How Do I Get a Good Job?

A New Grad Seeks Your Help...

Published on February 9, 2004 By Zoomba In Misc

Ok, here's the deal, I've recently graduated from Penn State University with a B.S in Information Sciences & Technology with a minor in IT Telecommunications. I've worked for about 8 years total doing tech support work of varying difficulty (from simple troubleshooting to overseeing two computer labs to running my department's servers and doing most minor network work) through High School and College. I can easily work with Windows, MacOS and just about any variety of Linux (some of the pure UNIX distros give me a little trouble as I don't have easy access to software or hardware). However, I'm having one hell of a time getting my first job.

I have a very broad base of experience, meaning I'm minimally familiar with a lot of stuff and have very little in-depth knowledge in any one area, I think this is what is causing a large part of the problem for me right now. I haven't been able to specialize in one particular area yet (yay for the Univ philosophy of teaching nothing but theory and not focusing on any one area) so I can't really go off searching for specialist or sys admin jobs as I lack the required experience.

My question for all of you is, as a largely technical audience I'm guessing many of you work in tech jobs or at least have friends who do, what can I do to make myself more marketable? What sorts of things would I do well to focus in on and teach myself? I have no certifications, and I can't program my way out of a wet paper bag ("Hello World!" is the limit of my knowledge for the most part). I've done a fair bit of web scripting (PHP) but not enough to get a job based on that.

I've uploaded my resume to show what I'm sending around to companies right now, I think for what I know and can do right now that my resume is pretty good, but please feel free to tear it apart and give suggestions.

My Resume

The only absolute career direction I know I want to take right now is anything that isn't help desk/tech support. I want a job that challenges me to learn new things, to expand my skills and knowledge. My major strength right now is that I know I can learn virtually anything if I set my mind to it and invest the time needed, I just don't know right now what to focus on.

Any and all help you can provide is very much appreciated!

-Mike

Comments

KarmaGirl

on Feb 09, 2004

Being that I am one of the decision makers in human resources at the tech company that I work for, I'll give you a bit of real world reality check:

1) the IT market is flooded right now. Though you may fall into some job that pays really well, it's probably not going to happen. You'll start much lower than you think you should and you'll have to work up.

2) there are very few positions open for generalists, which is what you are. Large companies look for people with very specific skills. Smaller companies will look for a generalist, but won't pay very well (or not as well as you expect from having a degree).

So, if you want to get a well paying job, you need to decide what you like to do and become very good at it. It's great to have other skills, but you have to have one main one to start with. Otherwise, you're in the same pool as all the other unemployed tech people.

You may also want to think about adding a cover letter to your resume. Make it specific to the company. Do research on the company and praise them about something that they do that you like. Be prepared to answer questions about what you know about their company in an interview.

You may also want to spruce up your resume. Don't use a standard template for it. Make sure that you have the same info, but make it look more attractive. Also, your "objective" is a bit dry and text book. A little creativity goes a long way. And, make sure that you don't have *any* typos in it (which I don't think you did) and make sure that your contact info is prominently displayed (yours looks like the phone number merged into the text box around it).

Zoomba

on Feb 09, 2004

I was afraid of the generalist thing... It makes me feel like I largely wasted the past 4 years here as I didn't get anything real out of it aside from the piece of paper (which I understand is pretty valuble in and of itself). The program I went through was designed based on what companies were looking for at the height of the tech boom, so now that everything went bust, those of us who graduated before they started to rework everything are in a tight spot.

I'm not necessarily looking for a well-paying job. I consider a good job to be one that I can learn and expand in. Satisfaction is more important than money to me at this point.

I also typically attach a cover letter to my applications, I have a general format I use but modify large chunks depending on where I'm applying to. And I know my objective statement is a bit dry, but I'm still having trouble identifying for myself what my objective is.

I'll look to reformat my resume to make it stand out a bit more (and will definitely fix the contact info box up top).

As I said, right now my biggest problem is that I don't have a direction yet.

Thanks for the feedback KG, it is greatly appreciated

PoetPhilosopher

on Feb 09, 2004

I thought the title said "Boob Job"... moving on.

KarmaGirl

on Feb 09, 2004

You can also apply at Stardock. We don't currently have any openings, but we keep resumes on file.

I have heard that a lot of people have luck with CareerBuilder.com Monster.com is very expensive for employers to use, so you will typically only find the really big companies with ads on them.

Decent tech jobs are hard to find right now. The last job that we advertised for got over 200 applications within less than 2 weeks, and that was for a very specific job. We have also gotten a lot of IT managers and so forth applying for jobs. Most of them came from the dot bomb era, and are still looking for $80,000 to start. Which, in this area, isn't going to happen (and is also why a lot of those people have been out of work for over 2 years).

It's a tough market, but if you get in to a place that you like and work your way up, you'll get to where you want to be.

Zoomba

on Feb 09, 2004

The more I look at openings and requirements, the more I realize that I'm going to need to find a small firm to get in with and work my way up from there. I need to pick something more specific than general IT to make myself stand out. I'm considering Linux and MySQL certifications at some point in the next year, and am considering focusing in on PHP as my skill of choice. Now I just need to start myself on a project to learn all of this.

PoetPhilosopher

on Feb 09, 2004

Where are you geographically located? If you want to move to Redmond, I'm sure you could find a job

Lots of talent still out there in the sw dev world (not to mention India) - I can't speak to the IT arena.

"The only absolute career direction I know I want to take right now is anything that isn't help desk/tech support"

How about McDonalds. Seriously, with a goal such as you have, that is what some people will think. You really need to steer away from giving that impression in an interview. From what you've said - I would move on - and I have been in charge of hiring people for many years. Honest truth.

If you are looking for career progression, IT to QA may be a good avenue.

Zoomba

on Feb 09, 2004

The avoiding help desk goal is not one I would vocalize in an interview or even hint at. The desire to steer away from that is simply because that's what I've been doing for going on 8 years now and I'm feeling burnt out. It would not be good to go into a new job pre-stressed and frazzled. This is a decision I made to stay sane. Sadly given my current skillset, I may have to at least start in help desk and work my way up.

And as far as relocation goes, I'll gladly move anywhere.

JeremyG

on Feb 09, 2004

One thing I recommend.....

If you're listing yourself as intermediate in HTML....then where's your resume in HTML format?

It's rare that I do any interviewing being that I'm a contractor, but often times I'm asked to "tech someone out", which means when they come in, give them a decent grilling and make sure they're not full of shit. Being from the contracting side, my opinions might be different than typical HR hiring procedure; though there's at least one line in your resume that I'd call BS on, and probably only because you don't make I very clear.

Managed a complete network migration for three separate buildings in 2003.

What the hell does this mean? Were you the project manager? Or do you mean you managed to get through it? *grin*
What does network migration mean? Updating from Novell to NT? From WinNT 4.0 to Win2003? Or does this mean actual *network*, as in, the subnets and vlans were changing? For a technical position this line is very un-technical.

Take out numbers!!! 40 Computers?....60 computers?....that's piddly in the "real world". Obviously as a technical person I understand that the methodology of manageing 40 is similar to that of managing 4000, but it will appear (especially to HR) that you have no experience in large environments. Personally I think that "Provided support for the faculty staff and instructors" sounds more impressive than reading a number (a low number).

"Organized and scheduled other ....." You're a computer guy now, not a secratary. You don't organize anything, you automate it!

JeremyG

on Feb 09, 2004

btw, that wasnt meant to "rip you up" in the least, just tryign to give lots of input.

Also I wasnt suggesting you distribute an HTML resume...but that you have one available.

Capt775

on Feb 09, 2004

Ok, from the little guy, who just happens to have made it to management and owns his own buisness.

DON'T GIVE UP, keep following your dream and goals. It starts slow, but when it hits, as smart as you appear to me, I hope you have your seat belt on.

Keep a good work ethic. As a supervisor I like good workers that show interest in their jobs but when they get to the point where even I think I'm holding them back I tell them to start looking elsewhere. Not that I'm gonna can them, they just aren't gonna reach their potential working for me.

Your gonna make it, don't get impatient.

When I was your age I didn't think that I would ever be able to retire. I'm 43, I'll retire (so to speak), when I'm 48.

imajinit

on Feb 09, 2004

If you're under 35 and in decent shape, join the military... get commisioned and go work in Communications.

The Air Force would be your best bet... the Army is a close 2nd...

you said you'd gladly move anywhere, and they'll move you. You said you're lacking a specialty, they'll train you, and pay you for it... base pay for a 2nd Lt. (your initial rank) is $2264.00 per month... within 2 years, you'll be making close to $3000 a month (that's base pay, which doesn't include housing, healthcare & dental care(free), and subsistence)

they'll train you to lead, give you experience that the corporate world is begging for, and you'd only have to do 4-6 years if you don't like it.

Stay 20 years, make 0-4 (major) and you'll be making $5700 per month... then when you retire, they'll pay you 50% of that per month for the rest of your life...

http://www.dfas.mil/money/milpay/pay/2004paytable.pdf

Zoomba

on Feb 10, 2004

I'd like to thank everyone for the excellent suggestions and criticisms, this is exactly what I was looking for when I posted this particular article. I know things aren't hopeless, or even all that bad, I just feel a bit overwhelmed where I am right now. I'm looking at training and cert programs in my area to take to give me some more stand-out skills and will be looking around the area at smaller companies to get in with. I also plan on building a few good project examples in PHP to show off to potential employers. I'm starting to get some decent ideas about how to progress from here, just need to get started on it all.

Again, thank you all for your suggestions and ideas!

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