THe Job Market

How is the market in your area?

At least in mine it is finally picking up and I hopefully have 2 offers that should come in this week that will be great career moves. Both are great, but the pay at one is considerably more than the other. (The one paying more is about what I was making prior to being laid off last April). The other is essentially paying what I made fresh out of college, but would be a admin type position, where the other would start as helpdesk, then becoming a desktop position over a few months and a increase in pay as well. The desktop role would be a combination of desktop and sys admin, which is where I want to get in with a company.

Its been rough the past year where I was unemployed for 7 months before finding a seasonal help (hell) desk position with a very large corporation. I was there for about 3 months before I found a different position paying the same, but was a permanent position repairing laptops for a major computer manufacturer. It's nice, but the pay is less than I made in 1999 (before I worked in IT and had my degree) and was a lateral move from the helpdesk pay wise. I took it because I didn't have much hardware experience and my current boss knows that this position is just a temporary stopping point in my career while I find the next destination. I'm sure he won't be expecting me to be leaving shortly after being there for a month, but I have to put food on the table and pay my student loans. (Can't do both right now with pay being what it is)

So many of the interviews I've had in the past year where I was in the top 2 or 3 so many times chose someone else because they had vastly more experience in IT than I had. Of course I've noticed that many of those companies are now replacing those people because they used them as something better than unemployment until they found their next career stop. Its been frustrating, including getting me to the point of considering getting out of IT and into the family business, which I didn't really want to do as I'd have to move myself and my gf to another state and sell my home. Not to mention that IT is my true love when it comes to work.

Hopefully this stretch in my career will soon turn to the better and just for those who were in/are in my shoes, keep your head up. The job market is getting better. (And sorry to those new grads who have been competing with me for entry level positions.) Things are getting better here, and hopefully elsewhere as well.

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Comments

Hyper-Me

Ive actually noticed an influx of IT job postings around here in the past 2 months. Maybe its a sign.

MeanDrunkR2D2

Hyper-Me wrote: »

Ive actually noticed an influx of IT job postings around here in the past 2 months. Maybe its a sign.

December seemed to kick off the big influx of jobs. Last summer in June and July I had zero interviews and the job postings were few and far between. Maybe 1-2 a week for jobs that I'd be qualified for. (and I'd have to apply to many more that I wasn't qualified for to fulfill my application quota in any given week). August it got a little better, September and October really got better and December was just great by going off of job postings for jobs I was qualified for.

I am hoping that it's a sign for the better and that others need to keep their heads up as the positions are out there and th chances of landing that career move are increasing substantially.

rage_hog

I've been laid off since 01JUN2009. I was back in school within 10 days of being laid off and have been in the Cisco Academy since. I start my fat new job tomorrow in fact. I need a break from school.

MeanDrunkR2D2

rage_hog wrote: »

I've been laid off since 01JUN2009. I was back in school within 10 days of being laid off and have been in the Cisco Academy since. I start my fat new job tomorrow in fact. I need a break from school.

Good luck! Hopefully your new job is everything you hoped it could be. For me I already have my Bachelors degree and really don't see the need to go and pursue my Masters. At least not at this point in my life I don't need to do so.

rage_hog

I hear you on that brother. School is really getting to be a waste of time in my humbled opinion. Might just see where the wind blows me.

Kaminsky

The job boards are slowly starting to pick up over here in the UK. Although I have a good job to hide out the recession in, I used to be a contractor and scanning of the job boards was a regular thing and old habbits die hard.

Aldur

rage_hog wrote: »

School is really getting to be a waste of time in my humbled opinion.

heh, ya know, I have to agree somewhat on this point. Although I don't consider my BS a complete waste of time I'd say that 90% of it was a waste of time. I can remember about 3 or 4 classes in my program that actually apply to what I'm doing today, and those classes were very basic.

Oh well, I have a nice shiny BS degree that I had to have to get this job. Basically it was a necessary evil. That and about 30K in debt...

veritas_libertas

rage_hog wrote: »

I hear you on that brother. School is really getting to be a waste of time in my humbled opinion. Might just see where the wind blows me.

I think that depends what you are aiming for. Where I live a Bachelor degree is a necessary evil for any good paying job. Even my Desktop Support job wanted a person with an AAS degree (which I have).

RomBUS

Its horrible for me, I see a lot of jobs I apply for and never get the call back. These are jobs I mostly qualify for and have some type of experience with it. And I've had about a year and a half of IT experience.

Ive been laid off for 2 months already, applied close to 70 jobs. Had 1 interview (didnt get the job obviously). Its horrible in my opinion.

MeanDrunkR2D2

RomBUS wrote: »

Its horrible for me, I see a lot of jobs I apply for and never get the call back. These are jobs I mostly qualify for and have some type of experience with it. And I've had about a year and a half of IT experience.

Ive been laid off for 2 months already, applied close to 70 jobs. Had 1 interview (didnt get the job obviously). Its horrible in my opinion.

That's not good, but honestly you have to be aggressive in this job market, especially with the numberof unemployed out there. I have over 3 years of experience and was unemployed for over 7 months before I was forced to take a entry level position that paid me very very poorly. Now I'm working with many who don't even have a high school diploma just so that I can put food on the table.

Of course, finally my hard work and the many interviews I have had are paying off.

I'd suggest having a few different resumes ready to customize for different positions. Basically I put more focus into some of my experience depending on the job I'm applying for. And keep your attitude up. Your frustration can and will show during interviews and any conversations that you have. Also, join Linkedin and network with recruiters in your area and contact them once a week to see if they have any new req's that you would qualify for and to keep you in their mind. That has been a life saver and for the 2 positions that I will likely get an offer for tomorrow was how I found them.

Also, if you have a decent career center for the college you went to, they can be a great tool to use as well.

RomBUS

Whaddya know I just got an interview on Friday

What a coincedence

laidbackfreak

Kaminsky wrote: »

The job boards are slowly starting to pick up over here in the UK. Although I have a good job to hide out the recession in, I used to be a contractor and scanning of the job boards was a regular thing and old habbits die hard.

Yep I'd agree with that Kam, tho you can still see the same job on several different agencies pretty much word for word.
I grabbed a safe little number which I'm still in to ride out the recession. That said I'm now looking to get back out in the real world and have started puttting my CV out, I sent it out for a couple pre xmas and got no bites. At least now I'm getting some calls.
I read somewhere in the last week or so that on average there are 130 applicants for every role being advertised.
We recently advertised for a position here and easily got that number. Not all of them are suitable but shows it really is a numbers game.

Those out of work at the moment I feel for you cos it sucks! but use the time wisely keep your skills up and keep knocking on doors.