If a career as an IT manager appeals to you, author and career consultant Janice Weinberg has some ideas to help you land that all-important first gig. Weinberg says many IT professionals engage in managerial activities or have opportunities to use supervisory skills, but they need to emphasize those competencies and de-emphasize their technical skills in their resumes to score a management job. Weinberg agreed to share several strategies from her latest book, Debugging Your IT Job Search: A Compass to Winning the Management Job You Really Want, with our Dice community.

Hands-on supervisory experience

If your boss would like to hire a junior associate, but is limited by budget constraints, volunteer to hire a college intern and act as their supervisor. Then, take credit for the supervisory experience, the idea and the cost savings to show employers you are capable of thinking and acting like a manager.

Managerial expertise in your resume

Instead of providing a laundry list of technical skills and strengths in your resume, embed technical expertise in responsibility or accomplishment statements to demonstrate your managerial competency. Here¿s an example:

"Skilled at drawing upon knowledge of COBIT and ISO 27001/2 in conducting risk assessments that serve as the foundation for IT governance processes," says Weinberg

Don't emphasize technical activities when describing your project experience; instead focus on administrative and managerial responsibilities and accomplishments, she adds

"If you've developed budgets, defined staffing requirements or implemented project timelines talk about those responsibilities and any accomplishments you achieved like delivering the project below budget without compromising quality," suggests Weinberg.

If you've selected vendors, developed RFPs or managed third party relationships describe those activities and soon you'll be moving from a cubicle to a corner office, says Weinberg

--Leslie Stevens-Huffman