Job Hunting, Career Changes & Skill Development made easy through framework used extensively by Australian governments and businesses.

What are SFIA & mySFIA?

SFIA is the Skills Framework for the Information Age, and constitutes a set of 147 skills measured along 7 levels of responsibility to help define “the skills and competencies required by professionals who design, develop, implement, manage and protect the data and technology that power the digital world.” (SFIA Website).

mySFIA is an ACS tool that enables our members to profile and assess their skills according to the SFIA framework, demonstrating their current capacity and identifying areas for growth that could help accelerate their career development.

Why should I care?

This was the biggest question I had going into the day-long course on behalf of the student cohort – what was the relevance of the SFIA framework to the modern job-hunter, how did it connect to industry and how could it be used by those entering the tech industry for the first time.

Four major talking points came out of the day:

SFIA is the framework of choice for Australia’s tech industry:

• The Australian Public Service Commission (APSC) and the Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) use SFIA to underpin aspects of their Capability Development throughout the Australian Public Sector, meaning that being fluent with SFIA will give you an edge when applying for jobs with Australia’s second largest employer.
• This shapes Australian employment standards far beyond the APS itself – so even if you’re looking at private sector roles, understanding the SFIA framework and how your skillset fits into it can be a major advantage when it comes to developing your tech career.

 SFIA is helpful for those looking to change careers:

• We know a lot of our student members are re-training from other industries, and the SFIA framework is perfectly positioned to help you identify which skills you already have that can apply to hundreds of tech industry jobs. It was fascinating to hear stories such as that of a government department, who were able to complete a major tech project by looking at their existing workforce of professionals and finding those who had the skills and interest necessary to transfer into technology roles – creating huge savings in cost and time by hiring internally.
• Here at the SSM team we are always telling our members to not undervalue your past experiences – every industry needs a technology team, and technology is deeply integrated with sales, marketing and many other elements of business operations.
• Despite holding no formal IT qualifications, nor having directly worked in a technology-focused role, I was able to identify dozens of skills within the framework that I possess – some at quite an advanced level!

SFIA can help narrow down what projects to work on:

• An important element of the framework to note for student members in particular when utilising the self-evaluation tool within mySFIA is that the framework is based on practical working experience rather than theoretical knowledge.
• This means that many skills you may possess on a theoretical basis through your university studies are not recognised as being held on a professional level. It is important to not be discouraged by this – instead see it as a way to focus in on the kinds of volunteering, internships and self-directed projects you wish to undertake.
• Aim to gain the practical experience necessary to be able to claim a level of expertise in the skills you need for the job roles you want –  ACS has an Occupations Framework featuring common industry job titles within the mySFIA tool that can be a great way of finding which skills are most important for you to put into practice!

SFIA Skills Descriptors are the PERFECT way to upgrade your CVs & Cover Letters:

• This one should be pretty self-evident if you’ve been paying attention – since much of the Australian tech industry understands the SFIA framework and utilises it when designing position descriptions, and the SFIA framework provides descriptions of skills at varying levels of seniority and experience, you should absolutely be using it to help articulate your skillset and how it can address the key selection criteria for jobs you’re applying for.
• This is not to say that you should be telling every prospective employer you’re a Level 4 in Software Configuration, but that you should be looking over the descriptions of your skills within the framework and personalising from there, creating a solid practical skeleton that you can flesh out to accurately address the needs of your desired role.
• An example comes from when I looked at my own skills in Digital Marketing, evaluating myself to be at a Level 3 in this area. This gave me the following points directly from the SFIA framework:

Digital marketing: Level 3 

• Implements digital marketing activities across multiple channels.
• Monitors campaign performance and makes basic optimisations.
• Assists in the development of digital marketing content. Follows procedures to comply with regulatory requirements and platform policies.
• Contributes to the analysis of marketing metrics and prepares reports. Supports the planning and execution of marketing performance improvement initiatives.

By taking these points and adding examples of my exact experiences (such as which platforms I have used, what optimisations I have made and when I have executed performance improvements) I could easily build out talking points for my resume, cover letter and interviews that allow me to speak with authority and clarity about my skills.

As demonstrated by this article, mySFIA and the SFIA framework are powerful tools for your career development, but may be intimidating at first glance.

If you are a student member who would like more information on how best to utilise this or any other aspect of the ACS membership benefits, reach out to our student membership team by emailing us at acsstudent@acs.org.au.

Try out mySFIA Today

https://mysfiabeta.acs.org.au/login

Article written by Jasmine Best, Student Engagement Coordinator, ACS.