Catch 22: Can't get a job without experience & vice vers

Employers won't hire you unless you have experience and you can't get experience unless you have a job. You're stuck in the middle. You have a lot of knowledge, certifications and a true passion for IT, but most employers will disregard that unless you prove that you have real experience. On the other hand, you are confident you can do the job. The real question is how do you convince an employe to hire you if you have no or little experience? Internships, volunteer work, contacts, co-op are options, but let's talk about some briliant 21th centurry creative ideas

I've been telling multiple recruiters, "look, it's true I don't have direct expereince on X or Y, but I have advanced knowledge of the foundations. For example, I haven't managed a VPN server, but I know exactly how it operates, and how it's built. I've also told them, "Look, I would expect to be hired not only based on my past experience, but also based on my 'future potentials' to embrace and work with emerging technologies. Just because I don't have prior experience in X, doesn't mean I can't work with it.

What do you think? How do you deal with this catch 22? Let's brainstorm this.

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BubbaJ

binarysoul wrote:

I've been telling multiple recruiters, "look, it's true I don't have direct expereince on X or Y, but I have advanced knowledge of the foundations. For example, I haven't managed a VPN server, but I know exactly how it operates, and how it's built. I've also told them, "Look, I would expect to be hired not only based on my past experience, but also based on my 'future potentials' to embrace and work with emerging technologies. Just because I don't have prior experience in X, doesn't mean I can't work with it.

Yes, this can be difficult, but you are asking them to take a huge risk. Businesses have an aversion to risk. Loss of electronic information causes businesses to go bankrupt everyday. It can cause sever financial hardship by loss of customer confidence, lawsuits, and large government fines.

Look at it from their point of view. Suppose someone you didn't know wanted to be your financial planner. He doesn't have any experience, but he swears he knows everything about it and wants you to give him a shot at it.

binarysoul

Suppose someone you didn't know wanted to be your financial planner. He doesn't have any experience, but he swears he knows everything about it and wants you to give him a shot at it.

BubbaJ, you have a point here. But at the same time, it doesn't mean the potential candidate will have no potentails at all (after all, if that was the case, the recruiter woudn't invite him/her for an interview). So, I am specifically talking about 'lack of experience' and not 'lack of dependability". There are many other reasons why somebody why wouldn't be hired, but all other things being equal, I'm just trying to find a way out of 'no experience' catch. I myself have over five years experience, but sometimes they ask me if I have expereince in X, or Y and that's where it's tricky.

BubbaJ

binarysoul wrote:

So, I am specifically talking about 'lack of experience' and not 'lack of dependability". There are many other reasons why somebody why wouldn't be hired, but all other things being equal, I'm just trying to find a way out of 'no experience' catch. I myself have over five years experience, but sometimes they ask me if I have expereince in X, or Y and that's where it's tricky.

Well, the only ways I've seen anyone get around this are by getting some experience (internship, volunteer work, etc.) or know someone of influence who trusts you. You can do some networking (of yourself). I see this sort of thing happen at Chamber of Commerce meetings, Cisco (or other vendor) user group meetings, etc. Job offers are floated at these meetings all the time.