Lots of frustration in my local IT job market lately.

Shoe Box

I have been doing Desktop Support for companies for 3-1/2 years, mostly contract positions for XP to 7 migrations, and hardware refresh / support jobs. A few months here, a few months there, seems like a nice variety of experience.

Nowadays, In my local job market (Pittsburgh), I have been having a lot of frustrations.

The last contract assignment ended in April. Since then I got a few very short term assignments, like a week here and a week there, too small to even put on the resume. I have been on the phone with all the local tech employment agencies, I get calls from one or another nearly every day saying how this job is hiring or that job will open up next week, in addition to my own job searching on Dice, Indeed, Careerbuilder, Craigslist, etc. These are Desktop Support jobs I am very qualified for. Things I can do and have done, yet there's only been a couple interview requests.


And I have to ask these employers - what the hell is your problem? Did you even read my information? You obviously didn't if you didn't call me about this job that I have done and know more about than the HR person posting the ad. I really don't like having to explain my work history to HR people. They know nothing about IT, and yet they are judging my qualifications.


I am going this week for my Cisco CCT R&S certification test, and should be passing it. That will immediately go on the resume and get emailed to everyone, and I hope it picks up the offers considerably, or at least the interview requests.


I am trying to move to the next notch up from Desktop Support, maybe a Data Center Tech or Junior Network Admin, or some such thing. And I have heard from others that there seems to be a lot of resume collecting and not much actual interviewing lately. Frustrations all around.

anhtran35

HR is the GATEKEEPER. The Employer or Hiring Manager is NOT going to read your resume until HR thinks you are a plausible candidate that meets the Hiring Manager criteria. You will have to deal with HR by tightening up your resume and sell yourself. Then you get an interview with the Hiring Manager or Managers. 4 years in Desktop and Help Desk is a eternity. You may consider relocating just to acquire a higher title or experience.

guy9

anhtran35 wrote: »

HR is the GATEKEEPER. The Employer or Hiring Manager is NOT going to read your resume until HR thinks you are a plausible candidate that meets the Hiring Manager criteria. You will have to deal with HR by tightening up your resume and sell yourself. Then you get an interview with the Hiring Manager or Managers. 4 years in Desktop and Help Desk is a eternity. You may consider relocating just to acquire a higher title or experience.

I laughed but I shouldn't have. That was cold blooded!

I do wish you the best Shoe Box, I hope everything goes well. Honestly, CCNA R&S was my very first certification. Until this day, I have only received job offers from positions wanting an individual to work in Network Operations Center types of environments and do troubleshooting this and that. Moral of the story, these jobs didn't pay well. I would assume that IF it pays more than the desktop support role, its not much more than the desktop support role. I don't think CCNA R&S is a career changer from a financial point of view. Experience yes, $$$....Nope. Go to indeed.com put in CCNA and your city and state..that'll tell you everything you need to know

People talk about HR, don't believe all the rumors and hype. HR is looking for qualified people, mostly the most qualified people. People think because they were not selected for a job its HR and they have nothing to do besides for collect resumes. You have to stand out in the stack of resumes, even with a "good resume". A good portion of people started in help desk and desktop support. A good portion of people have CCNA R&S. What are you going to do to stand out in a pile of resumes???

Shoe Box

Instead of CCNA R&S, I should try to get CCNA Data Center?

I guess it's partly my fault for delaying the certification thing for so long.

The first real mention of certifications I ever heard was from a CCNP Network Administrator at a company I worked at from late 2012 through most of 2013. I read about certifications now and then after that and while it sounded interesting, I always finished with “I’ll have to do that sometime”.

Then it got to be more of an issue when a local company was hiring for an easy XP to 7 migration support job that I have done multiple times before, yet they insisted on an A+ certification for the job. I eventually got in without the certification and did the 2 month assignment, but it really annoyed me how things were held up for that.

After looking into certs some more, the question on my mind was why take the A+ when the CCT R&S is a cheaper test to take and is actually a higher level certification? I read the requirements and items tested on the A+, and it was like kindergarten time. At least the CCT makes you put out some effort!

In looking at local job listings, I have seen some jobs continuously advertised for 2-3 months. Jobs where I know what they need, and I have done these things. I applied to them, sometimes more than once, and got no responses! That’s why I think HR needs to stay out of IT, or at least review resumes with a competent member of the IT staff.

Mow

Routing and Switching is the foundation to EVERYTHING. I have my CCNA R/S and then started to climb up the Voice ladder. I regret not getting my CCNP R/S, but I am now working on that. I would recommend CCNA R/S, work some contracts, work on CCNP while working CCNA contracts. Get CCNP. Then change tracks. I know a lot of people say that the DC track is pretty redundant with the route switch track early on, but the sheer amount of training material for R/S will make it so much easier for you, IMO. Once you get your CCNP and a few projects under your belt, try getting in with a Cisco partner. I live about 2 hours east of you, I know that the Pittsburgh job market is slowing somewhat, but there are a good many partners there who would at least give you a look if they see you are climbing the certification ladder.

Svoboda

Don't feel bad, it's not unique to your market and I'm in the same position. I've been in a JOAT position for 10 years because I got to experience a bunch of different technologies/functions (desktop support, network support, network administration, project management, etc) and the pay has been fantastic but it disqualifies me from damn near every position I apply for because I'm not accumulating "X number of years in Y or Z" like those that specialized.

I also feel like entry/junior level positions seem to want senior level qualifications anymore when i'm looking through job descriptions. I saw a entry-level systems admin job that wanted 5+ years of experience with Server 2008/2012. It's beyond frustrating and I feel you pain.

networker050184

anhtran35 wrote: »

HR is the GATEKEEPER. The Employer or Hiring Manager is NOT going to read your resume until HR thinks you are a plausible candidate that meets the Hiring Manager criteria.

That's just not true in my experience. Everywhere I've been involved with hiring HR does not pick the resume before the hiring manager. Possibly a technical recruiter passing resumes along, but not HR generalists screening resumes they know nothing about.

SephStorm

Two critical points mentioned here.

You may consider relocating just to acquire a higher title or experience.

Critical. simply put, flexibility is one of the greatest things you need. If your environment isn't giving you what you need, you need to leave.

What are you going to do to stand out in a pile of resumes

This. When you get to where I am in my career, you'll get a variety of offers, and you may even begin to try to mentor others and try to get people hired in their desired field. The majority of the candidates I see are not qualified. They walk the exact track they think they should, which is often the bare minimum.

I'm in security, I see people coming to me with MCSA, Maybe an MCP, ect. Why didn't they drive out and go get a CEH, or an OSCP, or another security cert? Why didn't they attend Defcon and mention their experience in the challenges? Where is the drive that shows me that they are actually interested, passionate about security? I need to see that a. you have the knowledge for the position you are seeking, even if you don't have the experience. and b. I need to see that you can push beyond the day-to day work to push to improve yourself and take the next step.

If I told you that everyone in my shop has or will have their GCIA, what would you tell me your goal is? 99% will tell me "GCIA". The 1% will tell me "The GCIA, and maybe the GPEN, OSCP, and here is how I plan to get them."

bpenn

SephStorm wrote: »

Two critical points mentioned here.



Critical. simply put, flexibility is one of the greatest things you need. If your environment isn't giving you what you need, you need to leave.




This. When you get to where I am in my career, you'll get a variety of offers, and you may even begin to try to mentor others and try to get people hired in their desired field. The majority of the candidates I see are not qualified. They walk the exact track they think they should, which is often the bare minimum.

I'm in security, I see people coming to me with MCSA, Maybe an MCP, ect. Why didn't they drive out and go get a CEH, or an OSCP, or another security cert? Why didn't they attend Defcon and mention their experience in the challenges? Where is the drive that shows me that they are actually interested, passionate about security? I need to see that a. you have the knowledge for the position you are seeking, even if you don't have the experience. and b. I need to see that you can push beyond the day-to day work to push to improve yourself and take the next step.

If I told you that everyone in my shop has or will have their GCIA, what would you tell me your goal is? 99% will tell me "GCIA". The 1% will tell me "The GCIA, and maybe the GPEN, OSCP, and here is how I plan to get them."

I agree with all of this. In this day and age, and especially in specific areas, the job market is competitive. There are many people fighting for jobs and you want that HR/hiring manager to look at your resume and be like, "this person put out some serious effort to achieve all of this." My dream is to get out of desktop support and to jump into network administration/security. I have been applying for these roles and being turned down left and right. What am I going to do to get there? Passed CISSP in March, passed ICND1 last month, taking ICND2 (CCNA) in two weeks and beginning my associates-to-bachelors endeavor in September. I WANT to be successful and I realize that I need to be passionate about this career in order to have it.