CCNA but not getting hired as Network Technician / Engineer

egrizzly

Hello all,

I've passed my CCNA for a few years but not getting hired as a Network Technician (or Engineer). I've got over 10 years experience in Help Desk/Technical Support where my job involves some networking tasks of course. Is there anything I'm doing wrong? My brother got his CCNA with zero tech experience (used to work as waiter) but got hired quickly as a NOC Technician, and now he's working as a Network Security engineer. One difference though is that he went to school for his while I studied books. I was told that does not make a difference. Anyway, to restate the question, is there a reason I'm not getting hired as a Network Tech or Network Engineer?

egrizzly.

Robertf969

Your profile says you are a CCNP, can you clarify? Did you mean why are you not getting hired as a CCNP? Remember certs are just one piece of the puzzle. It could be any number of things, Resume or Poor Interviewing skills. Sounds like your brother just might have been in the right place at the right time.

egrizzly

Robertf969 wrote: »

Your profile says you are a CCNP, can you clarify? Did you mean why are you not getting hired as a CCNP? Remember certs are just one piece of the puzzle. It could be any number of things, Resume or Poor Interviewing skills. Sounds like your brother just might have been in the right place at the right time.

yes, I'm a CCNP however even when I apply for positions that have CCNA listed as the requirements I get no responses. My brother who was previously a waiter got hired by Checkpoint after completing CCNA training at a community college and just 1 year experience as a NOC Engineer. Now he makes about 75K. I don't get it, he doesn't even have an associates degree.

Robertf969

What are you doing to try and land a position? Whats the market like in your area? Can you post a resume?

Imzeh

LOL. Dude, if you have the experience and the certification than clearly you are not hired because you do not know how to sell yourself.
If you do not get responses and interviews then something is wrong with your applications & CV. Check your CV vs your brother vs others.

1st - where do you apply? maybe you need to look into other website jobs
people from employment agencies don`t know the difference between ccna vs ccnp so put them both on your cv

2nd - you do not have to be 100% accurate, you can improve a little your CV - compare it with others

3rd - redo your CV then apply - observe response then redo cv and apply again - so on for a few times.
and do not forget to emphasize the NETWORKING part on your CV even when talking about your helpdesk experience

4th - profit

Hondabuff

I would ask your brother to get you into his NOC. Nothing wrong with following the same path..

scaredoftests

Are you working anywhere right now?

steele84

Are you getting interviews?

networker050184

As steele84 asked are you getting interviews? If not work on your resume. Are at least getting calls? If not definitely your resume. If you get calls but no interview you need to work on selling yourself. You have some experience and certs. Soft skills are what I would expect at this point. You need to be able to sell yourself like a used car salesman.

keenon

He needs to read resume thread and do a rewrite. I would also suggest spending more time labbing and building troubleshooting skills.

egrizzly

I'll post the rez for critique as soon as I get home. at work now.

Fulcrum45

If you are looking at CCNA as a requirement for your potential employer there is a very good chance they will see you as over-qualified with a CCNP. At least that's a possibility.

egrizzly

Hello all, I posted the resume

egrizzly

NetworkNewb wrote: »

I'd recommend posting your resume on here (removing personal information beforehand) and having people critique it. Can get a lot of good advice on here. Could just be something with the resume holding you back...

I posted the resume here.

egrizzly

scaredoftests wrote: »

Are you working anywhere right now?

yes. just working at some helpdesk.

egrizzly

networker050184 wrote: »

As steele84 asked are you getting interviews? If not work on your resume. Are at least getting calls? If not definitely your resume. If you get calls but no interview you need to work on selling yourself. You have some experience and certs. Soft skills are what I would expect at this point. You need to be able to sell yourself like a used car salesman.

I get calls but no interviews for some reason. I'm in Houston and they say the tech market is hot.

keenon

you need a rewrite

Robertf969

This is way to long, and hard to follow. My guess is that its rarely making it past the HR reps. My first bit of advice would be to get it down to 2 pages. There is a ton of advice on resume writing in the IT Jobs Section of this forum.

networker050184

egrizzly wrote: »

I get calls but no interviews for some reason. I'm in Houston and they say the tech market is hot.

If you are getting calls you resume is working at least somewhat. Now you need to work on killing it on the phone call to get yourself invited for onsite. It's a process and you need to master all stages to seal the deal. Good luck!

Marv_Bx_718

egrizzly wrote: »

yes. just working at some helpdesk.

From my experience reviewing resumes, there are certain key words that our HR look for. Once they see those words " Lead a project...", "Managed a project..."

scaredoftests

keywords like what type of software supported is always good.

omi2123

Did you try to apply at Dell for any Houston based position?

egrizzly

omi2123 wrote: »

Did you try to apply at Dell for any Houston based position?

DELL has more of tech support positions, probably not that many network support.

egrizzly

Robertf969 wrote: »

This is way to long, and hard to follow. My guess is that
its rarely making it past the HR reps. My first bit of advice would be to get it down to 2 pages. There is a ton of advice on resume writing in the IT Jobs Section of this forum.

...you suggesting that I remove some of the company's that I work with...thats the only way to get it down to two pages...also, some recruiters suggest including everything so I'm hearing both ends of the talk.

scaredoftests

Some recruiters are wrong. Don't include 'everything'. Hiring Managers have to do a fast eye scan of resumes. Have buzzwords that catch their eye. Especially on the first page.

omi2123

OIn any mid level Enterprise support position in Dell, you may make more money as oppose to other companies junior admin/jr. network admin position. The benefits at Dell easily makes up for an additional $20,000 pay difference compare to other companies. Specially, having Dell experience in your resume always gives you an extra edge when you look for another position with other employer.

egrizzly wrote: »

DELL has more of tech support positions, probably not that many network support.

bpenn

You may also have the ability to be promoted and work infrastructure from there. A desktop engineer at Dell seems like a good start.

White Wizard

Quite a bit of job hopping huh?

As others stated, far too long in my opinion. A lot of it seems repetitive as well. I would keep it to two pages and list your most recent positions but, this is just my opinion.