transition from helpdesk to sys admin

I've worked in tech support both in a helpdesk environment and desksite support. Few potential recruiters have told me that because my recent jobs have been in helpdesk, I may not have the hands-on experience. I believe this is a sterotype as it's persumed that all helpdesk jobs are scripted and you do things using a script and you have no hands on experience. I'm the victim of absolutism

While the environments I've worked have involved a lot of hands-on, e.g. through a lab, there is still this negative spin that I've worked in helpdesk. For those who've worked in helpdesk, you know how we always wish if we were onsite as we think that is easier.

How should I convince emplyers I can work with problems as good or even better as I did in helpdesk?

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Comments

bighornsheep

What's your job title? Perhaps avoiding the term help desk may help you. I've found that help desk is an industry-term coined by people in that role, management dont like that term because it sounds quite elementary for what the role is.

Try inbound/outbound technical analyst. Or perhaps network/onsite technician since you do perform hands-on duties.

forbesl

You could also say you were "Tier 1 Tech Support"

garv221

binarysoul wrote:

I've worked in tech support both in a helpdesk environment and desksite support. Few potential recruiters have told me that because my recent jobs have been in helpdesk, I may not have the hands-on experience. I believe this is a sterotype as it's persumed that all helpdesk jobs are scripted and you do things using a script and you have no hands on experience. I'm the victim of absolutism

While the environments I've worked have involved a lot of hands-on, e.g. through a lab, there is still this negative spin that I've worked in helpdesk. For those who've worked in helpdesk, you know how we always wish if we were onsite as we think that is easier.

How should I convince emplyers I can work with problems as good or even better as I did in helpdesk?

It's all about the Resume. Create a great resume and push it out to all companies that have sys admin openings. Don't listen to recruiters either.

Olajuwon

Build a good resume that will get you the interviews. Once you get to the interviews it's all up to you to show them what you've got. Don't let anyone tell you what you can do. Remember that noone will get you the job you really want, you have to get it yourself. Do what you have to do, man.

mikey_b

Technical Support Representative is a good choice for describing Help Desk jobs. It is a good idea to focus on the administrator responsibilities of your job as opposed to the environment itself - saying you supported clients instead of customers, you were responsible for the following tasks/duties instead of taking calls, etc. Focus on the things people would look for in a sysadmin role. You're not being inaccurate, you're instead focusing on the pertinent information for the hiring manager and leaving the mundane Help Desk stuff out. Be sure to include some acronyms and keywords that non-technical hiring personnel may look for. For example, someone may have been told to pass the MCSA resumes with 3 years experience on to the IT department to down-select and interview. Saying you're studying for MCSA (if you are) and putting 3 years experience in a Technical Support role will immediately add you to the pile for down-selecting, and then you have to do the interview portion which is up to you. Think slightly non-technical when fancying up that resume.

Go into the interview reminding yourself that IT is a business - focus on your actions and the results, always be sure to indicate that you learned something from the results of particularly difficult situations, and always, always, always focus on the client/customer. Make them priority #1. If a server disk crashed, don't focus on the poor little server smoking in the back room, concern yourself instead with the client impact and the need for business continuity and focus not on fixing a server, but on serving the client by implementing a solution. Anyone can fix servers. IT Professionals serve their clients first and foremost by supporting their IT infrastructure and ensuring their ability to access their work resources 24x7. That kind of attitude impresses the hell out of both technical and non-technical hiring staff and quickly moves a candidate to the top of the pile.

Hope these tips have helped, this has served me well since leaving a Help Desk 3 years ago.

malcybood

My work are making the transition from a "Helpdesk" to a "Service desk". I work in the field and my job title has changed from IT Support Engineer to "Service Delivery Engineer" with helpdesk people being changed from "Helpdesk Support" to "Service Delivery/Support"

This is the way many companies are going now with the ITIL Standards being implemented and employers want to be viewed as "Providing a service" to customers which could be anything from ordering a phone line, fixing a printer, troubleshooting a LAN/Wan issue on a router as opposed to "Helping people".

A service desk implies you can perform any service as opposed to "taking 1st line helpdesk calls and passing anything too technical onto someone who knows more".

You should consider the above when writing your CV/Resume as suggested in other posts. Remember though not to lie on your resume because if you don't get found out in the interview you will in the job!

Hope this helps

Malc

garv221

I went from CompUSA tech, right to sys admin about 5 years ago. Got employee packets from my college and applied to them all. My resume implied I was a college kid who had little experience but alot of skills. Did a first interview, and the second interview I was hired. I felt like I was in over my head, but I studied some of the problems from work at home, it was pretty stressfull at times but before long I mastered it and moved on.

Badger95

mikey_b wrote:

Technical Support Representative is a good choice for describing Help Desk jobs. It is a good idea to focus on the administrator responsibilities of your job as opposed to the environment itself - saying you supported clients instead of customers, you were responsible for the following tasks/duties instead of taking calls, etc. Focus on the things people would look for in a sysadmin role. You're not being inaccurate, you're instead focusing on the pertinent information for the hiring manager and leaving the mundane Help Desk stuff out. Be sure to include some acronyms and keywords that non-technical hiring personnel may look for. For example, someone may have been told to pass the MCSA resumes with 3 years experience on to the IT department to down-select and interview. Saying you're studying for MCSA (if you are) and putting 3 years experience in a Technical Support role will immediately add you to the pile for down-selecting, and then you have to do the interview portion which is up to you. Think slightly non-technical when fancying up that resume.

Go into the interview reminding yourself that IT is a business - focus on your actions and the results, always be sure to indicate that you learned something from the results of particularly difficult situations, and always, always, always focus on the client/customer. Make them priority #1. If a server disk crashed, don't focus on the poor little server smoking in the back room, concern yourself instead with the client impact and the need for business continuity and focus not on fixing a server, but on serving the client by implementing a solution. Anyone can fix servers. IT Professionals serve their clients first and foremost by supporting their IT infrastructure and ensuring their ability to access their work resources 24x7. That kind of attitude impresses the hell out of both technical and non-technical hiring staff and quickly moves a candidate to the top of the pile.

Hope these tips have helped, this has served me well since leaving a Help Desk 3 years ago.

Yes !
How refreshing it is to hear someone say this. In a recent interview, this was an important concept. Very good advice eloquently stated.

“IT Professionals serve their clients first and foremost by supporting their IT infrastructure and ensuring their ability to access their work resources 24x7.”

chilskater

hello bro,

I am very new here.. I am IT SUPPORT in International University. I think u list out ur project tht involve some staff in different section..network people or system/application people..higlight that in resume..

i am goin to take A+ then Linux to upgrade myself..