How To Find A+ Jobs?

ElementaryOS

I'm discouraged and not even trying hard anymore. I don't see any jobs advertised online anywhere that I'm qualified for. Okay, I see the rare job once every 2 weeks that I could qualify for though often it's a stretch. (No phone calls though)

I'm thinking F*** it. I should just buy a guitar, pursue my dream of being a rockstar and fix computers on the side.

Any advice?

My time is far too valuable to waste with this non-sense. I have great things to accomplish and instead I'm wasting my time applying for jobs.

iBrokeIT

So you have the A+ certification and what else? The A+ by itself is not a golden ticket to a guaranteed job.

What else have you done besides get the A+ certification?

Sanitize and post your resume on here for review and feedback.

IIIMaster

Do you have a degree? It took me a little over a full year to land my first gig. In the end I had to relocate, just stay with it and keep your options open.

BerkshireHerd

I didn't even have A+ and was hired for Level 2, and I came from a marketing job to boot. Point is change your mindset, most entry level jobs will be helpdesk where you probably do not need A+. What type of positions are you applying for? Are you active on LinkedIn? I connected with a SVP and asked for his advice to break in, he left, gave my name to the VP and the VP contacted me directly on LinkedIn out of the blue one day. Two weeks later I had the offer. The VP was impressed I took the initiative to reach out to the employer instead of sitting back blindly through resumes.

With my resume, I would have never gotten past HR...

TomkoTech

What makes your time so valuable that you cannot be bothered to look for a job? You have an A+? Congrats. What else do you have? Do you have any experience? A degree? Transferable skills?

What resources are you using to search for jobs? Craigslist? Indeed? Monster? Careerbuilder?

No offense but you post exudes immaturity. If you can actually play the guitar and want to pursue music as a career, nothing is stopping you from doing that while you are looking for a job in IT. But you should be focused on learning more. An A+ is an almost meaningless certification that shows you have the basics of computer troubleshooting down. Are you studying for your Network+? Security+? CCNA? A Microsoft cert?

cyberguypr

Wait, time too valuable to look for a job? Not sure if you are being funny or serious...

ElementaryOS

I'm not studying for anything else just now. I wanted to find a job in this field first and add the Net+ and Linux+ after. That was my plan. But I'm at a point in my life where I'm disgusted with who I am and I'm determined to become a completely new person. I'm actively taking steps toward that in other areas of my life.

When I see jobs online that are close to what I'm looking for, it's not the lack of Net+ that's killing me. Here's what's killing me:

#1 - No car! I can't afford a car. But most A+ jobs require a damn car for field work. The rents in my city went up like crazy this year. I'm barely holding on right now. In fact, I'm actually not getting enough hours where I'm working now to keep my 1 bedroom apartment. If that doesn't improve I'll be moving out Jan 1st somewhere, who knows where.
#2 - I see time and again that they want proficiency in Word / Office / Etc.. I never see anyone here mention needing those. Would that new CompTIA cert qualify me there? Strata, I think it's called.
#3 - They always seem to ask for SQL or PSQL or whatever it's called. What does that have to do with the Net+?
#4 - Almost every job ad wants 5+ years experience. I'm not kidding.

TomkoTech

1.) That is the bread and butter of an A+ cert. Driving around to do repairs on peoples home PCs, sub-contracting for Dell/HP in swapping out heatsinks and hard drives in laptops. Which is why I said the A+ was almost a worthless cert unless that is the type of work you want to do.
2.) Proficiency in Word/Office is irrelevant. Whether they put it on a job ad or not. All they want to know is that you know the basics of Microsoft Office and are proficient in using Google to figure out someones issue with it.
3.) If you are looking at jobs with SQL as a requirement you aren't looking at entry level positions.
4.) Again if they are looking for 5+ years of experience it is obviously not an entry level position.

What is the nearest major city to you? I am willing to bet I can find 15 job ads for that area in under an hour of searching that are for actual entry level positions.

ElementaryOS

I'm in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

I have various job search websites configured to send me jobs based on different search terms:

CompTIA
Computer Technician
Deskside
Desktop Support
Help Desk
Technical Support

ElementaryOS

TomkoTech wrote: »

1.) That is the bread and butter of an A+ cert. Driving around to do repairs on peoples home PCs, sub-contracting for Dell/HP in swapping out heatsinks and hard drives in laptops. Which is why I said the A+ was almost a worthless cert unless that is the type of work you want to do.

Surely there has to be some jobs for A+ that don't involve needing a car. But I suppose they've gone and shipped all the tech support jobs to India and the Phillipines.

I could afford a car if I was working as an A+ tech getting paid $3000+ a month to drive around.

Thanks. If you think I can get by just with my own personal experience using LibreOffice, I'll apply for those jobs.

TomkoTech

Sometimes you have to look for yourself, not rely on emails.

Part Time Computer Technician for computer consultant.

Technical Support Jobs - All Levels - Get Hired Today.

NEED IMMEDIATELY: HELP DESK TECHNICIANS, CALGARY, AB

Help Desk Support | INTEQNA | Workopolis

S.i. Systems Ltd - View Jobs

S.i. Systems Ltd - View Jobs

S.i. Systems Ltd - View Jobs


I found those in under 10 minutes with cursory searching. I don't know the area, but it seems there are plenty of entry level positions out there. Just because it says "preferred" or "desired" next to a skill doesn't mean you shouldn't apply. You need to make sure your resume reflects your skills and go after those positions. If you don't have the skills for these positions then you need to learn them. The Microsoft Windows 7 cert shouldn't be terribly complicated to get. Though some of the topics are a bit advanced that deal with branche cache and AD. Though you need to learn that at some point.

TomkoTech

An A+ Certification is mostly hardware related issues. It isn't a help desk certificate. Most places that hire hardware techs require you able to travel to clients. Sure there are some that don't.

I don't know what the salaries are like in your area, but looking at the entry level ones I found 35k a year is on the upper 15% of those positions. You are looking at 20-25k a year positions until you get more experience.

I can't tell you what to apply for. I can only tell you that Microsoft Office is a prominent business application. If you want a job in IT help desk you will need to know the basics of the office suite. Unless you want to go the networking or linux route. In which case there are completely different sets of skills you will need to learn.

markulous

Have you looked for help desk type jobs? Look at ISPs and call centers that have openings. Even if they are $10 an hour, you can work there for 3-6 months to get experience on your resume and find a better help desk job that pays $12-$15 probably. Try support.com also. Volunteer as a tech at protonic.com and put that on your resume also.

yeah yeah

Be a rockstar!

TomkoTech

yeah yeah wrote: »

Be a rockstar!

Ya. Do this. Finding gigs to pay the rent and get you a car should be a lot easier than an entry level IT position.

Jon_Cisco

Everyone has this problem at some point. They want to start working and everything asks for experience. When you look at this from a personal perspective it can be very discouraging.

What you have to do is step back look at the big picture. Nobody is born with experience and the world is full of working individuals.

As to the no car and can't afford rent. Well our not the first person in that situation either. Some people give up and some people get up. Your choice.

Good Luck.

ElementaryOS

I appreciate all of the advice thus far. I'm a long, long way from being able to make a living off a guitar, since I haven't even taken one lesson yet.

I was considering volunteering for experience but never thought of doing so online. That's a great idea! I'll check out protonic.com today.

I haven't looked for jobs on Craigslist yet. I do have Kijiji set up for job alerts. I'll add Craigslist to my job search options.

ElementaryOS

Here is a picture of my resume and cover letter. Advice appreciated.

Once the image opens, if it's too small you can click on it again to make it bigger.

TomkoTech

Just cursory browsing your resume, the cover letter is too much in my opinion. If you use a cover letter you need to actually aim it at the company/position you are apply for. A form letter with a few things changed isn't the route to go.

The resume is also crap. It doesn't really tell me anything. The basics of any resume need to include SAR. Situation. Action. Result. What happened, what did you do, and how did that affect things.

markulous

ElementaryOS wrote: »

Here is a picture of my resume and cover letter. Advice appreciated.

Once the image opens, if it's too small you can click on it again to make it bigger.

I'd put your A+ at the very top on your actual resume, not just the cover letter. I don't see it anywhere.

I'd trim down your work history. Based on that it looks like you've jumped around quite a bit. You probably don't have to go back to 1998 either.

ElementaryOS

I greatly appreciate the help everyone! I'm under severe emotional and financial stress and I'm not thinking clearly. I can physically feel the stress right now.

I just decided right now, quite spontaneously, that I'm going to narrow down my focus towards specifically only applying for Help Desk jobs. I have some prior experience in this area (tech support, not really help desk) but that was 9 years ago. I did use a program called "Remedy" to document while supporting Comcast (I see Remedy mentioned occasionally in job ads.) I can't remember what we used for documenting with HP. By narrowing my focus, I figure I can search more job sites per day. I can also tailor the resume in that specific direction.

MeanDrunkR2D2

Most that are mentioning Remedy is that it is a help desk ticketing system (primarily) which can also host knowledge base documents and various other fun things.

Don't narrow down in my personal opinion, but definitely attack those helpdesk or desktop types of positions. Even if what they are asking for, you aren't qualified, go for it anyways. You never know for sure if those are hard requirements, or just a "wish list" that they would like and would be willing to train the right motivated candidate that understands and knows IT. Chances are, helpdesk will be more easily found and successful for one with a limited amount of experience in IT and how recent it has been for you.

Good luck and keep your head up. Confidence and positivity go a long way in the interview process. And also, if you do get called into an interview, do your research on what the role would entail as well as a history about the company and what they do. I had a phone interview this morning that came up rather quickly (Was emailed by the hiring manager this morning) and I looked up all I could on the company prior to that interview and surprised the lady by how much I already knew about them and what they did. I'm hoping for good luck with this opportunity as it would be a step up and really help grow me in my career goals.

ElementaryOS

Good luck to you and thanks for the advice! Sorry I haven't replied to everyone directly in this thread.

ElementaryOS

Does anyone have a good resume template to recommend?

MeanDrunkR2D2

Functional Resume - Templates is a good basic template for a functional resume.

TomkoTech

Google is your friend. Look for examples of specifics. For example google "Entry level IT resume", or "Entry Level Helpdesk Resume" or "How to create a great IT resume".

yeah yeah

On the serious tip, couple of things to do:

1. Get an A+/Net+.
2. Learn the language. Learn to speak geek and understand it. Know the basics of a computer, network, and all that. Get an idea what the OSI model is. Try to carry a conversation about fixing computers, doing customer support, creating accounts, cleaning up spyware, etc.
3. Build a computer from scratch. Offer to fix other peoples computers. Build a lab. You can do this with all free/cheap software. Build a quick server-client networking environment. This will give you hands-on experience while understanding how to speak it.
4. After you do all that, network. You'd be surprised how many people would give you a shot at a Jr. Level Helpdesk position without any experience. If you have a cert, can perform basic troubleshooting, know how to speak to people, you can get in.

ElementaryOS

markulous wrote: »

I'd put your A+ at the very top on your actual resume, not just the cover letter. I don't see it anywhere.

I'd trim down your work history. Based on that it looks like you've jumped around quite a bit. You probably don't have to go back to 1998 either.

Okay, so I'm using the Resume Builder program at LiveCareer to make a new resume. They'll probably charge me at the end but I like what they've offered me so far.

How can I trim down my resume? The problem is that my Tech Support experience is from 9 years ago. Are you saying to keep everything after that and **** what was before it? What do you suggest?

ElementaryOS

LiveCareer is a big scam but they allow you to download your resume in text format. I can do the formatting myself in LibreOffice to make a resume that looks and works the same.

Anyway, thanks for the help thus far, ladies and gentlemen! I feel positive that things can turn around for me, that I can find a job. You've given me the push I needed to get back into the game!

ElementaryOS

cyberguypr wrote: »

Wait, time too valuable to look for a job? Not sure if you are being funny or serious...

I am going to be a great man. I have huge goals and I will achieve them all. I consider spending excessive amounts of time looking for a job to be wasteful, when I could be focused on bigger things. The size of your life is the size of your problems. I should be focused on bigger problems.

I am actively involved in reading, digesting and implementing suggestions from the greatest minds in the fields of self-improvement and success. I will always go the extra mile, I will face my fears and do it anyway, I will ask for feedback, I am willing to pay the price, I choose to reject rejection and I am commited to constant and never-ending improvement in every facet of my life.

I very much appreciate that you have subscribed to my thread and I hope to recieve your input when I finish creating the new version of my resume.

earonw49

You can do this!

Life is hard. Here is a piece of whats on my mind/heart in regards to your situation:

It doesn't matter if you're in IT, music, accounting, teaching...whatever the case may be it ALL requires lots of patience, work and discipline. Nothing will be handed to you, me or anyone on a automatic silver platter. Some WILL get lucky yes, and some will be on the brink of breaking down.

I was in your same shoes a year ago. It took me MONTHS to just find a simple IT Helpdesk job in one of the TOP IT cities in the U.S. (Nashville, Tennessee). I once I got my foot in the door, that's all it took...and it is only getting better.

You are definitely going A LOT and we all can testify to some really testing, terrible times in our lives. We all have been through it. Don't give up!

Create that resume, look harder, dig deeper and keep reaching out. You can do it

Keep us all posted!