"Only motivated, results-oriented, go-getters who can problem solve and think outside the box need apply."

You probably read this in many advertisements. Virtually all Dot Coms want people who can think new. In Internet time, competition is only a click away.

What are the right skills for a Dot Com job?
The general skills are to be Internet savvy, understand user requirements and aptitude to capitalise on the advantage that the web provides in delivering faster and better.

Who are the right people?
A journalist, an engineer, a salesman, a grocer, a medical student - just about anyone. Everyone needs to understand how they can use the Internet to succeed in business.

As Dot Coms evolve new business models, they also offer challenges that will excite you about your work and the opportunity to help reshape the way the world does business. Even if you don't get rich, a Dot Com job can help you develop skills and experience that will set in motion toward a rewarding career. Chief among these will be the ability to adapt quickly to new technology and learn at the speed of your Internet connection. The e-world changes direction about every six months.

essentials
If you cannot deal with vaguely defined job roles, high pressure, and fast-evolving environments, this is not the industry for you. If you don't fit in a company's culture, it is going to be a hard road, considering the hours you will work for and the pressure you will be under.

Dot coms remain flexible to enable them to change plans fast. It is like reloading a new web page. If you pay attention, you will notice that every time you reload you are staring at new information. "It is like every day is the last week of school," quips a Dot Com executive. You've got to think fast, act quickly, and love ambiguity if you are going to thrive at a Dot Com.

a role playing game
You are a good suit for a Dot Com career if you are capable of mixing technical and business skills.

Dot Coms can be a career changer's playground. However acquiring the required "e" skills is tough. Dot Coms require a well-balanced skill-mix-skills need to be wide, but not deep. For people who need to play these roles, the learn-to-deliver time is short. While a learn-on-the-fly approach suits some, lack of structure, experience and standards common to workplaces may not suit others. You will quite often be required to double up in others' roles.

There are three primary classified areas into which all Dot Com jobs fall - business, technology and content.

business: those involved with the strategy, decision making, business development, advertising and promotion, building relationships, market and traffic analysis etc.

technology: those involved in the web site architecture, programming and maintenance of the web site etc.

content: The ones who actually take the cake today. These guys create the stuff for the users to use on the web site. Activities include design, graphics, text, navigation etc.

However, in a Dot Com, it is very important to understand aspects of operations and business beyond the role you play. Dot Coms also have functions such as administration, human resource management and finance and accounts. The key is, all the above functions are different when compared to a brick-and-mortar business. As a Dot Com ventures into e-commerce, it will need people with different skills such as logistics and warehouse management.

core business skills
With e-Commerce, new age managers have arrived. Internet companies are in need of marketing experts and have been stealing marketing managers from large corporations and consulting companies. Hired on the merit of their marketing knowledge, a majority of them do not have technical experience.

Internet companies are beginning to look for advertising and PR professionals who can help them reach users. Data-hungry marketing managers are looking for market researchers to help them use data to better understand their users. Young managers with a fine aptitude for the web can look forward to an exciting career in the Dot Com world.

skillz
There are several levels of skills which will get you into a Dot Com. If you are a senior level manager with valuable industry experience relevant to a Dot Com, you should be greeted with open arms. If you have Internet consulting experience at a consulting firm, or have computer industry experience with a big name company, you should fit well into any Dot Com. If you have industry specific experience, you should be welcome at a site related to that industry.

If you are in an entry level, there are ways to get into the job market. Web sites need people part time to create new content or tweak some of the existing pages. So, two of the best paths into web employment are content production, or writing and learning HTML so you can help with simple work on web pages.

the techies around
The Dot Com world is an employer's market today with recruiters on the constant lookout for talent for anyone with any knowledge of building anything Internet based. Basically, anyone who understands the big picture of how various technologies integrate will hold a skill set that will be in high demand in the Dot Com arena.

To move into this area, invest in developing skills in Java, ASP, SGML, Perl/CGI, Visual C++, Visual J++ and 4-GL GUI/RDBMS tools. A comprehensive understanding of networking, data transfer, back-end logic, XML, EDI, transactional analysis, data modeling, warehousing and mining skills will continue to be in demand.

In conclusion, virtually everyone who is working, is web savvy and is a risk taker has a world of opportunity to their advantage. Was that a recruitment manager turned career counselor who suggested a SWOT analysis for Dot Com jobs?