Trying to break into Tier 1 Helpdesk role

mgmguy1

I need some advise. I am trying to break into a Tier one Help Desk role and I am not having a-lot of success. My background has been in Customer Service/Tier 1 Technical support in Telecommunications companies. Most of the Telecommunications companies in my area have either outsourced their "Tier One" work out of the state or country or the commute is to far for me to travel. I have been laid off 4 times since getting into the Telecommunications field. All four times I was laid off was due to my Help Desk leaving the state or country. I have worked for large and small Telco's
and found it difficult to move up due to not having certifications. In addition , my bosses love the fact my customer service skill set side is really strong and I have had previous management experience and I often take difficult Technical calls or difficult customer service calls to see if I can resolve the issue before a Supervisor has to take the call. I got my CCENT last year and went to school for my MSCA server 2012 and Linux + certification but have yet to pass the required tests. I am currently unemployed and looking to get out of Telecommunications and more into HelpDesk/ Server support roles. When I look on career builder, there are lot of jobs for Help Desk/Junior Administrators in my area.

My question is how does one Break into the the Helpdesk role. I have applied to many Helpdesk jobs and thus far I am getting down to being the last of 2-3 candidates for a position and someone else gets the position because they have at least 1 year Help Desk experience and they know and worked with Active directory. My frustration is a-lot of what I know was learned on the job and none of my previous jobs required me to use active AD.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Cisco Inferno

Apply for NOC jobs with that CCENT. If not, work on ICND2 right away.
Noc is basically help desk for telco's and customers(other IT depts).

It looks like you have lots of contacts in telco (very jealous). Use that to your advantage. Use linked in and reconnect with old colleagues. Ask how they are and do they like their company and if they can help you get in. (many high lvl engineers are more than happy to assist as we've all been there before). You should be much better than someone just starting out with no contacts. I'd trade places with you if I could. I just moved to Denver and have never been surrounded by so many ISPs, datacenters and other telcos.

I would steer clear from servers, but thats just me. its not as black and white as networking.
I would say each MCSA exam is rougher than ICND2. So much fluff. With cisco, you just study and pass.

I noticed your other thread where you mentioned you enjoy Linux vs Cisco. Even in a noc role, you might be confronted with the linux CLI. same with security operations. So you might be opening up a door for yourself with CCENT/L+. Granted plenty of NOC stuff is not gonna be balls deep in Cisco. You DEFinitely wont be touching anything Linux in a helpdesk role. So do not let those skills rot.

Welly_59

Would you not call your Telco role a helpdesk position?

Cisco Inferno

Welly_59 wrote: »

Would you not call your Telco role a helpdesk position?

Thats what I was thinking, I think he's paid his dues and should be looking up.

mgmguy1

I would call my time in Telecommmunication as a few titles.
1. Customer service
2 Technical support

The below is the type of work that is available in my area. I got the below off of a job close to my house. They are all referenced as HelpDesk


Technical Skills

• Strong knowledge of Microsoft Operating systems including Windows 7 and 10
• Experience working with and installing Microsoft Office Suite
• Strong desktop software and hardware troubleshooting skills
• Experience working with Active Directory
• Some understanding of desktop images and deployment of desktop environments

• Strong orientation to quality, continuous improvement and customer service

This below example is from a Noc job that I applied for this morning but this type of Telecommunications job does not come up for me very often where the above Helpdesk role widely available in my area.

[h=3]Job Requirements[/h] REQUIREMENTS:

• A Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience desired
  
• 6 months to 2 years of related IT experience
  
• Strong interpersonal skills: specifically, verbal and written skills, telephone skills and active listening skills
  
• Self-motivation with the ability to work in a fast paced, ever changing environment
  
• An A+ certification or equivalent experience is a plus
  
• An understanding of operating systems, business applications, printing systems and network systems
  
• The ability to multi-task and adapt quickly to change
  
• A sound technical awareness and knowledge to match resources to technical issues appropriately
  
• An understanding of support tools, techniques, and how technology is used to provide IT services

djrabes

In terms of qualifications for the role you listed mgmguy1, an MCSA in Windows 10 would be a good shout, if you can afford it that is. With a helpdesk role you're looking at more User Administration and Desktop Support, compared to configuring servers and using Linux (As Cisco Inferno listed above) which therefore makes a Windows 10 cert a striking fit.

Nisseki

Breaking into helpdesk shouldn't be too hard for you.

Whereas I'm trying to break out of IT support.

Nik 99

I can relate to your situation as I am also trying to get my first proper IT role and 99% of everything is minimum 1 year experience + a degree.

I would have thought if you could just get the interview you'd be able to win them over easly with your current experience.

p@r0tuXus

mgmguy1 wrote: »

I would call my time in Telecommmunication as a few titles.
1. Customer service
2 Technical support

Yeah, I'd tailor it to the job you're going after. Help-Desk, Service-Desk, CSR (Customer Service Representative), Technical Support. Giving an apt description of your duties and how they correspond to the titles can show your versatility and experience, as well as the knowledge of the difference between them.

mgmguy1 wrote: »

Technical Skills

• Strong knowledge of Microsoft Operating systems including Windows 7 and 10
• Experience working with and installing Microsoft Office Suite
• Strong desktop software and hardware troubleshooting skills
• Experience working with Active Directory
• Some understanding of desktop images and deployment of desktop environments
• Strong orientation to quality, continuous improvement and customer service

I read... MTA, Basic Client Support, A+, Basic AD (Active Directory), Basic Desktop Support Duties, ITIL Foundations knowledge and certifications required/preferred... "or equivalent experience."

mgmguy1 wrote: »

REQUIREMENTS:

• A Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience desired
• 6 months to 2 years of related IT experience
• Strong interpersonal skills: specifically, verbal and written skills, telephone skills and active listening skills
• Self-motivation with the ability to work in a fast paced, ever changing environment
• An A+ certification or equivalent experience is a plus
• An understanding of operating systems, business applications, printing systems and network systems
• The ability to multi-task and adapt quickly to change
• A sound technical awareness and knowledge to match resources to technical issues appropriately
• An understanding of support tools, techniques, and how technology is used to provide IT services

Again... I read: "BS or ~3-4 years experience in IT/Support. Troubleshooting & Documenting required. Wide-but-not-deep IT knowledge required. Decently full work-load with changing duties/sla's will challenge you. Passion and dedication on paper and in person is a foot in the door. They definitely don't want to do a lot of training past what you'll need to learn their tools/services.

If you want to go the networking route, that CCENT could get you your start. Ask about possible training resources & certification re-imbursement opportunities after stating your goals/objectives and see where they could be with that.

ITSpectre

A simple way to break into the Help desk role is to tailor your resume to the job description. Given that you have your CCENT and customer service experience, that is really all they are mainly looking for is technical knowledge, multi task ability, support tool understanding and how to troubleshoot devices and to explain terms to users, Understanding of Operating systems and how they work etc.... You should already have that knowledge.

HONESTLY.....

With your CCENT I would look more into a NOC or Networking role VS a Help Desk support role. That is just me....