Rough Spot.

chmorin

Hey everyone, I'm 19 and kind of in a rough spot. I currently live at home with my mom, and have a part time job at a local college in the networking department working 19.5 hours (thats the limit =( ) at $10 an hour.

My mother recently lost her job, and I am sick of relying on her for everything. Today the transmission in my car kicked the bucket, and I am not really in a position to fix something that costly right now.

I want to take burdens off of my mother, and I have a year experience in networking and 3 more years on that working and training in IT. I also have my slew of certifications, and am about to take my CCNA Voice exam next week (if I find a ride...). I know I have to be worth something out there to someone. I have been applying to jobs on craigslist, monster, dice, and others. I have gotten jack squat.

My current job caps me at 19.5 hours a week, so I can't squeeze anything more than that from my $10 an hour. I'm underpaid, underworked, and need money. My college is not offering me anything...

I live north of Houston in Texas. Does anyone have any advice for me as to grabbing a job? Tomorrow im going to drop by a local oil company I applied as desktop support for on craigslist in person and see if I can drop of a written resume and let them know I am really interested. Other than that, most job offerings on craigslist are very vague. I can't find a small business around here to help with voice stuff, which I am really interested in, and I am to inexperianced to get anyone to pay attention to my existance.

Here is my resume: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=1PJ69SXT
Don't worry, its not a virus.

Please tear it to shreds. I need help. If anyone can give me some advice, I would appreciate it. I just want to be on my own to remove the burdan from my mom.

jamesleecoleman

The personal info is fake, right?? I just wanted to make sure because alot of people put an X instead of the real stuff.

ipconfig.all

Well first of all be happy that you at least have a job that pays something and you are getting experience. Most people cannot even get that and it looks like a good gig you have done alot of stuff in that company. Your CV seems alright but its only 1 page long I think you should add in more details about the stuff that you have done.

It would not hurt to grab your phone book or search online for local IT companies and give them a call or write an email saying that you are interested in working.

dynamik

Quantify your results. HR loves figures.

i.e. I saved $x by doing x. I increased productivity by x by doing x.

Ultimately, what did you accomplish with what you did?

jtoast

Check your PM's in about 5 minutes.

Bl8ckr0uter

Take the references off the resume. Take the part time job thing off of your resume. How were you grade? was your GPA good enough to be mentioned?

chmorin

dynamik wrote: »

Quantify your results. HR loves figures.

i.e. I saved $x by doing x. I increased productivity by x by doing x.

Ultimately, what did you accomplish with what you did?

I'll start thinking about how to make these sound better. Thanks!

Take the references off the resume. Take the part time job thing off of your resume. How were you grade? was your GPA good enough to be mentioned?

Why the references? My GPA was not good enough to be mentioned.


Thank you everyone for your reply!

ipconfig.all

You should take out the reference part due to privacy issues. Put available upon request.

laidbackfreak

ipconfig.all wrote: »

You should take out the reference part due to privacy issues. Put available upon request.

+1 Although I've even dropped on available on request. I've got no worries getting them or providing them. But trust me if they want them they will ask for them

chmorin

ipconfig.all wrote: »

You should take out the reference part due to privacy issues. Put available upon request.

Okay thanks!

Turgon

chmorin wrote: »

Hey everyone, I'm 19 and kind of in a rough spot. I currently live at home with my mom, and have a part time job at a local college in the networking department working 19.5 hours (thats the limit =( ) at $10 an hour.

My mother recently lost her job, and I am sick of relying on her for everything. Today the transmission in my car kicked the bucket, and I am not really in a position to fix something that costly right now.

I want to take burdens off of my mother, and I have a year experience in networking and 3 more years on that working and training in IT. I also have my slew of certifications, and am about to take my CCNA Voice exam next week (if I find a ride...). I know I have to be worth something out there to someone. I have been applying to jobs on craigslist, monster, dice, and others. I have gotten jack squat.

My current job caps me at 19.5 hours a week, so I can't squeeze anything more than that from my $10 an hour. I'm underpaid, underworked, and need money. My college is not offering me anything...

I live north of Houston in Texas. Does anyone have any advice for me as to grabbing a job? Tomorrow im going to drop by a local oil company I applied as desktop support for on craigslist in person and see if I can drop of a written resume and let them know I am really interested. Other than that, most job offerings on craigslist are very vague. I can't find a small business around here to help with voice stuff, which I am really interested in, and I am to inexperianced to get anyone to pay attention to my existance.

Here is my resume: MEGAUPLOAD - The leading online storage and file delivery service
Don't worry, its not a virus.

Please tear it to shreds. I need help. If anyone can give me some advice, I would appreciate it. I just want to be on my own to remove the burdan from my mom.

Take the references off the CV. Provide them on request. First of all get yourself a profile on linkedin.

Now your prospects. I think potentially they are pretty impressive actually. I will come on to the reasons why in a moment but first school. You say you didnt get a great grade?

Get over it and don't get hung up on that. We have a neighbor with a top degree but my wife who was an outstanding student is astonished at some of the nonsensical badly thought through stuff she comes out with. She's all over the place sometimes. No common sense or tact.

You are 19 with a bit of experience under your belt and an interest in Voice. Congratulations. Make the right moves now and you may own your home outright by the time you are 30. You will be well placed to take care of your mom.

It's clear to me you are a considerate young man, something that will come over well in interviews and when you work alongside people. Another plus.

Getting a start in voice will be hard for you, but at 19 you can afford to take a punt on positions that may not be a great payer off the bat but will reap boat loads of dividends for you before you are 25. This is something that has held many CCVP qualified people back as they have not been able to give up something that pays more than the entry level voice gig.

If you want voice you will *have* to do entry level voice work or you will never truely get it. One of the reasons for this is you need to work alongside old school PSTN people who you need to relate to.

Of the *hot* options on the table right now i.e Wireless, Storage and Voice, the one you are clearly interested in has IMHO more milage for a young selfstarter. Wireless is still *edge* in a lot of companies. In others the cool wireless stuff is being grabbed by timeserved enterprise class network engineers. Could be hard to get on there. Storage? Again, typically grabbed by Unix types with experienced network engineers bringing up the rear to cross train into Brocade and what have you.

Both wireless and storage are seen as something as a bolt on for experienced network engineers who are looking for a raise.

Voice on the other hand is something that an experienced network engineer will run a mile from unless he/she is really serious about it. Really visible technology Voice with *loads* of possibilities for truly awful screw ups and costly failed projects. I think it also requires more effort to get mastery of as well and many experienced network engineers are already running hot at work. If you have a lot on at work (like me) then Voice is really too labour intensive to make serious inroads in *on the side*. You would kill yourself trying. So you dont do that, you learn enough and seek specialist help elsewhere.

So there are opportunities waiting for you in Voice. Add to which Unified Comms really is happening now in a big way. You are at the crossroads. On the one side is the well trodden path to operations in R&S. Nothing wrong with that at all but lots of people are already doing it. Lots of people know BGP these days. You could spend 20 years trying to catch up with people who are not going anywhere until they retire.

Or you could enter the voice blizzard. You could have a CCVP and maybe even a CCIE in Voice by the time you are 25. Add that to 5 - 6 years in Voice support, deployment, migrations, engineering and design consultancy and I think you are golden.

There are *loads* of companies crying out for voice skills now. Solutions providers mainly. Get the phone book out and contact them for a start. Be prepared to do anything to assist. Take the crappy paid job, you probably wont be on that wage for long as skilled voice people regularly jump ship. This creates gaps you may be forced to fill. Its all good experience.

Make friends with anyone on this forum who has voice ambitions, and Uncle Mike of course who can teach you so much.

Damn. I wish I was 19 knowing what I know now. But Im 41 with a good job and a family. That's fair

slinuxuzer

you have CCNA, shoot for a networking job not helpdesk, it will pay better and it will help you advance faster on your career path, if your lucky enough to go to work for a cisco partner that does consulting work and you can get heavy technical experience you can get your $ up in the 30's before your 21.

The good thing is your near houston and the Texas job markets havent taken the kind of hits places like nevada and california have.

Even if you take a help desk job for now to get your financial situation up, make it priority one to get a networking job ASAP.

I know what your going through sounds like my exact situation and all I'll say is it worked out for me, because I didn't give up.

Good Luck!

MeanDrunkR2D2

Definitely join LinkedIn and join your local IT group on there. Generally there are frequent meetings in larger cities for the IT group and it's good to get out there and network. If you strike a bond with some of the members of that group it can help you get to know someone who can get you an "in" with a company that they work for or have worked for in the past.

Blast out emails to everyone you know that you are looking for work doing "X" type of work. That's what helped me find my new position that I'm starting here in the next week. You may know someone or someone you know may know someone that can help you out and find a position that would be a great fit for you and your goals in your career.

chmorin

Thank you so much Turgon for the advice, I am going to break out the phone book and look for some solution providers. I think we have some locally where I live. How do I approach talking to them though? Do I ask to talk to HR or the IT department or do I just ask if they have a need for help in the voice area? In my experience doing this just makes them tell me to go check positions online.

I am plenty willing to do jobs others don't want to do in IT and voice at the moment, and with great ambition!

Again, thank you all so much for your friendly words of advice. This forum has been an amazing resource with great individuals. I hope when I get older I can give back what it has given me.

chmorin

MeanDrunkR2D2 wrote: »

Definitely join LinkedIn and join your local IT group on there. Generally there are frequent meetings in larger cities for the IT group and it's good to get out there and network. If you strike a bond with some of the members of that group it can help you get to know someone who can get you an "in" with a company that they work for or have worked for in the past.

Blast out emails to everyone you know that you are looking for work doing "X" type of work. That's what helped me find my new position that I'm starting here in the next week. You may know someone or someone you know may know someone that can help you out and find a position that would be a great fit for you and your goals in your career.

I am a member of linkedin, I have not looked to much into groups and stuff like that on it. I'll make sure to look. Thanks!

Turgon

chmorin wrote: »

Thank you so much Turgon for the advice, I am going to break out the phone book and look for some solution providers. I think we have some locally where I live. How do I approach talking to them though? Do I ask to talk to HR or the IT department or do I just ask if they have a need for help in the voice area? In my experience doing this just makes them tell me to go check positions online.

I am plenty willing to do jobs others don't want to do in IT and voice at the moment, and with great ambition!

Again, thank you all so much for your friendly words of advice. This forum has been an amazing resource with great individuals. I hope when I get older I can give back what it has given me.

No problem at all. Mike might be able to look over your CV a little bit to bring out your voice potential. In terms of job openings, the yellow pages should offer a slew of companies, telecom companies, cable companies, media companies, network consultancies that have a voice division or at least resell voice capabilities. Some of the time served pure telecom shops might be your best bet. The company may be small but most likely run by people with years of telco/PBX background and they may only have a year or two in with VoIP be it Avaya or Cisco. These companies like IT people to come in and help them take convergence type work on. I actually had an interview with one such company seven years ago. They were just one of a hundred or so local companies I sent a cover letter and CV to. They were a two man shop running voice solutions to a small but growing list of SME's. Their background was PBX and they wanted to know more about 'what I did' ie the data side of the shop. They were a small local Avaya reseller.

In the end I declined as the money on offer was low and we wanted a mortgage. Add to which a much better contracting opportunity in data came up and the rest is history. But that's an example of what could be accomplished if you hawk yourself out a bit. Now if something like that came your way I would jump at it. Your circumstance and professional position is different than mine back then.

Also check out the Cisco Partners in your state and send a letter and CV along.

Once you have your yellow pages, Cisco website list of companies, find the website of each company and drop an introductory email with an attached CV to the HR section. If there is no HR or vacancies section try the sales email address instead. Just get something over. You can follow up with the same in the mail to be sure. Buy many envelopes and a new cartridge for your printer.

Be sure to put a mobile number on your letter and CV and keep it handy at all times. If a meeting is offered, act decisively and attend asap. Be friendly and positive when you meet people. It may be a company on the cusp of big things!

chmorin

Turgon wrote: »

No problem at all. Mike might be able to look over your CV a little bit to bring out your voice potential. In terms of job openings, the yellow pages should offer a slew of companies, telecom companies, cable companies, media companies, network consultancies that have a voice division or at least resell voice capabilities. Some of the time served pure telecom shops might be your best bet. The company may be small but most likely run by people with years of telco/PBX background and they may only have a year or two in with VoIP be it Avaya or Cisco. These companies like IT people to come in and help them take convergence type work on. I actually had an interview with one such company seven years ago. They were just one of a hundred or so local companies I sent a cover letter and CV to. They were a two man shop running voice solutions to a small but growing list of SME's. Their background was PBX and they wanted to know more about 'what I did' ie the data side of the shop. They were a small local Avaya reseller.

In the end I declined as the money on offer was low and we wanted a mortgage. Add to which a much better contracting opportunity in data came up and the rest is history. But that's an example of what could be accomplished if you hawk yourself out a bit. Now if something like that came your way I would jump at it. Your circumstance and professional position is different than mine back then.

Also check out the Cisco Partners in your state and send a letter and CV along.

Once you have your yellow pages, Cisco website list of companies, find the website of each company and drop an introductory email with an attached CV to the HR section. If there is no HR or vacancies section try the sales email address instead. Just get something over. You can follow up with the same in the mail to be sure. Buy many envelopes and a new cartridge for your printer.

Be sure to put a mobile number on your letter and CV and keep it handy at all times. If a meeting is offered, act decisively and attend asap. Be friendly and positive when you meet people. It may be a company on the cusp of big things!

Thank you I will start jumping on this all tonight!

ipconfig.all

Better than grabbing the phone book.

Partner Locator-Partner Central - Cisco Systems

here is the Cisco partner network search engine. Go there and you can search for Cisco partners in your area and you can email them and express your interests good luck

MeanDrunkR2D2

Also, keep in mind that there are many smaller companies that utilize voip technologies (avaya, etc) that will be a jack of all trades type of job so you'll be handling the phone system as well as all sorts of desktop support type issues as well. It's a great way to do a little bit of everything and really build up your skill set.

Devilsbane

chmorin wrote: »

Hey everyone, I'm 19 and kind of in a rough spot. I currently live at home with my mom, and have a part time job at a local college in the networking department working 19.5 hours (thats the limit =( ) at $10 an hour.

My mother recently lost her job, and I am sick of relying on her for everything. Today the transmission in my car kicked the bucket, and I am not really in a position to fix something that costly right now.

I want to take burdens off of my mother, and I have a year experience in networking and 3 more years on that working and training in IT. I also have my slew of certifications, and am about to take my CCNA Voice exam next week (if I find a ride...). I know I have to be worth something out there to someone. I have been applying to jobs on craigslist, monster, dice, and others. I have gotten jack squat.

My current job caps me at 19.5 hours a week, so I can't squeeze anything more than that from my $10 an hour. I'm underpaid, underworked, and need money. My college is not offering me anything...

I live north of Houston in Texas. Does anyone have any advice for me as to grabbing a job? Tomorrow im going to drop by a local oil company I applied as desktop support for on craigslist in person and see if I can drop of a written resume and let them know I am really interested. Other than that, most job offerings on craigslist are very vague. I can't find a small business around here to help with voice stuff, which I am really interested in, and I am to inexperianced to get anyone to pay attention to my existance.

Here is my resume: MEGAUPLOAD - The leading online storage and file delivery service
Don't worry, its not a virus.

Please tear it to shreds. I need help. If anyone can give me some advice, I would appreciate it. I just want to be on my own to remove the burdan from my mom.

I was actually in a similar situation not too long ago. Difference being my parents didn't lose their job, and while I was capped working at the school at 10-20 hours a week (it dropped from 20 to 10 starting in 2010, and I was only paid $9) I also had a 35-40 hour a week job working in retail, and a full time student besides.

A few months ago I dipped my toes into the corporate world by finally getting hired. I work on the service desk, and while this isn't where I want to end up, it is adding experience to my resume. It came with a pay raise, so I left both the school and my retail job, and I still bring in a larger paycheck.

Thankfully my car has not any major problems, a few $500 fixes here and there but I was able to take care of them. The transmission has problems occasionally, but by shifting back and forth for 20-30 seconds it finally catches and we're off.

My parents, while both having a job, are both also working in retail (I used to work with my mom) and neither of them have a college education so they really can't go anywhere else. I too want to take the burden off them. With this new job I have been able to pay for more of the food, take THEM out to eat on occasion, and just buy random things when needbe.

My dream is to eventually have enough money to do something for them. I'd love to be able to help them out in some way. I think your on the right path, even something entry level in IT should beat $10 an hour, and will probably come with a 40 hour work week. Just keep looking and don't give up. Plus I admire your family loyalty, a lot of people don't have that anymore.

Devilsbane

ipconfig.all wrote: »

You should take out the reference part due to privacy issues. Put available upon request.

Buy like a $10 binder from Walmart. (Leather thing to keep your stuff in.) Keep several copies of your resume in here along with a page with your references on them. Keep the same kind of formatting on both sheets so that the employer can keep them together easily. That way if your sitting in your interview and the interviewer doesn't have a copy of your resume in front of them, or more likely the copy they have is the one that got entered on their website and is formatted like crap, you can stick the awesome looking one in their hands.

And then when they bring up something about references, you pull that other sheet out and stick that in their hands. That should impress them and they are going to think, "Wow this guy is prepared."

One of the best things I did was business cards. I designed and purchased them on vistaprint.com I got like 250 cards for $5 or $10. Stick one of these in their hands to. This used to get me those "Wow this guy is prepared" looks and remarks. Plus you can keep them ready if you hear someone talking about a problem their computer is having. Give them your card and make some money off of a side job.

I understand this does cost some inital money up front. Resume paper, binder, business cards. (Probably like $25-$30) But I think all 3 make a huge difference. Also you can write this off of your taxes as a job search expense if you save the receipts.

chmorin

Thank you all for your replies, it is greatly appreciated!

earweed

And for the resumes you take to companies use the GOOD heavy paper. Not your regular copy paper.
Now that you've got some advice on your resume here I would advise you to post it on the Resume do and dont's thread. Keenon will come on and give you more good advice.

Devilsbane

earweed wrote: »

And for the resumes you take to companies use the GOOD heavy paper. Not your regular copy paper.

100% cotton paper. I bought mine at target. 100 pages for something like $7. I also bought the 100% cotton envelopes, but I have only ever used one. People don't ask to be snail mailed resumes too often anymore.

jtoast

I don't remember the last time I printed a resume for anything other than format checking and proof reading.

mikej412

ipconfig.all wrote: »

Better than grabbing the phone book.

DSL Reports has their ISP database -- and even easier, you can just find who's offering service in your area. You can also find the local "Mom & Pop" ISPs.

And if you're near a large metro area -- there's probably a moving company or two.... wait for it ... that moves offices for companies (beyond the daily add/change/moves) including their computers, wiring closets, and even data center equipment. Usually good for evenings and weekends if you don't want to quit your day school/job.

ipconfig.all

In life you always have to face rough spots, anyways you do not know the stuff that I have being through and going through now, life is hard for me

TheMechanic

hey chmorin i feel for you. This is going to sound really lame, but its my reality; be extremely positive.

You have amazing credentials, CCNA is a tough cert i still need to get. Youll be fine man, keep looking and keep your mind open and positive. I know what its like to struggle. My parents just now are getting their finances right. Im a dominican immigrant and man sometimes it's downright tough getting in the right position. Im just lucky i live in NYC

TheMechanic

Mike your NUTS! Thats an alphabet soup of certs! Congrats man =D

chmorin

TheMechanic wrote: »

Mike your NUTS! Thats an alphabet soup of certs! Congrats man =D

Haha yeah, I'd bet he is the only one who knows what all of those acronyms mean without looking them up.

Thank you all again for your kind words and advice. I'll update if I find something.

ipconfig.all

Just keep trying something should turn up, don't give up hope.