and radio), the word has been applied most commonly to the telephony industry; however, while fundamentally that remains at least partly the case, the diversity of methods through which people now communicate professionally and personally means that telephones are but one aspect of what is still an extremely rapidly expanding space. In a nutshell, the telecoms industry comprises three main types of companies: hardware manufacturers; software producers; and service providers. Some firms, of course, carry out more than one of these roles; others don’t fit snugly into any particular niche; and many roles (for example sales, marketing, office management) spread over all of them. However, one thing which all the industry’s roles have in common is that they require at least a good technical understanding of the many, individuals, some of which could be very geographically disparate (this is, after all, a global industry and it’s not uncommon to have teams on several continents developing the same product). As a result, the ability to work as part of a team is very highly regarded in this field – the old stereotype of the lone inventor changing the world from his or her secretive laboratory is a distant memory – as is the ability to think outside the box: companies in this industry tend to pride themselves on being at the cutting edge, not just in terms of technology, but in business practice generally, and constant innovation is the watchword at many institutions. Few industries have undergone such radical change in recent decades as the telecommunications business. Technological advances as radical as mobile telephony and the advent of the World Wide Web have utterly revolutionised an industry which, itself, has had a revolutionary impact upon society. Meanwhile, legislative changes have seen the industry open up to a huge host of new players, making it one of the most industry and market – and some, of course, require a very high degree of technical and scientific expertise. Fortunately it’s not necessary (or even possible) to reach world-class proficiency in every element of the business. The complexities of the telecommunications industry are such that almost every product – whether hardware or software – brought to market is the result of collaboration between teams of several, or Opportunity hot spots The UK has been at the forefront of at least some aspects of the telecommunications revolution: for example, Vodafone is the world’s largest mobile telecoms provider by revenue, while Cambridge-based ARM Holdings designs processors used in the majority of the world’s mobile phones. Meanwhile, the proliferation of mobile phone and computer usage among UK citizens has led to the development of a 070 www.jobsandcareersmag.com http://www.jobsandcareersmag.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Jobs and Careers with James Caan 2012

Career bites
What really counts
Weighing it all up
Around the world
Ask the experts
Growth sectors
Train your brain
Homework
Carve a career in care
Here come the girls
Mum’s the word
An apple a day
It’s for you-hoo!
A step forward
His & hers
Bank on it
Risky Business
In the money
3 Specialist medical jobs
The stuff of life
Power on
Engineering heroes
Outside the box
Keeping it clean
Your Business with James Caan
Go Go GadGets
On trend office
Take my advice
Getting Going
The bank job
Make the most of your assets
Back to business
The law and you
HR Matters
Make it work
Into the cloud
Design & shine
Reach out
Gorkana and Gurkhas
Protect and prosper
Making it count
Your business or your life?
Nice supplies
Beginning business
Ship it
Ethical business
Backing business
Standing together
Top 10 hiring tips

Jobs and Careers with James Caan 2012