IT Employment·20,064 discussions

What am I doing wrong? RE: Jobs

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I don’t know what to do anymore. I’ve been out of college for over 8 months searching for work.

I have recently graduated from two college courses. Computer System Technician – Networking, and a Cyberspace Security post-grad. While earning these courses I attended 3 Co-Op’s, an average of 5 months each. One was for the Canadian Military, one was for a Manufacturing company, and the last one was for a small consulting firm. Other then that I’ve been working for myself with small PC repair jobs here and there.

As for certifications I have none currently. I’m not a programmer nor have a high interest in becoming one.

During my search I’ve only had 5 interviews in those 6 months. Currently my search terms are all of Canada, if an employer is willing to arrange relocation I’m willing to go to anywhere in the world.

All the employers out there want experience, 5+ years, but no one is willing to take newcomers under their wing and give them that experience.

Anyone know what I am doing wrong?

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Clarifications

In reply to What am I doing wrong? RE: Jobs

Clarifications

*Selfbump*

In reply to What am I doing wrong? RE: Jobs

*Shameless Self Bump*

I’m not really sure how to respond to this but there was one very important

In reply to What am I doing wrong? RE: Jobs

Piece of Information that I had to learn when I was at Uni doing the Undergrad courses.

The head of the Department always said that [b]No Student should ever be allowed to leave Uni till they knew just how little that they actually knew was correct.[/b] In the same vein the same Guy also constantly said that the Degree was nothing important it just gave you the right to start to learn your Preferred Trade. I understand that the first was a quote from Albert Einstein not sure about the other but they where both [b]Totally Correct.[/b]

You should be looking to start at the bottom and working your way up the food chain. If you didn’t do a lot of work experience while at Uni or College that makes things considerably harder and if you have nothing to show for your time since leaving school this counts against you as well as you are not showing that you are a Go Getter who does things for them self. It shows that you expect people to come running and this just doesn’t happen in Real Life till you have proved yourself to be someone worth chasing.

Basically there is no Substitute for First Hand Experience so the sooner that you start to get some the better off you will be. You can volunteer for Charity Work do your own thing and run a small business or whatever but you need to get some first hand experience and that will teach you that what is in the Books isn’t what actually happens in the [b]Real World.[/b]With anything you need to be flexible and that is one thing that Higher Education fails to teach as it’s not in their best interested to have students question the contents of the Curriculum. Or the relevance of what is being taught. From my limited experience I came to realize that the University that I attended wanted their Students to have Tunnel Vision so that they where easier to deal with and push through the system. That comes from doing 3 Degrees with Post Grad work in all three that resulted in Doctorates with the last 2 being done while holding down a Full Time job. But maybe that’s just me and I’m completely wrong though I have never applied for any Job and have had people constantly Head Hunting me since the company that I started along with some friends after leaving Uni folded. 🙂

Col

This is the IT Field

In reply to I’m not really sure how to respond to this but there was one very important

Part of what you are going through is the Rounding out your Resume, The area you live in can make it harder if there is not a lot of Fiber Optic Cable around there won’t be a lot of High Tech Jobs, I would sign up for sites like Onforce.com and Dice.Com to get yourself out there more, Plus the Job search for IT in the US at least is Online. Onforce will give you discounts for training for your certs, you at least need A+, and Net+ from Comptia, you can probably get your A+ now if a decent training course just look for Questions from Previous tests and see how you do. This will show you can understand what you learned and have a basic competence it will help.

Bad News, IT Managers Don’t Understand

In reply to What am I doing wrong? RE: Jobs

Dear ToughGuy,

Seems like you just need some guidance. I have been and continue to be the hiring manager for consulting and IT service firms. Here is what I recommend:

1) Identify – what are companies looking for. Go to dice or monster and figure out what people want. Look for the common requests.
2) Focus – Become really good at one thing and make sure it is in demand.
3) Network – Don’t resume blast. Get someone to vouch for you. Preferably someone with credibility.
4) Mentor – Find a mentor. Get someone to coach you. Someone who has already faced your struggle.

Best of luck,

Robert,
http://robertmstanley.com/bio
http://twiiter.com/robertmstanley

Where did that come from?

In reply to What am I doing wrong? RE: Jobs

Your background states nothing about programming, more toward network side.

In same sentence with Certs you mention “I’m not a programmer”.

I already figured out you wouldn’t get a job as a programmer from your background. You would have needed different coursework.

However certs ARE important in this market, esp for people who can show no on-the-job experience.

For you, likely should obtain as minimum, A+, CCNA, Security+ and either or both: Linux or M$ certs such as MCP or MCSE. (start with the most basic one, some of the exams count toward more than one)

This shows you are serious about studying those areas where on-the-job experience is lacking.

And take some online courses while you are looking – acm.org or IEEE both have courses. Join for a year and you’ll get access, plus looks good on resume. Each course takes 3 to 11 hours. Plug away and be sure to finish within 3 days.

Print the certificate for each and make a big pile of them, e.g. show ALL the courses for a particular app, not just one. (they’ll have beginner, intermediate, advanced or other breakdowns on topic)

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