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Job Hunting

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Hello Everyone, at this point i am stressed….. i’ve been applying for IT support positions for the last 4 1/2 months.. and the part that is really stressing me is, no call backs.. i feel that i have a decent resume with enough basic experience (1 year internship) along with an Associates degree, A+ and Network + certified..Does it really takes this long to find your first entry level job in IT, i’m not rushing, but i don’t want to feel like i’m getting my bachelor’s for nothing.. which i will be graduating in March 2011…. another problem is, people keep telling me to keep studying, but i don’t even know where to start or what to study.. simply because i’m not working in the field… i can see if i were working and my job had a specific software for example, then that would be my focus..I’m not going to give up…but at this point i need some motivation….. anyone???

Topic

Keep on looking…

In reply to Job Hunting

4.5 months???? That’s nothing. It can take much longer to get a job in IT. A guy I worked with searched for over a year and a half before finding a full time job. He had to take a bunch of small contract work to survive. The issue is probably in your area, the market is saturated with people that have more experience than you.

Try volunteering some time to worthy organizations (charity’s, church’s, etc), that can get you noticed. Not to mention it can make you feel good.

My question is what do you want to do? There are jobs that are very focused vs some that are very broad. Like a computer repair person may touch PC’s, printers, home routers/switches etc, iPods etc. Where as a network engineer would probably only work on routers and switches.

Best of luck!!

March 2011 is too far away for them

In reply to Job Hunting

They won’t make a hiring decision now because they don’t have to, after all you might not pass…

Look for work you can fit in now, voluntary or otherwise, if your internship has finished see if they have something you can help them with, they might even pay you if they liked you.

The trick is when you’ve graduated to have as much real world experience (even if it’s not directly related to IT) on your resume as possible. That way you are well in front of all the foolish types sat on their arse thinking they are owed a job and you are cheaper than all the ones who’ve not yet accumulated much experience.

As for what to work on, unless you can get a post graduation promise your guess is as good as anyones. Keep applying the fundamentals.

What to study?

In reply to Job Hunting

Since you don’t have any job requirements to focus on, go with what you enjoy. There must be some classes you liked more than others; pursue those subjects. With any luck, you’ll find employment in those areas.

Stick with it. While my longest unemployed period was only four months, I wound up settling for a crapola job just to pay the bills. It was another three years before I got back into an area of the field I enjoyed.

In the meantime, try attending some professional society meetings; there have got to be a couple in Richmond. It can’t hurt to get your name and face in front of people who might be hiring. Even if the organizations aren’t exactly what you’re interested in, take a shot anyway.

I assume you’ve touched base with the school’s placement department.

Study English

In reply to What to study?

Your long-term career advancement will be constrained if your communication skills are mediocre. Take advantage of the great value a community college offers so that you can express what you know and what you think clearly and in compliance with grammar and usage conventions. You also need to be ready to understand and be comfortable with people whose communication style is sophisticated.

May I assume

In reply to Study English

you were responding to the original poster and not to me?

Indeed…

In reply to May I assume

you might assume I was responding to the original poster. Not only that, the assumption would be correct. Sorry for my placement error.

May I add

In reply to Indeed…

Palmetto is not only a wordsmith pretty near beyond reproach, but a thinker, as well. I step carefully around him.

bah!

In reply to May I add

it’s Palmie, if he gets out of line Mae’s shovel comes in handy. 😀

that’s why we give him a new hard had every few months. 😉

Is that…

In reply to bah!

hat? ?:| (and why does this smiley look like elvis before replacing? Of course, the real Elvis is @:o, not to be confused with Clark Kent @B|.

good point

In reply to Study English

There are far to many semi literate people in the workforce.

or better yet, the IT Pro who can’t run a spell checker on their email, so it’s chock full of typographical errors.
Or the idiocy of using IM shorthand in official communication.

Written and Oral communication skills are among the most important tools anyone can have in the workplace.

Written and Oral communication skills

In reply to good point

Wholy Crapp! That’s one big Golf Bag you’re waving around there… and normative language use is only 0.001% of it’s content.

Communication skills are the most important tools anyone can have, in any work, in any time. Not excluding pre-lingual prehistory.
Just look at silverbacks.

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