How difficult is it for YOU to locate a new job?

Success101

Obviously the job market is horrible in many locations. However, I have noticed many are finding jobs with ease.

aftereffector

I basically lucked into my current job through a connection. If it hadn't existed, I think I would be more in your former category I don't have recruiters filling up my voicemail or inbox, and I haven't received much attention from the major defense contractors (SAIC, Lockheed, GD C4IS).

olaHalo

In my area:
Low level jobs- Easy
Mid level jobs- Easy
Upper Level- Havent tried because I lack the experience, certs, and education (for now)

I also shotgun my resume all around and interview whenever I can (just the midlevel stuff). Even if I dont expect to take the job.
It allows me to know how much Im worth and what my options are. Also its great practice

Most IT guys in my area have told me similar stories. Never had trouble finding work here

nman99

Enterprise positions for networking or systems in northern New England (Maine, New Hampshire, or Vermont) have been extremely easy to find for me . I have bounced a few times in the last year and I have always had to narrow my field of interviews from 10+ interested companies to just a handful otherwise it was getting to crazy to juggle them all. Some of this is related to the fact that there really is a lack of networking or systems engineers in this area. I just jumped out of the enterprise and into the service provider world up in northern New England so it was a little bit more limited in selection but definitely liking it better so far. I'm assuming your currently looking for work so good luck in your search, don't give up!

snunez889

olaHalo wrote: »

In my area:
Low level jobs- Easy
Mid level jobs- Easy
Upper Level- Havent tried because I lack the experience, certs, and education (for now)

I also shotgun my resume all around and interview whenever I can (just the midlevel stuff). Even if I dont expect to take the job.
It allows me to know how much Im worth and what my options are. Also its great practice

Most IT guys in my area have told me similar stories. Never had trouble finding work here

What area do you live in?


I live in California and the market is not that great.

markulous

snunez889 wrote: »

What area do you live in?


I live in California and the market is not that great.

I'm heading back to California possibly in a couple of years and I see you're into networking judging by your certs. Are you looking specifically in the I.E.? If so, that could be part of it. The economy has never been great there, which is why everyone and their mom commutes into LA/OC.

shodown

I don't really look for corp jobs due to me having my own business, but i do look for corp to corp work to fill up in billable hours. They tend to be pretty difficult to find as plenty of people want the skill set, but they aren't willing to pay for it. I had a job contact me a few days ago They wanted me to be an expert across all aspect of voice, help them do an upgrade to 10.5 and re-do there call center. They wanted to pay 50hr. I told them no thanks.

snunez889

markulous wrote: »

I'm heading back to California possibly in a couple of years and I see you're into networking judging by your certs. Are you looking specifically in the I.E.? If so, that could be part of it. The economy has never been great there, which is why everyone and their mom commutes into LA/OC.

I work as a jr systems admin... would like to get into a networking roll. Ya the market here sucks, I do commute to work. I just like the IE, born and raised in san diego and move to IE after high school. Grown to like the area.

chronos42

Anybody around the Atlanta/southeast area have any insight? I'm going to be looking for something early next year and am curious what I'm up against.

--chris--

If you scour the job boards, craigslist and other websites in the area I live in it looks bleak.

The reality is completely different. I don't know why, but many of the companies I go to (I work for a MSP) have said they quit looking for an IT person or they look occasionally but never find anyone they feel confident in. Instead they pay us for a known quantity (with a contractual obligation) instead of "gambling" on hiring someone full time that may or may not work out.

Our biggest customer just revealed to me that they had a job posting for 6 months for a full time IT generalist. They collected dozens of resumes but they said the people were either grossly under-qualified or was a good fit but wanted 6 figures.

I think the opportunity exists in all job markets, its just a matter of connecting the people who are looking with the people who can do the job well.

networker050184

I've never had a problem finding a job. I've also never had a problem relocating to for a job. Got to go where the jobs are.

NOC-Ninja

I used to have a problem when I only have a CCNA with less than a year experience.
As of right now, my voicemail is full every end of the week from recruiters/HR. I get a lot of emails all the time from big shot company. (Cisco, Booz Allen, & etc).

olaHalo

snunez889 wrote: »

What area do you live in?


I live in California and the market is not that great.

Las Vegas
Ive gotten offers from people in California though. Nothing worth leaving for. But it seemed odd to me that they would reach out to someone so far away. Id figure they'd have qualified candidates near by

Ive had the most luck with craigslist and actual business sites. Very little luck with Monster, Indeed, etc

jeremywatts2005

Lets put it this way I have no problem finding work anywhere ever. Even now in todays market. I have not been unemployed in my 17yrs of professional experience. I leave a job for another or if I am laid off I make sure I have another waiting in the wings. You can kind of tell when a lay off is coming that is what you start looking. So zero gaps on the resume. I turn down iview after iview especially now that I work in incident response. Waiting for a CIO, CISO or other higher level position to open in my area. I make good wages and love my job so why leave at this point. JUst sitting and gaining more experience and working on some certs. My break will come in another year or two. I will make it happen.

VinnyCisco

Never had an issue here in NYC. Longest it ever took me to find work is 2 months and that was because I was being picky.

DoubleNNs

I have the same problem in the NYC area - not hard to find a position (anymore) but it's hard to find a good fit.

Iristheangel

snunez889 wrote: »

What area do you live in?


I live in California and the market is not that great.

Totally location in your case. The Inland Empire is crappy for jobs. I used to live in Glendora and had to commute to Anaheim to get a $12/hr job. I'm in Los Angeles now. TONS of jobs there. If you look on Craigslist/Dice/Indeed, there is a HUGE difference in job listings. The busier the area, the more jobs usually. I probably would not find a job that pays well if I searched for a job in IE, Fresno, Sacramento, or some random non-metropolitan area.

As far as how hard it is for me to find a job, I think the last time I really had a problem is back in 2007/2008ish before I had certs, experience, or a degree. After that first job, things got a LOT easier. It might also be that I'm a bit more open to recruiters. I know some people will be adamantly against them. My current job is the first job in about 4 or 5 years where I was directly hired without being a contractor first.

snunez889

olaHalo wrote: »

Las Vegas
Ive gotten offers from people in California though. Nothing worth leaving for. But it seemed odd to me that they would reach out to someone so far away. Id figure they'd have qualified candidates near by

Ive had the most luck with craigslist and actual business sites. Very little luck with Monster, Indeed, etc

NOC ninja might of answered that. I have a lil less then a years worth of experience. That one year mark seems to be the magic number.

Repo Man

I wouldn't have an issue but getting equal or higher pay may be difficult.

Nafe92014

The job market here in Manitoba Canada is horrible. I spent 3 months working as a tech before going back to college. Then I managed to get a 3 month term position at a local hospital as a ICT Support Tech (which I loved and made got a start of $14/h). And now, with just obtaining my A+, I'm working at Geek Squad for the time being. I am hoping to move to Ontario in the next few years as the job market there is 10x more sufficient than what I have. hoping to get my technical degree by 2018 as well.

Paulieb81

The south florida area is not that great for tech jobs either, they have some here, but they are mostly low level with low ball offers. The mid level jobs are non existent, and they also have a few high level jobs but want the whole kitchen of certs and of course HR always lists CISSP as a required cert.

bgold87

I'm in RTP and as a mid level engineer I get 3-4 calls/emails a day from companies and recruiters. I think once you get a few years under your belt finding a job is not hard (location permitting.) I moved down here from Louisville and I never had an issue finding work there, it's actually really good job market wise for IT.

pinkydapimp

DoubleNNs wrote: »

I have the same problem in the NYC area - not hard to find a position (anymore) but it's hard to find a good fit.

Ditto for the NYC area. My last job search i spent about 6 months mostly because i was being very. From what i can see NYC tech market is pretty busy right now.

hoktauri

Here in the Charlotte area I get at least 2-3 a week, some might be low end grunt work but not all. On Monday I'm talking to a recruiter about a better position with more hands on work.

Verities

I haven't had a problem finding positions in San Diego since I started in this field about 4 years ago. Plenty of work down here.

Khaos1911

Any suggestions for IT jobs or job websites that offer relocation? I know that's very rare nowadays, but thought I'd ask just in case.

pinkydapimp

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I think it more depends on the company and role. Seems the more senior the role the more they are willing to relocate folks.

i use Indeed for my job searches. Very easy to setup granular alerts for jobs your looking for.

philz1982

Success101 wrote: »

Obviously the job market is horrible in many locations. However, I have noticed many are finding jobs with ease.

Are you willing to travel?

BroadcastStorm

Welcome to IT, I secured a senior position in 1 week.

I think this field will just continue to be in demand, I am thinking of starting my own business, as sometime we do ripped with lucrative projects.

RHEL

I'm in Central New York and if I lost my job, I would have an extremely difficult time finding a UNIX administration/engineering role in the area. I see maybe one or two posted per year.

There just aren't enough big employers in the area that have an IT budget substantial enough to warrant IBM Power hardware and support contracts. There are a few big ones and I've worked for most of them. I would likely have to move to a different area if I wanted to make anything near what I make now.

UnixGuy

RHEL wrote: »

I'm in Central New York ...

There just aren't enough big employers in the area that have an IT budget substantial enough to warrant IBM Power hardware and support contracts. There are a few big ones and I've worked for most of them. ...

That was my problem with Solaris work, so I got a job doing Linux stuff instead. Would you consider moving to a Linux position instead of Unix? I see fewer Unix position everyday, so maybe Linux is our future.