New IT student hardup for employment, need some advice

F

Flagg

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 12, 2001
Messages
266
I have been working with computers and networking for almost 12 years, and have been doing sidework for it for nearly 5 years. I was in the telecom industry for 5 years as well installing/troubleshooting sonet rings, DS1/DS3 circuit and end use CPE. The telecom industry took a big crash and as a result i was laid off. Having seen the writeing on the wall I went to my local technical college and got the "Networking Technican Certificate" I am also taking my Net+ and possibly my CCNA. However its come to the point where I need a job, and I am having a hard time getting interviews. I was hoping some of the more veteran IT guys/gals out there could give me some advice. Should I include my telecom experiences on my resume? Should I drop that and stick with what I learned in school? Are there key things that employers in the IT industry look for in a resume? I am extremely frustrated and cannot for the life of me figure out what I am doing wrong. Thanks in advance.

p.s any employers looking for an entry-intermediate level employee in the washington state are let me know :)

p.p.s. I was looking at the linux+ cert and was curious if this is a sought after certifcation for employers??
 
I would definately include the telecom experience if I were you. Unfortunately I am in Atlanta, but we may be doing some hiring in the coming months. Currently I work in a group troubleshooting Frame and ATM circuits up to DS3, Cisco routers of all types, and Nortel passport switches. If you are interested send me your resume and when the openings come up I can submit it for you. No promises of course, but I have been told that there will be two slots opening up soon...
 
Flagg said:
Should I include my telecom experiences on my resume?
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YES! Definitely include that telecom experience.

Are there key things that employers in the IT industry look for in a resume?
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Experience and education. Certifications meant something 4-5 years ago. Today they mean jack (unless of course you're a CCIE - then they mean everything).

I am extremely frustrated and cannot for the life of me figure out what I am doing wrong.
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Hang in there man.
 
Experience and education. Certifications meant something 4-5 years ago. Today they mean jack (unless of course you're a CCIE - then they mean everything).
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Not true at all. Me and a friend went to the same training school and took the same program. We are in similar jobs in the networking field and I make $20K more just for having my Microsoft certs. I also wouldn't have gotten that job without them.
 
Have somebody check your resume... preferrably an HR person... I had a friend who had two degrees that can't even land an interview ... and found out that her resume is laid out wrong ... changed it and got a job in a month after that ...
 
Just the way the info is organized ... since she does not have a lot of work experience ... her educational background was emphasized more ... and her list of skills were updated ... she neglected to add that she has experience in databases and application development ... granted thess are school projects and not real life work experiences ... but they are skill sets nonetheless ...
 
You only get 10-15 seconds to make an impression with HR when they view your resume, so the layout is just as important as the content, if not more so. Its like sending a company a commercial for yourself. An analogy is TV commericals. For example, if you see a 2 commercials on TV for competing products, one kicks ass and another sucks, but the sucky commerical was for a technically superior product, guess which one you're more likely to buy. Reason being is that the sucky commercial failed to gain the attention of the person watching, or left a bad impression with them of the product because of how bad the commercial was. Simply psychological things like that can make all the difference. Bottem line: Even if you have a technically superior product, if your commercials for it suck then you're not going to sell too many of your products.That's the lesson the 70's and 80's tought American advertising agencies. And resumes are no exception.

I've started a resume thread and stickied it so everyone can get the feedback they need.
 
I have actually thought about having a pro look at my resume. I just find it hard to believe that employers wouldnt like ANY technical experience when fresh out of school (which is basically where I am starting from again) Thanks for the encouragement I will keep lugging away at it.
 
the resume is the crucial point. i have my GF look at mine from time to time, and my father sent me his to use as a reference since a pro helped him do his. it is very important and really the main problem with people having trouble finding jobs.

i saw a guy's resume who was looking for a new gig. he had a ton of experience with networking stuff, but when i looked at his resume i was like he could very well be god, but he won't get a job with this. it was like 3 pages of technical jargon.

what you want is to make concise statements regarding your experience that have some emphasis in them. like:
-Extensive experience administering Windows 2000 network environment.
instead of:
-Experience with kernel-mode driver options for the HP 2000 flux capacitor running Windows 2000 Advanced Server and g33ktastic flim flam.
 
Oh I agree. I try to keep my resume as generic as possible. While listing what skills I have but keeping the resume broad enough that I don't nit pick at the little things.
 
enforcer17 said:
Not true at all. Me and a friend went to the same training school and took the same program. We are in similar jobs in the networking field and I make $20K more just for having my Microsoft certs. I also wouldn't have gotten that job without them.
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Come to the Bay Area and try and flash around a cert after being fresh out of a training school. You'll be thrown in a lowly call center job so fast you won't know what hit you.
 
And that's why I'm never gonna work in the US.

Also, where do you see that I'm fresh out of school. This could've been a year or more ago for all you know.
 
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